GREAT ANALYSIS of Bush*s 9/7 speech by Stephen Zunes in Common Dreams

[Martin Eden]

This is a MUST READ!!!

Stephen Zunes gives direct responses to quotes from the speech, and thoroughly exposes the lies and hypocrisy.

(sorry, no snips -- just read it!):
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0908-09.htm

[ewagner]

1. Excellent analysis

Not as partisan as the analysis done by Will Pitt, but equally damning.

[ixion]

2. a great read

Zunes reminds me a bit of Chomsky.

[duhneece]

3. What will you do with this?

I feel touched by the beauty of such clear, logical writing. It makes me want to share this article with the world. I will start by taking copies to the local library, coffee shops, community college. And try to write a letter to the editor summarizing his thoughts.

[Resistance]

4. yep, great article

thanks for posting it.

[papau]

5. Not as solid as the Commondreams - even wrong - but great tone!

I got this in a spam email. Ignore any minor errors of fact such as the sleeper cell put down and enjoy - The dashed lines are in between Bush's words and the annotations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------September 8, 2003 President Bush's Address to the Nation - Following is a transcript of President Bush's address to the nation last night, as recorded by The New York Times:

Good evening. I have asked for this time to keep you informed of America's actions in the war on terror.
Nearly two years ago, following deadly attacks on our country, we began a systematic campaign against terrorism. These months have been a time of new responsibilities and sacrifice and national resolve and great progress.
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Note well the immediate connection between Iraq and September 11.
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America and a broad coalition acted first in Afghanistan, by destroying the training camps of terror and removing the regime that harbored Al Qaeda.
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Wrong. They are still there, and getting more active by the day, and recruiting well in Pakistan.
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In a series of raids and actions around the world, nearly two-thirds of Al Qaeda's known leaders have been captured or killed, and we continue on Al Qaeda's trail. We have exposed terrorist front groups, seized terrorist accounts,
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Except for the ones that operate on the same offshore banking zones used by Enron and other mega-corps from America. Thank you, Senator Gramm
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taken new measures to protect our homeland,
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Such as stealing money from cops, firemen, EMTs
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and uncovered sleeper cells inside the United States. And we acted in Iraq, where the former regime sponsored terror,
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Proof?
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possessed and used weapons of mass destruction,
v
Posessed? Past-tense? When do we start bombing Germany and Japan? After all, if we're going to make war on nations for things they did way in the past, we can start with the two biggies from the Axis, right? Liar.
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and for 12 years defied the clear demands of the United Nations Security Council.
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To do what? Disarm? THEY WERE DISARMED!
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Our coalition enforced these international demands in one of the swiftest and most humane military campaigns in history.
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It's humane if you live in Paul Bremer's house. It's brutal if you don't. Liar.
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For a generation leading up to September the 11th, 2001, terrorists and their radical allies attacked innocent people in the Middle East and beyond, without facing a sustained and serious response.
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Because we were arming and funding them.
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The terrorists became convinced that free nations were decadent and weak. And they grew bolder, believing that history was on their side. Since America put out the fires of September the 11th and mourned our dead and went to war, history has taken a different turn. We have carried the fight to the enemy.
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Again, Iraq = September 11. The dead remember, you ass.
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We are rolling back the terrorist threat to civilization, not on the fringes of its influence, but at the heart of its power.
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In Baghdad, where there were no terrorists before our war. NOTE WELL: He is actually talking about the Middle East when he says "The heart of its power." Holy war, here we come. But democracies don't start agressive wars. Erm...
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This work continues. In Iraq, we are helping the long-suffering people of that country to build a decent and democratic society at the center of the Middle East.
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BWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH HAH HAH HAH...There is and never will be anything even vaguely resembling democracy in Iraq as long as this clown is in Washington.
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Together we are transforming - transforming a place of torture chambers and mass graves into a nation of laws and free institutions.
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Nation-building, George? And by the way, weren't those mass graves holding the people your dad cajoled into revolting against Saddam in 1991, right before he left them to get slaughtered. Everyone trusts the Bushes these days.
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This undertaking is difficult and costly - yet worthy of our country, and critical to our security.
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POS. There is nothing worthy about this, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with our security. It has everything, however, to do with George's election security in 2004.
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The Middle East will either become a place of progress and peace, or it will be an exporter of violence and terror that takes more lives in America and in other free nations.
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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand killing lots of innocent people will help the process.
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The triumph of democracy and tolerance in Iraq, in Afghanistan and beyond would be a grave setback for international terrorism. The terrorists thrive on the support of tyrants and the resentments of oppressed peoples. When tyrants fall and resentment gives way to hope, men and women in every culture reject the ideologies of terror and turn to the pursuits of peace. Everywhere that freedom takes hold, terror will retreat.
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But there is no freedom in Iraq or Afghanistan, only rage and death and despair. Where rage and death and despair take hold, there will be terrorism. Well done, George.
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Our enemies understand this. They know that a free Iraq will be free of them, free of assassins and torturers and secret police.
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Except of course for the American assassins and torturers and secret police.
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They know that as democracy rises in Iraq, all of their hateful ambitions will fall like the statues of the former dictator. And that is why, five months after we liberated Iraq, a collection of killers is desperately trying to undermine Iraq's progress and throw the country into chaos.
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No, George. They just hate you. You killed their children, you destroyed their dignity, you've taken what little they had at all and thrown it into the mud...but you aren't there to take the heat. 19 year old boys and girls are there to take your heat, to die for your lies.
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Some of the attackers are former members of the old Saddam regime, who fled the battlefield and now fight in the shadows.
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Va-Va-Va-Va-Vietnam, Sa-Sa-Sa-Sa-Saigon.
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Some of the attackers are foreign terrorists, who have come to Iraq to pursue their war on America and other free nations.
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WHO WERE NOT THERE BEFORE, WHO WERE NOT ALLOWED TO BE THERE BEFORE.
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We cannot be certain to what extent these groups work together. We do know they have a common goal: reclaiming Iraq for tyranny.
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Wrong. They just want to kick your ass. Iraqis are as nationalistic as Americans, but with 80 million machine guns added to the mix.
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Most, but not all, of these killers operate in one area of the country. The attacks you have heard and read about in the last few weeks have occurred predominantly in the central region of Iraq, between Baghdad and Tikrit - Saddam Hussein's former stronghold. The north of Iraq is generally stable and is moving forward with reconstruction and self-government.
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The north is where the oil wells are. Hmmm...
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The same trends are evident in the south, despite recent attacks by terrorist groups.
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The same trends are evident in the south, except for the attacks, which means the trend isn't evident at all.
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Though their attacks are localized, the terrorists and Saddam loyalists have done great harm. They have ambushed American and British service members who stand for freedom and order. They have killed civilian aid workers of the United Nations who represent the compassion and generosity of the world. They have bombed the Jordanian embassy, the symbol of a peaceful Arab country. And last week they murdered a respected cleric and over 100 Muslims at prayer, bombing a holy shrine and a symbol of Islam's peaceful teachings.
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Nationalistic, George- If Allah Himself rolled into Baghdad under the flag of a different nation, the Iraqis would fight Him because he was not Iraqi.
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This violence is directed, not only against our coalition, but - but against anyone in Iraq who stands for decency and freedom and progress.
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No. It is a nascent ethnic civil war. It is also directed at the people who invaded their country
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There is more at work in these attacks than blind rage.
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The ONLY correct thing said in this entire speech.
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The terrorists have a strategic goal. They want us to leave Iraq before our work is done. They want to shake the will of the civilized world. In the past, the terrorists have cited the examples of Beirut and Somalia, claiming that if you inflict harm on Americans, we will run from a challenge. In this, they are mistaken.
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Really? Then why are you going begging to the world to help clean up your mess?
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Two years ago, I told the Congress and the country that the war on terror would be a lengthy war, a different kind of war, fought on many fronts in many places. Iraq is now the central front.
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And a total waste of time, blood, treasure and international goodwill.
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Enemies of freedom are making a desperate stand there and there they must be defeated.
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Enemies of freedom? You mean THE IRAQI PEOPLE???
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This will take time and require sacrifice.
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But not from me. I'm a Bush.
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Yet we will do what is necessary, we will spend what is necessary, to achieve this essential victory in the war on terror, to promote freedom and to make our own nation more secure.
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What's this 'we' crap, white man? 'We' will spend what it necessary? Ya know, there's a few busted-ass things that could use some funding here, like...ohhh...SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE AND A HUNDRED OTHER VITAL PROGRAMS. Nothing about this makes us more secure.
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America has done this kind of work before. Following World War II, we lifted up the defeated nations of Japan and Germany, and stood with them as they built representative governments.
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After going to war against them for far more demonstrable reasons
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We committed years and resources to this cause. And that effort has been repaid many times over in three generations of friendship and peace. America today accepts the challenge of helping Iraq in the same spirit, for their sake and our own.
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So PNAC is now the Marshall Plan? Barf.
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Our strategy in Iraq has three objectives: destroying the terrorists, enlisting the support of other nations for a free Iraq and helping Iraqis assume responsibility for their own defense and their own future.
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You mean (1. Crushing the populace; (2. Getting the world to bail us out; (3. Propping up Ahmad Chalabi and a puppet regime that will do our bidding.
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First, we are taking direct action against the terrorists in the Iraqi theater, which is the surest way to prevent future attacks on coalition forces and the Iraqi people.
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But you just said the enemy was the Iraqi people? What theater? Do they have popcorn?
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We are staying on the offensive,
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
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with a series of precise strikes against enemy targets increasingly guided by intelligence given to us by Iraqi citizens.
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...who lied to you about the WMDs, right? Wasn't that ladt week's excuse? Precision strikes against what? Mud? Huts? Babies?
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Since the end of major combat operations,
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Ya mean "Mission Accomplished"? Ya mean the 'end' that has cost more blood than the actual 'war'?
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we have conducted raids seizing many caches of enemy weapons and massive amounts of ammunition, and we have captured or killed hundreds of Saddam loyalists and terrorists. So far, of the 55 most wanted former Iraqi leaders, 42 are dead or in custody.
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*cough*Saddam*cough*Osama*cough*bullshit*cough*
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We're sending a clear message: Anyone who seeks to harm our soldiers can know that our soldiers are hunting for them.
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They don't seem to be getting the message, George. They seem, in fact, to be bleeding us dry in flesh and finances.
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Second, we are committed to expanding international cooperation in the reconstruction and security of Iraq, just as we are inAfghanistan.
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Please help please help we're so fucked please o please help
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Our military commanders in Iraq advise me that the current number of American troops, nearly 130,000, is appropriate to their mission.
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That's it. Just ?
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They are joined by over 20,000 service members from 29 other countries. Two multinational divisions, led by the British and the Poles, are serving alongside our forces. And in order to share the burden more broadly, our commanders have requested a third multinational division to serve in Iraq.
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They're REMFs, just like you, dog. The Americans are the ones getting shot.
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Some countries have requested an explicit authorization of the United Nations Security Council before committing troops to Iraq.
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Because they wisely don't want your dumb ass in charge.
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I have directed Secretary of State Colin Powell to introduce a new Security Council resolution, which would authorize the creation of a multinational force in Iraq, to be led by America.
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Please help, please help- we're so screwed, please-o-please help.
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I recognize that not all our friends agreed with our decision to enforce the Security Council resolutions and remove Saddam Hussein from power. Yet we cannot let past differences interfere with present duties.
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"Present duties." We crap on the floor. Now someone else can get the mop. I love it.
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Terrorists in Iraq have attacked representatives of the civilized world and opposing them must be the cause of the civilized world.
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Dastardly. Bush is using the bombing of the UN, which was HIS FAULT, to demand international help for his mess. Amazing. How many dead people has this guy used to get what he wants? We've passed 50,000, I think.
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Members of the United Nations now have an opportunity, and the responsibility, to assume a broader role in assuring that Iraq becomes a free and democratic nation.
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"Responsibility." Clean up my mess
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Third, we are encouraging the orderly transfer of sovereignty and authority to the Iraqi people. Our coalition came to Iraq as liberators and we will depart as liberators.
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ROFL
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Right now Iraq has its own Governing Council, comprised of 25 leaders
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Puppets led by Chalabi
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representing Iraq's diverse people. The Governing Council recently appointed cabinet ministers to run government departments. Already more than 90 percent of towns and cities have functioning local governments, which are restoring basic services.
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Lies. We've been supressing elections over there for a while now
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We are helping to train civil defense forces to keep order and an Iraqi police service to enforce the law, a facilities protection service, Iraqi border guards to help secure the borders and a new Iraqi army. In all these roles, there are now some 60,000 Iraqi citizens under arms, defending the security of their own country, and we are accelerating the training of more.
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Almost all of whom were part of Saddam's gangs
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Iraq is ready to take the next steps toward self-government. The Security Council resolution we introduce will encourage Iraq's Governing Council to submit a plan and a timetable for the drafting of a constitution and for free elections. From the outset, I have expressed confidence in the ability of the Iraqi people to govern themselves. Now they must rise to the responsibilities of a free people and secure the blessings of their own liberty.
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MY FAVORITE PART. We bombed the crap out of them, destroyed their infrastructure, stole their oil, caused terrorists to flood in, and started an ethnic civil war. But it is theior responsibility to deal with it.
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Our strategy in Iraq will require new resources. We have conducted a thorough assessment of our military and reconstruction needs in Iraq, and also in Afghanistan. I will soon submit to Congress a request for $87 billion. The request will cover ongoing military and intelligence operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, which we expect will cost $66 billion over the next year.
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Over and above the billions and billions and billions you've already wasted. Goodbye, 1932 election. Mr. Roosevelt, your table is ready
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This budget request will also support our commitment to helping the Iraqi and Afghan people rebuild their own nations, after decades of oppression and mismanagement. We will provide funds to help them improve security. And we will help them to restore basic services, such as electricity and water, and to build new schools, roads and medical clinics.
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Memo to Americans: NO SOUP FOR YOU.
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This effort is essential to the stability of those nations, and therefore to our own security. Now and in the future, we will support our troops and we will keep our word to the more than 50 million people of Afghanistan and Iraq.
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You've broken your word to them so many times, and so has your father, that only blind children believe you now
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Later this month, Secretary Powell will meet with representatives of many nations to discuss their financial contributions to the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Next month, he will hold a similar funding conference for the reconstruction of Iraq. Europe, Japan and states in the Middle East all will benefit from the success of freedom in these two countries, and they should contribute to that success.
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Please help, please help we're so screwed please-o-please help
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The people of Iraq are emerging from a long trial. For them, there will be no going back to the days of the dictator, to the miseries and humiliation he inflicted on that good country.
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Ah. Irony.
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For the Middle East and the world, there will be no going back to the days of fear, when a brutal and aggressive tyrant possessed terrible weapons.
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Ah. Irony
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And for America, there will be no going back to the era before September the 11th, 2001, to false comfort in a dangerous world.
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Deutchland, Deutchland, uber alles...
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We have learned that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength. They are invited by the perception of weakness.
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Exactly wrong. Our "strength" in screwing around with the world is exactly what caused 9/11. It was also our greatest weakness, and will continue to be for as long as you haunt the White House.
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And the surest way to avoid attacks on our own people is to engage the enemy where he lives and plans.
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Unless we're talking Iraq, where they weren't living and weren't planning
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We are fighting that enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan today so that we do not meet him again on our own streets, in our own cities.
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Iraq = September 11. Yes, the Ba'athists are gonna fight it out on Main Street. Ahhh duuhhh pzzzzcheeeeezzzz...
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The heaviest burdens in our war on terror fall, as always, on the men and women of our armed forces and our intelligence services.
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Bush, you are an AWOL chickenhawk deserter POS. Just for the record.
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They have removed gathering threats to America and our friends, and this nation takes great pride in their incredible achievements. We are grateful for their skill and courage, and for their acts of decency, which have shown America's character to the world. We honor the sacrifice of their families. And we mourn every American who has died so bravely, so far from home.
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It is perhaps most offensive to hear this cad foul the noble spirit of our troops with his lying tongue. It is impossible to dishonor them, really, but this comes close
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The Americans who assume great risks overseas understand the great cause they are in. Not long ago I received a letter from a captain in the Third Infantry Division in Baghdad. He wrote about his pride in serving a just cause and about the deep desire of Iraqis for liberty.
"I see it," he said, "in the eyes of a hungry people every day here. They are starved for freedom and opportunity." And he concluded, "I just thought you'd like a note from the `front lines of freedom.' "
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P.S. Get me home and out of this cloud of depleted uranium, you jackass!!!
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That Army captain, and all of our men and women serving in the war on terror, are on the front lines of freedom. And I want each of them to know, your country thanks you and your country supports you.
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The front lines of freedom. I feel so...free
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Fellow citizens: We've been tested these past 24 months and the dangers have not passed. Yet Americans are responding with courage and confidence. We accept the duties of our generation. We are active and resolute in our own defense. We are serving in freedom's cause and that is the cause of all mankind.

[pfitz59]

6. This was written by Will Pitt and posted in DU last night!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=295972
What goes around comes around!