On contradictory speeches

[MadHound]

The president spoke tonight, on war and peace, foreign affairs and domestic, reconciliation and war. Yet much of the speech was a contradiction.

Obama spoke of the end of combat missions, yet spoke of violence to come. He spoke of troops coming home, yet troops remain. He spoke of peace, yet also called for escalation of war. He spoke of taking care of this nation, yet requesting money and material to prosecute a war elsewhere. He spoke of turning a page, yet there is yet to be an end written on this one.

The Iraq war is not over while our troops are still in country. These "counterterrorism missions" and "advising and assisting Iraq’s security forces" is nothing more than war in a different guise. The president himself said that there will be further bloodshed, further death.

All that has changed is that we have shifted our military focus. Under Bush, the Afghan war was on the back burner, while we blazed away in Iraq. Now the positions are reversed, that's all. Troops from Iraq will soon be shifted to Afghanistan, soldiers who started out in their teens in Iraq will see their twenties blend into their thirties in Afghanistan.

While the president stated that we needed "energy and grit" in solving problems at home, what is truly needed is money, and while we continue to pursue two wars of empire there will be no money to solve those problems at home. We have spent over a trillion dollars on this war, and look to spend trillions and billions more. It is time, if only for our own self survival, to end both of these wars and set about fixing our own country.

In the end, this was no victory speech, nor did it turn a single page. It is nothing but another set of rationalizations and contradictions designed to prod the public into continuing down the path we're on, the path of endless war abroad and boundless misery at home. It is simply more of the same ol', same ol', the military industrial complex ascendant over all else in this country.

[leftstreet]

1. K&R

[EmeraldCityGrl]

2. K&R

[readmoreoften]

3. Big K&R

[MadHound]

4. Kick for the morning n/t

[another saigon]

5. thank you

K&R

[NJmaverick]

6. I guess WW 2 isn't over either, since we have troops in those nations

:eyes:

[MadHound]

8. C'mon, you can do better than that. That's pathetic, even for you

Let me refute your bullshit with one article:

"US solider killed in rocket attack in Iraq

(AP) – Aug 22, 2010

BAGHDAD — An American solider was killed in a rocket attack in southern Iraq on Sunday, the U.S. military said, marking the first American fatality since the last combat unit in Iraq pulled out of the country.

Lt. Col. Bob Owen, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq, said the attack took place while the solider was conducting operations in Iraq's southern province of Basra."

<http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gQNZ-iDlwjFMX9HrXgX7-7y-RuGQD9HOIFPO0>

Name one WWII participant that we're still conducting combat missions on or for. Oh, yeah, there aren't any. Massive FAIL.

[NJmaverick]

9. The truth is not "pathetic" it's simply inconvenient

for those with a personal agenda. As for refuting my point, you are sadly mistaken

[MadHound]

11. And the inconvenient truth is

We're still fighting a war in Iraq. Soldiers are still fighting and dying. Money is still be spent needlessly and wastefully in Iraq.

Does any of this go on in Germany of Japan? No, it doesn't.

[LWolf]

7. k&r

[Javaman]

10. Very well done! nt

[MadHound]

12. Thank you, n/t