Well, I was going to write out a post talking about W's speech but I think Deo said everything that needs to be said. It was one of the best speeches of his presidentcy.
| "From this office, nearly three years ago, I announced the start of military operations in Iraq. Our coalition confronted a regime that defied United Nations Security Council resolutions, violated a cease-fire agreement, sponsored terrorism and possessed, we believed, weapons of mass destruction. After the swift fall of Baghdad, we found mass graves filled by a dictator, we found some capacity to restart programs to produce weapons of mass destruction, but we did not find those weapons. It is true that Saddam Hussein had a history of pursuing and using weapons of mass destruction. It is true that he systematically concealed those programs, and blocked the work of UN weapons inspectors. It is true that many nations believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. And as your president, I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq" |
| "That is an important question, and the answer depends on your view of the war on terror. If you think the terrorists would become peaceful if only America would stop provoking them, then it might make sense to leave them alone. The terrorists do not merely object to American actions in Iraq and elsewhere -- they object to our deepest values and our way of life. And if we were not fighting them in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Southeast Asia and in other places, the terrorists would not be peaceful citizens -- they would be on the offense, and headed our way" |
4 comments:
Hate to break it to you, but the President's wrong, even according to his own intelligence (gee, what a surprise!).
http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2004-09-Strategic_Communication.pdf
Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel* and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.
Read it through carefully. I don't give a crap that you want to stop the instant it uses the P word, keep reading. Then read it again. Heck, just read the second half, and that should be enough to give you a decent reason why they dislike you so much.
* On the Israel thing - you claim to want to support democracy in the Mid-East? Then get over the fact that everyone hates Israel. Democracy means people get to voice their opinions, yes? Israel has not made a good name for itself since it sets their whole army on countries when minority groups perform suicide attacks. A single person, with no connection to the Palestinian government, makes a suicide attack because he's a militant. Instantly Israel stops talking to Palestine and drops a few bombs on them. Great way to make peace. They're getting their arses into gear on that, but they have a few decades of stupid policies to overcome if they want people to like them.
Za, I don't care if they love or hate us. I repeat, I don't care. They can hate our policy, our freedoms, our president, our people. It doesn't matter. That hatred doesn't condone flying planes into building killing almost 3,000 innocent men, women and children. I have no interest in talking to them to find out why. If you think we can ever reason with them then you're more dilutional than I thought.
As for Israel, I support every counter attack they pull off. "A single person, with no connection to the Palestinian government, makes a suicide attack because he's a militant". Bullshit. The Palestinian government isn't doing a damn thing to stop the attacks. Hell, Arafat supported them. As did Saddam, yet another reason to take him out of power.
You have this blinded, close minded view of the world that if we, America and Israel, would just change and play nice then radical Islamists bent on killing every American and Jew on the planet would put down their bombs and we could talk it all out. At least that's the impression you give. And I hope to your God that I'm wrong about that.
Chris, you obviously missed the entire point then.
The CIA has pointed out that no, the terrorists DO NOT "object to our deepest values and our way of life". The President is wrong - they are pissed off at the way you act. You don't seem to get that MOST PEOPLE are pissed off at the way the US acts.
So if I'm "closeminded", then so is your frigging intelligence community.
And another thing - stop accusing me of "condoning" anything. That's your own twisted reasoning.
Post a Comment