mr mahs

You will beleive some far out conspiracy theory from Ted Rall about a pipe line under afghanistan is the reason Bush dropped the twin towers but you won't beleive Iraq is in bed with terrorists.. AMAZING Don't get ahead of yourself with me admitting they didn't have WMD.. they do but I was mearly saying that if not found I and the majority of other americans wouldn't care and still thinks we did a good thing by removing him.. The sanctions were put there by the UNITED NATIONS or do you think we acted unilaterally on that issue?? Are you insane the oil for food program was raped and pillaged by France and that added to the suffering of the Iraqi people.. How may Iraqi you think would have been fed and medicated if he only built 25 Places instaed of 50?? Tour logic is bent.. The UN puts sanctions on him for not abidding by the ceasefiree agreement then the UN implements a food for oil program and he uses the money to build dozens of palaces. WHY DOESN'T THAT ARGUMENT COME OUT OF YOUR CORNER?? There you go again blaming america for everything like a true LIBERAL....

The address to the United Nations in Sept 2002 Bush cited 3 reasons we as one voice-one world should confront SADAM . so the UN can "Prove it's relevance" we all know how that debacle of back stabbing and pussy footing went.. Bush cited 3 main reasons for action.. Harboring terrorists.. We captured Al-Qeada operatives in bahgdad, journalists found documents govt buildings with Bin Laden name whited out proving his association with Iraq to attack a common enemy, the U.S. WMD...3k suits, antropiene, BANNED Al-samoud missiles to deliver them and testimonies from scientists who escaped.. give it time my freind we will find them.. 12 years oif decite can't be unraveled in 3 weeks.. Humanitarian.. Bush cited the fiasco of the Oil for food program and the funneling of funds that were allocated for food and medicine but instead lined the pockets, furnished his Places and fed his hunger to obtain WMD'S.. If getting 2 out of 3 it was still a good reason to remove him.. I still beleiv that WMD exist time will tell..

Even if they don't exist the war was still just!

We grow more and more dependent on foreign oil every day.. If you do support the drilling of Alaska please list why and if are dead against it please explain why you object..

Ok They don't set oil prices but they do control close to 60% of the oil traded internationally which can weigh heavely on the oil market.. The prices are set by the market in direct negative correlation to decisions by OPEC to increase or decrese oil output... They cut production the price goes up.. they increase production prices fall.. close enough to setting prices.. Are you saying that smuggling oil to America would be as easy as smuggling to Syria?

For all the peole who thought this conflict would not have positive effect on how middle eastern countrie address their internal promblems please read.... CAIRO, Egypt — While President Bush has declared major fighting over in Iraq, the repercussions of the war for the rest of the Mideast (search) are just starting to be felt, and it's an open question about whether for better or worse. Radical regimes in Syria (search) and Iran (search) are suddenly toning down the anti-U.S. rhetoric and urging dialogue. Authoritarian leaders in Egypt (search) and Jordan (search) are talking -- with varying degrees of enthusiasm -- about democratization, while militants in the streets of Cairo and Amman predict a wave of new recruits to fight the American occupiers and their supporters. "Announcing the end of the military operations doesn't mean the end of the war," said Tareq Masarweh, a prominent Jordanian columnist who foresees "popular resistance" as long as the U.S. military remains in Iraq. How the replacement of Saddam Hussein (search) with a presumably pro-U.S. government in Baghdad will affect regional politics is one of the biggest uncertainties. Awed by Washington's display of firepower in Iraq, no one looks likely to claim Saddam's mantle as leader of defiance to the West. Even Syria, which likes to refer to itself as the "heart of Arabism," welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell this weekend for tough talk about its own weapons program, allegations that Damascus aided Saddam's regime and links to terrorism. "The U.S. doesn't need to invade any more countries," said Iman Hamdi, an expert on Mideast affairs at the American University in Cairo. "We've got the message." Lebanon also has felt the heat because of the presence there of the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrilla group, which is on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations. Beirut regards Hezbollah as a legitimate resistance movement against Israel. But Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, seems worried too. "In the end, we are facing a new reality," he told supporters after the U.S. victory in Iraq. Iranian hard-liners are signaling a new willingness to consider the possibility of restoring ties with Washington, cut since the 1979 Islamic revolution and hostage-taking at the U.S. Embassy. Iran's former president threw his weight last month behind the idea of a referendum on restoring ties -- an idea believed to have broad popular support despite official opposition. After Washington charged Iran was trying to promote an Iranian-style theocracy in Iraq, Tehran was quick to deny it. "Tehran does not want any friction with Washington over issues concerning Iraq," said Hasan Rowhani, secretary of Iran's powerful Supreme National Security Council. Some have suggested Washington's professed determination to establish a democratic government in Iraq could have a domino effect in the region -- depending on how it goes. "If it fails and Iraq descends into civil strife ... the effect would be devastating," said Fawaz Gerges, professor of Mideast studies at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. "Militant forces would be strengthened. America's vital interests and local allies would be endangered." Some of those moderate allies have been taking democratic steps, even if small ones. Bahrain had its first parliamentary elections in three decades last October. Qatari voters approved their first constitution this week and the first parliamentary elections are expected next year. In Jordan, which has been without a parliament for two years, King Abdullah II promises elections will finally go ahead June 17. "That'll get us back on the right track as quickly as possible," he said in a CNN interview. "We're not looking over our shoulder. I mean we're looking to the future and moving." By contrast, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak dismissed the notion that "imposing democracy by force" in Iraq would result in wholesale reforms in the Islamic world or a lessening of fanaticism. He said Wednesday that Arab countries were trying to bring democracy "according to their own standards." Mubarak wields ultimate control in Egypt under emergency laws in place since the 1981 assassination of his predecessor, Anwar Sadat, by extremists opposed to the peace deal with Israel. Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy, is also feeling rattled. Just before the war, the ruling family allowed human rights teams to visit and meet with reformers, a signal that it senses change is the best way to protect its rule. Mass popular disillusionment with Arab governments after the Iraq war could also undermine the already divided 22-nation Arab League. Rounds of summitry over the Iraq crisis degenerated into bickering and name-calling. Joint pronouncements against the war were undermined by some members who helped the U.S.-led invasion force, whether overtly or quietly. The league's "teeth are made of flesh," said Ayed al-Manna, a political analyst in Kuwait, which has sharply criticized the league. Some analysts say the main impact of the war may be to force Arabs and their leaders to address their problems -- and the rest of the world -- more honestly. "The only positive thing in the long run is it's going to make people here wake up to all the illusions they have with the West," Hamdi said. "It puts things in perspective and maybe then we can find a way to better serve our own interests."

2/3rds of GDP is made up of consumer spending the other 1/3rd is overnment spending and capitol investment.. By placing the money back into the consumers hand you increase revenue which in turn increases consumption by that consumer and inturn increases revenue and demand for companies products in the market place.. Companies higher employees to keep up with demand that will put more money into a employee/consumer hands to spend and for the govt to tax.. see the connections.. It's cyclical.. Reagen did it in the 80's which trippled tax revenue because tax cuts put people back to work.. To simply increase salaries would increase costs at companies but if there isn't sufficient demand because consumers don't have jobs to spend money they cannot give bonuses and salariy increases.. They are cutting income taxes not sales taxes so at the end of the 2 weeks the consumer has more to spend..

World prices are set by OPEC. Iraq output would not have a large impact on the price.. I really think people think we are going to smuggle the millions of barrells from IRAQ on some cruise ship under everyone noses.. uh oh did I start another conspiracy theory???

OOOPS:D

What's that Mrs Librarian?

Lets imagine for a minute you didn't beleive that Bush dropped the twin towers causing trillions of dollars in lost economic activity so he can invade afghanistan for a pipeline and look at the country before and after.. The hornets nest of Alqeada has been disrupted sending the fiends to neighboring countries where we and other memebers of the coalition have been rounding up daily... over 1/2 of Alqeada leadership have been apprehended.. If there is a pipe line under that shithole coutry whats wrong with developing the resources so that Afghanistan can pay for itself to be rebuilt...I just don't understand the beef with letting american companies exploit the buisness oppurtunities that these countries present to the world isn't that capitalism?? realising a need from the public and developing a service or product that satifies that need. Would you rather prefer a french company go in and do it..

Good points..

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whos coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag." Father Denis Edward O'Brian---USMC I love that I am proud of america again....

Blair has said he wants Iraqi oil revenues to be held in a United Nations-run trust fund and spent on rebuilding Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday the U.S. may encourage Iraq to set up an oil revenue-sharing system that would distribute some proceeds from what he called the ''marvelous treasure'' to Iraqi citizens. This statement from Colin Powell says it all we are not after full control but advise them on how to handle the process of rebuilding their economy... The OIL is a big part of the war it will help rebuild that former shithole country look at Kuwait & Qatar perfect example of the oil revenue falling into the right hands... Are we in control of Qatar oil to? How about Kuwait??? The war for oil argumant is SOOO STALE it staring to grow penicillin on it... Oh French the pipe line in Afghanistan that is being developed... Good idea

Easy croisant boy I said that I PERSONALLY hope it was all about oil.. What I want and the facts are 2 diffrent things.. Now just suck it up the world is a better place.. the left has been exposed for their partisan errounous rants....

Before the Iraq war, the critics were predicting that Iraq was going to be the Bay of Pigs. A week into the war, we were told Iraq was Vietnam. Now, after the war, they're telling us that Iraq is Iran - that Iraq's Shiite majority will turn it into another intolerant Islamic republic. The critics were wrong every time. They are wrong again. Of course there are elements in the Shiite community who would like fundamentalist rule by the clerics. But even the majority of Iranians consider the Islamic revolution a disaster. The Shiite demonstrators on Iraqi streets represent a highly organized minority, many of whom are affiliated with, infiltrated by and financed by Tehran, the headquarters for 20 years of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Iraqi society is highly fractured along lines of ethnicity, religion, tribe, region and class. It is in the interest of all of them, most particularly the Kurdish and Sunni minorities who together make up about 40% of the country, to ensure that no one group wields absolute power. And, as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld correctly pointed out, America is there to make sure that doesn't happen. One man, one vote, one time is not democracy. Moreover, Shiism is extremely decentralized. Among the Shiite majority itself, there are myriad ideological and political factions. Islamic scholar Hillel Fradkin points out that Khomeiniism - the seizure of political power by clerics - is contrary to centuries of Shiite tradition. Does this mean that Jeffersonian democracy is guaranteed in Baghdad? Of course not. But the U.S. is in a position to bring about a a genuinely pluralistic, open and free society. The administration erred, however, by going initially for occupation lite. It did so understandably at first, victory having come so swiftly. But there also appeared to be a conscious decision to downplay the occupation, lest we stoke Iraqi nationalism and resistance. This was a mistake. The way to succeed is with occupation heavy. The administration is hurriedly sending in about 4,000 more soldiers, heavy with military police - and not a moment too soon. What the administration has done right, on the other hand, has been to exclude the foreign latecomers and meddlers who want to get in on the reconstruction. The administration gave the perfect response to the United Nations claim that it alone can confer legitimacy on the running of Iraq: We ignored it. Legitimacy will come out of the ground in Iraq, as more and more factions join in the construction of a provisional government. Tellingly, even the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq sent a delegation to the last meeting with Jay Garner, our proconsul in Baghdad. Even the Islamic radicals know the Pentagon is prepared to move with or without them. They know who's in charge. We need to keep it that way.

I hope it was all about oil...

That's where individual state representation comes in, even better..

You don't rememeber him saying to Congress that the stock market bubble will hurt the econmoy during the Clinton years and the market rallying in his face (those were the good ol days... j/k).. I think he was a little too agreesive with the interest rates increases but infaltion next to depression is the worst economic situation... The aggressive interest rate cuts the fed has donbe would have worked in a NON SEPT 11TH world but that's the hand we were dealt... just be happy that the U.S can adapt to any situation and we are coming out of a recession unless the run up in oil prices pre Iraq sends us double dipping...

The new govt has to have representation of all diffrent ethnic groups of the country or it won't work.. Not all Shites are calling for a Islamic state in Iraq only the clerics backed by the ANTI-REFORM loons in Iran that's why the threats were coming out of the White House for Iran to back off...

School vouchers my freind that's the answer..

The majority of illegal arab immigrants held after 911 was just...and it most likely averted another attack... The mexicans are diffrent from the arabs.. I appreciate the work ethic and determination of immigrants who come to this country for a better life but bottomline is when 19 arabic men drop 2 skyscrapers from the N.Y. CITY SKYLINE you have to take some drastic measures to ensure the saftey of the country.. And I am sorry to say but those 19 highjackers ruined it for all arab immigrants seeking refuge in this country..

I respect Greensapn.. Politically Bush can't just sit back and hope the econmy turns that's where his father went wrong. The attempt for the tax cut even if it doesn't pass would still provide ammo for the domestic debate in 2004.... If it does pass.. The key to his tax cut is cutting spending in Congress.. In the Raegen years tax cuts increased revenue but Congress increased spending that is what created the large deficits of the 80's..

I read that the budget cut was averted and that the VA received 30 billion in 2003 a 12% increase from last year.. This what i can find about the issue please clarify.. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,85217,00.html ***I don't want to sound like I support buget cuts for the VA because I would even support a surcharge from my paycheck if we needed more revenue.. ***I don't know the whole story but I would have to imagine that given the recent spike in patriotism and support for the troops you would have heard more about it in the news...

I wish they sens a tomahawk to your house .. Mrs. Librarian :laugh: