I know, many think we should have ignored the threats of Saddam and waited for an attack; and many certainly care nothing about the plight of the Iraqi people under Ba’athist rule (only 15% of the Iraqi population). I suppose those same people were supportive of the small minority who once ruled South Africa. The difference is that the Iraqi people, after 30 years of torture and slaughter, had lost both the will and the means of gaining human rights on their own.

Yeah, right, we found no WMDs, and that is the only reason many choose to remember as the reason for going to war. All we found were (1) newly-manufactured suits to protect Saddam’s troops from their own WMD, unless he was just an eccentric collector of such items, and (2) huge stockpiles of WMD ingredients. (Keep in mind that such weapons lose their effectiveness potential in storage, so the ingredients that we found were not yet mixed). So you’re right, we found no active WMD; only the capacity to produce them within hours.

Saddam was truly an eccentric collector of strange items; WMD ingredients, protective suits, mass graves of dead bodies, and more weapon caches and ammunition dumps than can be imagined. Since he was only an collector (disregarding his history, of course), his repeated threats should have been ignored? Are we really that selfish, or that blind, or that uncaring, or that cowardly? Or is the anti-war effort simply and anti-Bush effort?

The freedom of the Iraqi people was sufficient justification for our actions, just as it was with our 4 wars in the 1990s, and regime change was the consistently stated goal. Take a cue from Bill Clinton, who expressed a necessity for “regime change” in Iraq.

I don’t have a bus, but this weekend I am driving my marine nephew to North Carolina for immediate deployment to Iraq on the 15th. He believes in the mission, and is willing to submit himself to the inherent dangers for our benefit. He entered the Marines after 9/11, he graduated from high school in the “top 10″ of his class, and his parents are fairly wealthy business owners; so he did not enlist either with a need for government entitlements or because he lacks a future in the civilian world. I will be driving his SUV, complete with his ridiculous yellow ribbon, back to his Georgia home. I’m sure that you, in your “heart of hearts,” wish him safety and success.

Commentary: An Urgent Call to Republicans

Hey, Republicans! If you voted for this war, go fight in it.
By Donald Trader

I’d like to put out an urgent call to Republicans to make sure their sons and daughters volunteer for active military service. Uncle Sam needs you. National Guard and Army Reserve recruitment is falling short by some 50%, and it’s getting tougher and tougher for the Marines, the Army and the other services to get the kind of recruit they want. Wait a minute – the Marines and the Army ought to be flooded with volunteers!

I know that George Bush ran as a war president, and his main declaration was that he would stay the course in Iraq and Afghanistan, and wherever he felt military intervention was required. He held one crowded and cheering rally after another on this theme all across the United States, including Tennessee. I saw all those good people on TV waving their American flags and doing high fives. I read many letters in this very newspaper supporting the war, including some from students of fighting age.

Some 59,000,000 Americans voted for George Bush and the Republicans. That includes the majority of the people in Tennessee. So why are we short of recruits to fight in Iraq? We ought to be inundated with enthusiastic volunteers. Tomorrow morning, I’d like to see 59,000,000 SUV’s pulling up in front of Marine Corps and Army enlistment offices. I see Tax Cut Hummers full of happy families, including healthy looking young people, whizzing by U.S. recruitment offices, and I wonder what the problem is: brake failure every time you get close to signing up to fight in a war you supported for a President you elected?

Now if you’re a young Republican who hates taxes and supports the war in Iraq, you can’t get away any longer with a ridiculous yellow ribbon on the back of your car. You’re going to have to pay for the war, and you’re going to have to fight in it. Who did you think was going to do that, if not you? Democrats?

I’ll volunteer to drive busloads of young Republican volunteers to their first military basic training session after they enlist. And there should be a huge number of volunteers; I don’t think Republicans are cowardly blowhards like most Democrats. Otherwise, I’m sorry to say, I’m going to tell my Congressman Lincoln Davis that we need a military draft in this country. The reason is simple: we need to hold people accountable for what they do, and it’s time for Republicans to go face combat and support their Commander in Chief. You voted for it. Now go get in it.

Be careful what you wish for. If the Left manages to get rid of George Bush, they will be left with Dick Cheney - and there may not be enough time to “get” both of them.

I don’t think it is a proper way of using our tax dollars, but I can easily discover worse ways - by searching for some of the ridiculous, self-serving pork that always accompanies “must pass” legislation.

Looking for scandal? It might be time to get into a discussion of the “Oil for Palaces” program. Strangely, in most MSM outlets, the topic is non-existent.

I actually think the Armstrong Williams scandal has the potential to be more damaging to the Bush presidency than Watergate to Nixon, and more impeachable than Clinton’s lying about his indescretions. Sure, Willams has been honest about it AFTER HE WAS CAUGHT. He was more than happy to accept it beforehand. And what has the Bush administration said about it? Nothing, to my knowledge. If they are willing to fund this bit of propaganda about NCLB, who else are they bribing in the media, and for what other issues? Social Security? Iraq? Great way to spend our tax dollars. But will anything be done about it? Probably not with the Republican party in control of virtually everything.

Your comments on the tsunami issue are “right on”.

NCLB merit pay? A version of it was tried here (still), and the results were predictable. The same schools are rewarded each year, and those of us teaching in “less privileged” areas never recieve anything (except harrassment from the State Dept. of Education). Thankfully, most of our teachers entered the field realizing that it is a service, not a means to great riches. I have summer employment that pays 5 times the hourly salary, but, like many teachers, I choose education as a career. It is often not true that “Those who can’t do…teach.”

Armstrong Williams has acknowledged that he had “doubts” about the ethics of accepting the money, and he has admitted that he “crossed the line” and is willing to do whatever is expected of him. The money should be returned by any means necessary, but his personal honestly is quite evident.

By the way, the bet wasn’t meant to be silly, but sincere; I’ve never bought a lottery ticket, and wouldn’t know what to do with one - I would bet on nothing less certain than a 4-inch putt.

Bill

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/07/bush.journalist.ap/index.html

I’ll agree that there is too much name calling between the two parties– neither side is innocent. But I do think criticism of our president is justifiable. You disagree with NCLB and his immigration policies, and others of us dissagree with his war in Iraq.

And to answer a question I’ve seen you ask repeatedly here, I don’t believe there was a set amount Bush should have pledged immediately after the Tsunami disaster. But I don’t think he handled it well in the days after either. Rather than offer the paultry 15 million initially, and upping the ante several times in the next several days, he could have pledged to do all we can to aid the Tsunami victims without giving specifics right away. After finding out the enormity of the disaster, he could have then pledged a more generous amount. Being as defensive as he was in the matter was not very presidential in my view. Criticism with the way he handled it is justifiable if it gets the results we are looking for.

And please forgive my previous “trailer” comment, as it was mearly meant as a silly comment in response to what I perceived as a silly bet. As a teacher, be grateful you don’t live in California like we do. If Governor “Ahnold” gets his way with “merit pay” for teachers, we may end up moving into a trailer ourselves.

The same afternoon, I emailed the DNC with similar expressions of concern. I received a prompt reply, which I now realize should have been very predictable - an e-mail with no words; only an attached “worm,” a program that literally ate up my hard drive. The email was traced back to a section of the DNC Web site by 3 different technicians. I still have the original destructive little devil saved on a CD, and would agree to forward it to anyone who finds the act unbelievable - but not happily or vindictively, and only by request. On that day, I made my decision about the character of each party. The absolute meanness of the “Left” has proven that decision to be correct time and again.

I strongly disagree (redundancy) with current immigration policy, but the President is in a familiar kismet; if the borders were shut down, at least two negatives/criticisms surface immediately - a serious lack of workers to do the low-paying, dirty tasks that so many Americans are unwilling to do, and screaming about violations of the sadred words on the Statue of Liberty, “Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses,” etc. The Left will criticize any move that is made, so President Bush must do something that is not understood by many on the Left - make a decison, live with the predictable criticism, and “work to make it work.” Has anyone noticed the news that seems to be somehow leaking out - an increased number of “detainees” on our Southern border?