Thursday, September 11, 2008

Placing the blame


It has been seven years since a gang of foreign terrorists launched cowardly, kamikaze attacks on our country. It is a day to remember those who lost their lives, some very heroically. But we are a country that also constantly looks forward, and one thing we have to look forward to is one hell of a mess in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, a day before the 9/11 commemorations, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen told Congress that "we're running out of time" to salvage Afghanistan. "I'm not convinced we're winning it in Afghanistan," said Mullen. And the blame for that lies squarely on one person, President Bush. It was ultimately his decision to virtually abandon the real war against terror to pursue a trumped-up, ruinous war in Iraq, and now we are reaping the deadly harvest from his horrible decisions. Where does Afghanistan stand nearly seven years after our intervention? The Taliban and al-Qaida are regrouping and regaining power. Opium production continues almost unabated, and the illicit drug trade actually helps finance the resurgence of the people behind the 9/11 atrocities. Hamid Karzai's so-called national government can't exert any real authority once you get a short distance from Kabul. And while the situation in Afghanistan worsened, we lost 4,000 lives and spent hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq. And all the while, our few allies in these fights are either refusing to send more troops or pulling their forces out entirely. Would those 4,000 American lives that were sacrificed in Iraq have been lost anyway if we had kept the focus on Afghanistan and the border area with Pakistan? Perhaps. But at least Afghanistan might not be the festering hellhole it is today, a place where we might have to spend thousands more of our soldiers' lives to clean up the mess that our own president must bear the responsiblity for creating.

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29 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bush doesn't say "win" anymore. He uses "succeed." Just like he succeeded in the election of 2000. That makes all the difference.

What a sad, sad thing that Bush and Cheney will get out of this with no accountability. Like I've said many times before, Clinton screwed an intern. Bush screwed America. Which one affected us more?

September 11, 2008 at 3:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The greatest tragedy of the post 9/11 America is that Bush & Co. wasted a great opportunity to rally the country to end our dependence on foreign oil. A few months of singing "God Bless America" and putting flags on our cars and in windows is all the sacrificing we've done.

What if, instead of spending billions in Iraq and Afghanistan, we'd used that money to develop alternative forms of energy? What if instead of going shopping as Bush suggested, we'd actually learned to do without a TV in every room, multiple iPods and SUVs and started demanding smaller fuel-efficient cars? What if, instead of occupying a foreign country and trashing human rights, we'd have actually worked together to govern the nation? What if instead of amassing trillions in national debt and waiting for the next generation to bail us out, we'd have set up country in which they won't have to struggle? What if instead of throwing around charges of sexism and elitism, we'd have demanded that our presidential candidates give real answers to real questions?

September 12, 2008 at 9:14 AM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

Then we would be france.

-ellipses

September 12, 2008 at 9:44 AM  
Blogger Brant said...

That wouldn't be all bad. Think of the wine of fine food. ;)

September 12, 2008 at 10:13 AM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

Yeah... i never really understood the whole anti-france thing...

it seems to be a good deal for the french.

-ellipses

September 12, 2008 at 10:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No candidate is going to give you the answers you are looking for, which is the truth. Politicians tell us what they think we want to hear and what will get them elected. What people have to understand is that it took 8 years to send us up shit creek without out a paddle and it will take 12 or more years to get our country back on solid ground. This is not something that the next president will be able to put a quick fix on. Whomever is voted in will have 4 years of hell trying to right all of the wrongs that have been done. Honestly, I doubt anything will be accomplished and of course the judgmental and fickle American people will blame everything on the new Pres. & Vice Pres. because nothing was improved during their tenure. We will be thanking Bush & Chaney for a long time for their colossal screw ups. But the only ones to blame are the people who voted them into office for 8 years, so to those dip shits, THANK YOU!!!

September 12, 2008 at 10:37 AM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

You're welcome, I'm sorry.

-ellipses

September 12, 2008 at 12:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wish all you cry-baby Bush haters would appreciate all he has done for you and for our country. He is a moral and ethical man and has made good decisions to protect us all and keep us all safe. Like me, he loves this country.
When's the last time you had a terrorist threaten to blow your head off? When's the last time you went to bed concerned that you were going to be killed while sleeping? When's the last time you sent your kid to school not knowing if you were ever going to see them again? BS.... I wish all you Bush haters would shut the hell up and give the man some credit. I hate it when men and women are killed in this senseless war too. But that seems to be the price for our freedom? Only those at the top of our government really know, and are doing their best to manage the war.

Please count your blessings every day that you have President Bush, a man of integrity at the helm. Remember Clinton, the lying, cheating scumbag of an adulterer that we had as a president? What kind of a person was he to run this country? You couldn't believe a word that came out of his mouth. Is that what you want for a president? Obama...is he your answer?? Give me a break. Please stop with the criticism, and give President Bush some credit. Enjoy your freedom and security and life in this wonderful country, the United States of America. And shut the hell up, or move to Iran!

September 12, 2008 at 3:51 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

Come to think of it, I haven't been eaten by wolverines since Bush has been president, so I guess I'm going to have to give him credit for that, too. For the sake of argument, let's say that Bush's shining leadership has kept the terrorist hordes from our shores. What else, precisely, has he accomplished over the past eight years? Really, I'd like to hear it. And let's remember, he was in office for eight months BEFORE 9/11, so if we're going to give him credit for keeping us save SINCE then, we would have to blame him for allowing us to be attacked in the first place, under your reasoning. Even if you claim that Clinton was lax in the anti-terror area, Bush and his people had plenty of time to shore that up before 9/11. Personally, I don't blame Clinton OR Bush for the attacks. Sooner or later, we're going to be attacked again, and no matter who the president is, Obama or McCain, they won't be to blame. If enough people are willing to sacrifice their own lives to hurt us, eventually one of them will get the job done. But I'm not going to live in fear waiting for that day to come. And I'm not going to give in to the fearmongers who try to take advantage of the terror hysteria.

September 12, 2008 at 5:08 PM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

2 things...

1) I never went to bed scared that I was going to die before bush...

2) I don't speak Iranian...

September 12, 2008 at 6:39 PM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

Clarification...

I don't go to bed scared now, either.

-ellipses

September 12, 2008 at 6:54 PM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

Where is Priguy? He is conspicuously absent.

-ellipses

September 12, 2008 at 7:34 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yeah steeler fan, we'll blame the new pres and vp if nothing is improved during their tenure... just as u blame the current pres and vp for all our problems now. there is a lot of blame to hand out for the situation we're in now and its not all the current administration. And I agree that bush is a good man, that he loves this country and has had to make some really tough decisions during his watch. Its easy to criticize looking back after the details have unfolded. He believed and acted on what the majority of others believed as well. He's just become everyone's punching bag. Everythings bush's fault.

September 12, 2008 at 9:16 PM  
Blogger Greg said...

Bush is a moral man? He OKed the torture of innocent people at Guantanamo. He's responsibile for the deaths of countless innocent civilians in Iraq. But their lives aren't worth the same as our's. Right? Muslim lives don't equal the same as Christian lives. Right? He's never cheated on the Mrs., that we know of. I'll give him that. But calling George Bush a moral man is quite a stretch.

September 13, 2008 at 12:48 AM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

Honest question...

Can you be moral, without being ethical?

-ellipses

September 13, 2008 at 11:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've been more scared and depressed since Bush has been in office than I ever was before 2001. Terrorists are still threatening to blow our heads off, by the way, and will be long after Bush vacates. Bush moral and ethical? Right. And Saddam Hussein was great with kids. Clinton (and for that matter any president's) dalliances had no great effect on this country's standing in the world. Bush has almost single-handedly trashed our reputation and made it virtually impossible for us to take the moral high ground anywhere.

September 13, 2008 at 2:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your assumption that Iraq and Afghanistan are two different wars makes me question your understanding of foreign affairs and warfare in general.
Siempre Fi.

September 13, 2008 at 3:20 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

It's not an assumption. It's a fact. Here's the deal. Saddam Hussein was NOT behind 9/11. Saddam Hussein, lo and behold, did NOT have WMDs. There was no al-Qaida in Iraq until after we invaded Iraq and turned it into a happy training ground for the lunatics. Afghanistan is the war on terror. Iraq is the war Bush, Cheney and the other neocons wanted to wage.

September 13, 2008 at 3:53 PM  
Blogger Greg said...

Geez! I may be wrong but I sort of remember even George Bush admitting that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. That fact that there are people out there that still think otherwise is messed up.

September 13, 2008 at 4:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Apparently one of those who still thinks Iraq & 9/11 are linked is Sarah Palin.

I still say, make Iraq the 51st state: oil problems solved.

Better yet, let's really have fun with this war and have a sitcom based on Abu Ghraib's POWs: Hassan's Heroes.

September 13, 2008 at 6:19 PM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

Semper Fi... If you take the position that Afghanistan and Iraq are parts of the same war, then you have to also admit that we are drastically underexecuting THAT war. We should be in Pakistan, Iran, Syria, the Philippines, North Korea, and various spots on the Horn of Africa... Why have we taken the diplomatic approach with some countries (North Korea), the militaristic approach with other countries (Iraq) and basically ignored yet other countries (Sudan)?

-ellipses

September 13, 2008 at 7:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

To the anonymous who worship Bush, congrats, I am glad you are so proud of a dunderhead who has barely kept this country above water. I will not thank this idiot for anything. I will also not see this man in a moral light either. What the Hell is so moral and ethical about him? Can you even give a great example of this? DOUBT IT. I am aloud feel any damn way I please about Bush and Cheney because it is a free country, I am also aloud to voice that opinion if I choose so, just the same as you are because it is a free country. So to all you Bush and Cheney sheep, thank you for the last eight years. Also to all the anonymous Bush/Cheney sheep, please post a name before you start bashing us who don't support your delusional outlook on the last eight years, I would like to address you by something other than anonymous. I also would like to say I agree with Brant, Ellipses & Greg.

September 15, 2008 at 11:02 AM  
Blogger Brant said...

Boy, it's been a long wait for someone to come up with a Bush accomplishment not related to post-9/11 security.

September 16, 2008 at 12:13 PM  
Blogger Greg said...

Awesome dance moves? Nah, I guess that would be a stretch too.

September 17, 2008 at 9:42 AM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

Medicare part D?

I think we are supposed to go to Mars sometime...

Hmmm... I haven't been raped by a gang of miniature ponies in the past 7 years... that's always a plus :-)

-ellipses

September 17, 2008 at 9:52 AM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

(battered and bruised)

Check that statement about the ponies... Who would have expected THAT to happen?!

-ellipses... going to go NOT sit down for a while

September 17, 2008 at 11:48 AM  
Blogger Brant said...

Are the ponies miniature in ALL aspects? Ow.

September 17, 2008 at 11:53 AM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

Negative. Their "miniatureness" applied only to their stature... not to their endowment or passion...

Damn you Mr. Bush!

-ellipses

September 17, 2008 at 12:07 PM  
Blogger Greg said...

ellipses, sorry about your bad luck. I wish I had a nickel for every time that has happened to me. I'd be freaking rich. Damn the miniature pony rapist/petting zoo! When will I learn.

September 17, 2008 at 2:02 PM  

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