Posts Made By: Tom Rodstrom

The true cost of the Iraq war could be up to two TRILLION dollars!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/usiraqcosts;_ylt=AojhhetWGmI6Eq2VoafhZDVhr7sF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Let's put this into PERSPECTIVE that a kind, compassionate, Christian like yourself can understand.

The cuts to amount to about $50 million per year. Rather than cut PBS funds, let's reinstate the whistle blower that objected to Halliburton billings before she was demoted by your Bush buddies in the Pentagon. If she had just a little backing from this administration, I'm certain that she could easily find at least 50 million in fraud and overcharges from Halliburton alone.

No tax hike, continued fine PBS programming, it's a win win situation for you compassionate conservatives. That is unless you and all your crooked REPU friends object to exposing corporate fraud against the taxpayers of this country.

Do you ever read what others post?

JB >>> "The enemy wants nothing less than to end western civilization. They will kill us all if given a chance."

No kidding, that pretty well spells out what an enemy is and does. The question is "Who is the enemy?" Is all of the Iraqi's (you know, the people we are liberating and introducing to Democracy)? Is it the radical Muslims who are filling the power void after we eliminated Hussein? Is it the Iraqi's who have seen their kinsmen abused by Americans? Just who is the enemy? Isn't that the basic problem with an urban war in a foreign country?

I got a little intelligence myself Saturday. I have been a marshal in the Saint Patrick's Day parade every year for the last 26 years. During the parade preparations I get a chance to talk to quite a few enlisted Marines who volunteer to help. I asked them about Iraq and here is what I got:

1. Iraq is a "cluster _ _ _ _" with no clear guidance from the administration.

2. That the Iraqi culture is tribal and that they don't really want or understand Democracy.

3. Our presence in Iraq has become an occupation as verses a liberation.

The current rumor is that Iraq will soon become a permanent duty station with 1 year assignments.

You seem to take great pleasure disparaging the honorable service of the veterans (dish washers, cooks or who knows what) who do not agree with your world view. Did you learn this from your "Swift Boat" buddies or did you take a page from Karl Rove's playbook?

I take everything YOU say with a grain of salt anyway. If I recall correctly, you are a career bureaucrat who spent most of his life getting your slop from the public trough and now (when you are not transferring technology to China), you are fattening up on lucrative contracts with the Pentagon. Frankly, the honest opinion of veteran cook or dishwasher is a lot more valuable than the rantings of opinionated ideologue like yourself who shows the same respect for our veterans that your neighbors, those right wing wacko's from Westboro, show our soldiers by demonstrating at their graves.

It's insane to let a story like this out.

There would be more than enough evidence to point the finger to Iran. A 200+ MPH torpedo would probably register on hydrophones halfway around the world and the straights are shallow so there would be plenty of evidence on the bottom.

They don't need to sink a ship. They can just stop production to totally disrupt the world economy.

I have the impression that the average Muslim does not hate America. As I understand it the biggest issue for most Muslims is our support for Israel and now for our mistakes in Iraq. I don't believe that they hate Americans for our culture alone.

I also believe that there large populations of extreme Muslims who are trained to hate us. The Wahabbists in Saudi Arabia is the largest group I know of and perhaps the hardest to deal with since Saudi Arabia is home to Mecca and the largest source of oil in the world. I don't know of other groups, but I'm sure they exist.

I'd be interested in your thoughts on the matter.

It appears that you are involved in interrogations. I'm glad to see someone with the right background doing the job. I suspect that some of the earlier contractors were not qualified. I think they botched the job badly and hurt our efforts by damaging our reputation.

It's a done deal, we just haven't realized it. It's been coming for a long time due to money policy which favors business and the rich over the poor.

My 90 year old mother watches a lot of TV. She told me that she saw a story which claimed that at 29% Bush had the same approval rate as the brutal dictator, Saddam Hussein, while he was in power.