I've done some soul searching and I've decided to vote for Hillary.

History will remember Bush as the worse president in American history, and it will remember him as the man who did nothing good for the country or its people.

I doubt history will remember - and it really should - the political circumstances which allowed such an incompetant and corrupt administration to arise. Nixon could only dream of pulling the sort of crap the current administration has, and has gotten away with.

And why? Because there is no such thing as democrats and republicans, there is only rich and poor. Senators and Congressmen are all rich so they're all on the same side. It is the ineptitude of congress which has allowed the corruption and malpractice of the current administration to continue.

Take war, as an example. When half a million people marched in protest against the Vietnam War it began a process leading to its end. When 10 million people marched in protest of the Iraq war it achieved nothing.

Why?

Well said. Praying for your brother to get home safely. God speed. Tell him America is behind him and his efforts. Best of luck

Raz:
You should be careful making assumptions; I'm not a Democrat. I dropped my affiliation with them a decade ago and switched to Independant because they were up to the same stupid tricks that the Reps were. If the Ind's can come up with a viable presidential candidate I may vote for him or her be they a former Dem of a Rep. And I've voted for candidates in many political parties over the years.

As for the reference to me not being a hero. I never made any claim that I was.

There is progress in Iraq. I'm in communication with my brother and saw him for a day this past summer when he was home for a visit. He had a full photo array from Anbar where his job is to make alliances with Sunnis and Shiites who have had it with al Qaeda. What's also apparent from the photos and from my brother's reports is that the province is totally devasted from the years of war. So I'm worried that although some of the immediate problems have been solved, longer term ones may persist. The same way after the Afghantan war when American forces and the Soviets left, but neither side did anything about the devasting effects of the war. As most conceded, it was the post-war climate that helped lead to the rise of the Taliban, the very people whom we recruited (and armed) to help us fight the Soviets.

While it's true there has been some progress in Iraq - it's still relative. According to an AP report today the number of Iraqi civilians killed in October is down from 1023 in September to 905 in October. Indiscriminant mortar attacks has fallen by half for a full three months, so it seems the surge is having a positive effect. But were still talking about 369 of such attacks. When you factor in that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have fled the country, this may also account for the drop in deaths as there just fewer people around to kill.

And you're right, and Clarke made the same point that it wasn't just Bush and the Reps who could have done more to hunt down al Qaeda. But it was the Reps who portrayed themselves as the ones who would solve the problem, and as we speak it's the Reps who still make it seem like it's only the Dems who are weak are terror. It should be pointed out that after the '93 attacks on the WTC, it was the Clinton administration who hunted down the perpetrators, put them on trial where they were convicted and are in prison today.

When you read the 911 report what is evident, and Clarke makes this point, is that when the administration switched from Clinton to Bush the attention to terrorism waned, thus the reason why Ashcroft began to downsize Clarke's counter-terrorism department. Clarke vociferously claimed. And while I was wrong the he didn't tell Rice in person about hundreds of Americans possibly dying on our soil, he did put it in a memo as he was finding it harder and harder to for the Bush administration to take him seriously.

And you're right the PDB never said anything about planes as bomb, that part was removed before it was given to the President. One wonders why. But given the other warnings about radical muslims wanting to only wanting to steer planes, one who've hoped they could have put it all together. It's remarkable that the heros who stopped flight 93 from reaching it's probable DC target were unable to get into the cockpit of the plane and possible re-gain control of the plane. But they couldn't because the door was locked.

The PDB report (Presidental Daily Breifing) stated Al-Qaeda was planning a terrorist act against America. It was vague , it did not state airplanes did not give any specifics. Like I said before, could more of been done to prevent 9/11? Yes it can. Not only by the President administration but by previous administrations. I have a problem with people who want to dump 30 years of turmoil in the mideast against the USA all on President Bushs' lap. While there is progress in the war in Iraq the democrats refuse to accept it. They are so invested in defeat it will be hard for them to accept any good news.

Raz:
From the "911 Commission Report:

"On the day of the meeting [September 4], Clarke sent Rice an impassionate personal note. He criticized US counterterrorism efforts past and present. The "real question" he wrote, was "are we serious about dealing with the al Qida [sic]threat?... Decision makers should imagine themselves on a future day when the CSG has not succeeded in stopping Al Qida attacks and hundreds of Americans lay dead in several countries, including the US" (p. 212)

From the Chapter titled, "The systems was blinking read", the section titled "High probability of near-term 'spectacular attacks;" ..." On June 25 [2001] Clarke warned Rice and Hadley that six seperate intelligence reports showed al Qaeda personnel warning of a pending attack ... On June 28, Clarke wrote Rice that the pattern of al Qaeda activity indication attack planning over the past six weeks had 'reached a crescendo" (p. 257)

The Presidential Daily Bried on August 6, 2001 was titled: "Bin Lauden Determined to strike the US"

With regards to the 19 attending flight schools and the warnings that were filtering up, "Other instructors who worked with Hazmi and Mihdhar remember them as poor students who focused on controlling the aircraft in flight but took no interest in takeoffs and landings" (p. 222)

So why aren't you joining up? I ask because there are many soldiers who are on 2nd and 3rd deployments. Like my brother who volunteered to go back. Maybe if more people who think we should have this war are willing to go there, then the burden won't fall on the shoulders of a the same soldiers. I have every right to ask the question.

John Kerry is credited with turning is patrol boat around at a time when they were taking fire from the Vietgong. He did so to rescue one of his soldiers who had fallen into the water, and I believed was wounded. He was given a medal for the action. His soldier of course has always been thankful for Kerry's action.

First of all Richard Clarke never went to Rice a week before Sept 11 and scolded her asking: What will it take you people to do something, an attack on Americans, possible on American soil and resulting in the death of perhaps hundreds.
That is a lie. There was no report of terrorist using planes to crash into building either.
Second of all where do you get off saying you cannot support the war if you didn't serve in the Military. Good example is John Kerry. He served and he couldn't lead a platoon of soldiers to the dinner table. Gimme a break with that BS. You all have the same talking points. I know soldiers who were in the military for 15 years and never saw action, so does that mean they don't know what they are talking about. You want to know why the democrats are going to get defeated in '08? You one of the reasons why. Keep up the good work buddy. Your brother is an American hero. You..........your a different story

And this from today's NY Times:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 — As the insurgency in Iraq escalated in the spring of 2004, American officials entrusted an Iraqi businessman with issuing weapons to Iraqi police cadets training to help quell the violence.

By all accounts, the businessman, Kassim al-Saffar, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, did well at distributing the Pentagon-supplied weapons from the Baghdad Police Academy armory he managed for a military contractor. But, co-workers say, he also turned the armory into his own private arms bazaar with the seeming approval of some American officials and executives, selling AK-47 assault rifles, Glock pistols and heavy machine guns to anyone with cash in hand — Iraqi militias, South African security guards and even American contractors.

“This was the craziest thing in the world,” said John Tisdale, a retired Air Force master sergeant who managed an adjacent warehouse. “They were taking weapons away by the truckload.”

Activities at that armory and other warehouses help explain how the American military lost track of some 190,000 pistols and automatic rifles supplied by the United States to Iraq’s security forces in 2004 and 2005, as auditors discovered in the past year.

************************************
Tisdale's comments were an understatement. Rather than "craziest" I would have said "the most incompetent". Just more of the same from an administration without clue. SP

According to the 911 commission, Richard Clarke (a Republican) went to Rice a week before Sept 11 and scolded her asking: What will it take you people to do something, an attack on Americans, possible on American soil and resulting in the death of perhaps hundreds. When the man in charge of counter terrorism is ignored and has his department de-funded, that doesn't speak of an adminstration that's on top of things. Rather an adminstration that was lax. There could be no gaurantee, that we could have stopped the attacks of that day, but it's pretty apparent that they could have done more. And you can complain about the Democrats all you want it doesn't change the fact that Bush was asleep at the wheel.

By the way, those of you who are still strong supporters of the war but do so from the safety of your home ... a question: When are you signing up to go? I ask because my brother volunteered to go back to Iraq and is there as I write. He's a marine colonel. I could put in a good word for you and you could be there in weeks. If you're not tough enough to be in the Marines, the Army is taking anybody these days. Go to www.Goarmy.com and make an appointment to meet a recruitment officer. Let me know when you sign up.

So what is the deal with this rating system? I've seen all conservative comments marked with many negatives and the liberal statements with positives. One of Raz's comments had more than 3 negatives and was removed. So this is basically a way to silence anyone with a non ultra left wing liberal viewpoint? Ha, I love liberals and their warped idea of free speech.

Democrats, "Do as I say, not as I do."