We found the WMD!!

[Guest endymion]

We invaded Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction, fearing that they would fall into the hands of Islamist terrorists.

We have found the WMD that we feared was under development. It really was under development, and it really is under the control of Islamist terrorists. Bush and his team were totally right about that.

What they were wrong about is that the WMD program that we were looking for was being developed in Spain and Morocco, not Iraq.

The WMD is a style of military operation that has been developed and tested in Madrid. You use a team of people coordinating using modern civilian electronic methods like email and cell phones. Methods that are reliable in your urban arenas of operation. Your team uses small remotely-controlled bombs that are carried in satchels or backpacks. Your team selects a target in advance for maximum effectiveness, goes in and places the explosives, detonates them by remote control. One team can train on this style of operation and gain experience so that they can do it over and over because it is not a suicide operation.

This WMD is cheap. It can make use of improvised local explosives that do not need to be imported. It does not require nuclear material. It does not require guidance systems. It does not require going through security choke points at airports because it does not depend on using aircraft as missiles.

There is now a team of Islamist terrorist operatives who know how to make an operation like this happen. We will be able to arrest a few of them but the smart ones who orchestrated this operation as a beta test will not be caught. They probably learned a few things in the process of pulling off the Madrid bombings that will help them to avoid similar mistakes in the future. Even though it was one of the first test operations of its kind, they still killed 200 deaths and more than 1,500 casualties with just 10 bags. Compare that with the dozen people that a Palestinian suicide bomber might kill and add up the other advantages of the new method. It's a true weapon of mass destruction. There was a program to develop this weapon of mass destruction going on and we completely missed catching the right people to stop it.

With this WMD program, Islamist terrorists now have a very effective tool that they can use to bomb the London Underground. The NYC subway system. Our entire society is vunerable around key, undefended spots. Time magazine mentions "shopping malls, casinos, theme parks and stadiums" as targets that are vunerable to Madrid-style attacks.

So that's what happened. It's obvious now that it has happened. We missed it. There really was a WMD program. We missed it. Now we're stuck in a Vietnam as the new WMD is being aimed at some vital soft target in the US or in England. We could have prevented this if we had really been trying but we had other priorities in mind and stopping this was not clearly our goal. Now it's too late.

[Guest endymion]

Lots of them are upset that it's happening again, yes. I have a few in my family.

[Guest JMT]

is not even close to scale of that war. wait 5 years, then a comparison can be made.

we need to hurry and give them their elections as fast as possible.

[Guest endymion]

Okay, whatever. Even if I agreed with you 100% on how to handle Iraq, it was still the wrong war. We were fighting for the wrong reasons in the wrong place. Lots of our soldiers and some non-zero number of foreign civilians larger than 3000 were obliterated in the process. Horrifying numbers of people have lost limbs but not died. After all of this we didn't make a dent in their ability to attack us. They just proved it. More is coming.

In the overall war on terrorism, Islamist terrorists - 1, United States - 0.

[Guest JMT]

In the overall war on terrorism, Islamist terrorists - 1, United States - 0.

i totally agree. terrorism is offically the burden of the new century. its past the point of no return with Islam extremists. i dont think any change in foreign policy matters. they didnt like westerners before, and they dont now.

[Guest endymion]

JMT, changes in foreign policy that form alliances to combat this threat in a coordinated manner with clear goals and international cooperation do matter. Those changes are how you win the war on terrorism. Acting unilaterally and blowing shit up for the propaganda video clips that it provides with no concern for the people who you're killing is not how you win the war on terrorism. That's how you become a terrorist.

[Guest endymion]

"Weapons of mass destruction" was a rallying cry that Bush used to lead this country to war. Now the phrase is a complete embarrassment to Bush. There were no WMDs in Iraq. There were WMDs in Morocco. While Bush was lying to us, a bunch of Islamist terrorists were in the final stages of perfecting their WMD program.

I have a feeling that Bush is going to be avoiding the term "weapons of mass destruction" entirely during the campaign. You think?

[Guest JMT]

actually he put a new spin on it, "weapons of mass destruction development programs" is the new preferred nomenclature.

look man, i think the WMDs thing was b.s. too, no argument from me here. but i also think there was a greater good accomplished in taking saddam out, and a lot of americans agree.

[ryan2772]

actually he put a new spin on it, "weapons of mass destruction development programs" is the new preferred nomenclature.

look man, i think the WMDs thing was b.s. too, no argument from me here.  but i also think there was a greater good accomplished in taking saddam out, and a lot of americans agree.    

But that's not why we went there! Of course, we're all happier that Saddam (say his name backwards...eerie) is gone. But the end doesn't justify the means. And all we've been seeing in the past few weeks is finger-pointing back in forth between the agencies involved. Goddammit, I see more responsibility taken on "The Apprentice". Which is a helluva show, by the way.

[Guest endymion]

Fine, and there are lots of evil people that I would like to see ousted too. Not really sure that's our job but whatever. Sure was expensive. So sorry about all of those people we pissed off.

No back to the war on terror and the effort to locate and neutralize WMDs that was apparently so important to Bush about a year ago...

The one single evil despot who we did oust was one who Bush had a personal vendetta against, who had nothing to do with the real "weapons of mass destruction development programs" that succeeded in creating a WMD that is poised to kill a bunch of us in ways that are tactically valuable to the overall coordinated strategy of Islamist terrorists. We took out the wrong guy. We are playing extremely poor chess.

[Guest JMT]

But that's not why we went there!  Of course, we're all happier that Saddam (say his name backwards...eerie) is gone.  But the end doesn't justify the means.  And all we've been seeing in the past few weeks is finger-pointing back in forth between the agencies involved.  Goddammit, I see more responsibility taken on "The Apprentice".  Which is a helluva show, by the way.

its a damn good show, and its on tonight! starting to really narrow down.

[ryan2772]

its a damn good show, and its on tonight!  starting to really narrow down.

that chick katrina, from miami, my buddy here @ work is good friends with her. small world...

[Guest JMT]

that chick katrina, from miami, my buddy here @ work is good friends with her.  small world...

the hot one right? yeah her mom actually lives in boca, she uses the Kinkos where a buddy works to print up stuff all the time.

[Guest endymion]

She's my favorite. She's real pleasant to look at.

[Guest antonio]

"Weapons of mass destruction" was a rallying cry that Bush used to lead this country to war.  Now the phrase is a complete embarrassment to Bush.  There were no WMDs in Iraq.  There were WMDs in Morocco.  While Bush was lying to us, a bunch of Islamist terrorists were in the final stages of perfecting their WMD program.

I have a feeling that Bush is going to be avoiding the term "weapons of mass destruction" entirely during the campaign.  You think?

Yeah, I guess he has nightmares and can't sleep with the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" popping in his head

[V. Barbarino]

"Okay, whatever. Even if I agreed with you 100% on how to handle Iraq, it was still the wrong war. We were fighting for the wrong reasons in the wrong place. Lots of our soldiers and some non-zero number of foreign civilians larger than 3000 were obliterated in the process. Horrifying numbers of people have lost limbs but not died. After all of this we didn't make a dent in their ability to attack us. They just proved it. More is coming.

In the overall war on terrorism, Islamist terrorists - 1, United States - 0"

__________________________________________________

dumbest post ever!!!!!!!!!!!

1. elimate places terrorists can hide , Iraq, Afganistan etc

2. Give people a better life, Afganistan, iraq etc

3. install democracy in middle east, two are there now

4. provide economic help to the people, we did, no more billions for saddam

5. let countries know we mean business, Libya

6. fix the isreal thing.. arafat isn't going to live another 5 years.. soon, things will be better. hes a crook and terrorist himself. btw, no more money from iraq to blow up people

7. democracy works, in a couple years, we will have

afganistan, iraq, iran, jordan is already our friend, india, loves us, pakistan is a great partner etc

the glass is half full, not half empty..

iraq and the bombs in spain have zero to do with each other, and spain knew about them before hand and fucked up like we did on 911. they won't make the same mistake twice..

call Bush what you want, but after 911, we haven't had any killings here..

[Guest antonio]

...................yet

[Guest antonio]

.....please tell me you touched on wood when you posted that........

[V. Barbarino]

...................yet

whats your point? you think not going to iraq, and haveing kerry in office is going to prevent a bunch of nuts who belive in 72 virgins will blow you when you kill scores of inocent people from blowing us up???

what could we have done to prevent future attacks? <<< every night someone goes on oreilly factor and bills makes them look dumb... Bush is right, we gotta take the fight to them, and thats is what we are doing.. better there, then here..

[ryan2772]

i agree, that the glass is half full. i think in a couple of years the kinks will get worked out. also, there hasn't been any attacks on u.s. soil since 9/11. that is a good thing. but i think the evil bastards realize that they don't have to attack us directly to get to their objective. and about israel...have you noticed it's never discussed anymore? our gub'ment is just hoping it goes away. maybe a huge wall will work there.

[Guest endymion]

1. elimate places terrorists can hide , Iraq, Afganistan etc

The terrorists were hiding in Morocco while we were bombing Iraq and Afghanistan.

2. Give people a better life, Afganistan, iraq etc

Republicans hate spending enormous amounts of money on humanitarian issues unless they are fumbling for rationalizations. If we wanted to spend our attention and resources on improving lives then we would be helping African AIDS victims.

3. install democracy in middle east, two are there now

One in Afghanistan, which is losing ground to the Islamists already. The one in Iraq does not yet exist and it might not ever if Islamist terrorists can succeed in starting up a civil war.

4. provide economic help to the people, we did, no more billions for saddam

Very high unemployment. Very high domestic fuel prices. Massive overseas job losses. We provide our economic assistance now to the third world in the form of exported American jobs to Pakistan and India. We don't have much money left over to throw at Iraqis out of the goodness of our hearts.

5. let countries know we mean business, Libya

Let the whole world know that we lie, cheat, and kill to get our way. Spain. Poland. France.

6. fix the isreal thing.. arafat isn't going to live another 5 years.. soon, things will be better. hes a crook and terrorist himself. btw, no more money from iraq to blow up people

The war in Iraq is a divisive issue that made the Israeli/Palestinian problem far worse.

7. democracy works, in a couple years, we will have

afganistan, iraq, iran, jordan is already our friend, india, loves us, pakistan is a great partner etc

Democracy works when people believe in it. Our actions are giving people in developing nations good reason not to trust the democracy that we are prostlytizing any more than they trusted the communism that the Soviets tried to push on them. They see imperialism, not democracy.

iraq and the bombs in spain have zero to do with each other

Exactly my point.

[Guest antonio]

No, I just believe that everything should've been worked out with more international support and for the right reasons.  Not go ahead and invade a country, lead it into total anarchy, don't know what the hell to do, and then  go crying out to the U.N. for support, especially after using false evidence to prove the existence of WMDs in Iraq while the U.N. inspectors were there physically looking for them.

....and, by the way, let me tell you that O'Reilly is one of the dumbest and most ignorant pricks in the whole U.S. (along with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld). They make me sick!!!

Guys like them should not belong in our country, and are the type of people that you do not want representing us in front of the world. (they make people hate the U.S.)

[Guest antonio]

Yup, Techjunkie is right once again. Resources are being wasted on the wrong issues.

[V. Barbarino]

1. elimate places terrorists can hide , Iraq, Afganistan etc

The terrorists were hiding in Morocco while we were bombing Iraq and Afghanistan.

2. Give people a better life, Afganistan, iraq etc

Republicans hate spending enormous amounts of money on humanitarian issues unless they are fumbling for rationalizations.  If we wanted to spend our attention and resources on improving lives then we would be helping African AIDS victims.

3. install democracy in middle east, two are there now

One in Afghanistan, which is losing ground to the Islamists already.  The one in Iraq does not yet exist and it might not ever if Islamist terrorists can succeed in starting up a civil war.

4. provide economic help to the people, we did, no more billions for saddam

Very high unemployment.  Very high domestic fuel prices.  Massive overseas job losses.  We provide our economic assistance now to the third world in the form of exported American jobs to Pakistan and India.  We don't have much money left over to throw at Iraqis out of the goodness of our hearts.

5. let countries know we mean business, Libya

Let the whole world know that we lie, cheat, and kill to get our way.  Spain.  Poland.  France.

6. fix the isreal thing.. arafat isn't going to live another 5 years.. soon, things will be better. hes a crook and terrorist himself. btw, no more money from iraq to blow up people

The war in Iraq is a divisive issue that made the Israeli/Palestinian problem far worse.

7. democracy works, in a couple years, we will have

afganistan, iraq, iran, jordan is already our friend, india, loves us, pakistan is a great partner etc

Democracy works when people believe in it.  Our actions are giving people in developing nations good reason not to trust the democracy that we are prostlytizing any more than they trusted the communism that the Soviets tried to push on them.  They see imperialism, not democracy.

iraq and the bombs in spain have zero to do with each other

Exactly my point.

you really need to listen to yourself.

you are a true anti american wack job..

we take over a country in 3 weeks, and a year later, we expect a kinkos and star bucks on every corner of bagdad...

dude, regan was right in germany, and bush is right in the middle east. in a couple years, the lives of those people are going to be far better than the last 100 years, and they can appreicate life and be a productive part of humanity... on top of that, every country knows, we got the money, and fire power to come in at will. Libya, was the first to fall, and others will be the same. And other countries will never let them in since they know we would fuck them up..

btw, i can't wait till kerry is prez, you will bash him up and down..

[V. Barbarino]

....and, by the way, let me tell you that O'Reilly is one of the dumbest and most ignorant pricks in the whole U.S.

dumb? lol

btw, the UN wa paid off by saddam with his oil for food program. thus why we didn't get a full vote, KPMG is putting out a report soon, of where all the money went.  you clowns will just spin it with more bush bla bla bla bla bla.. un was paid off, thoses are the facts.. .