Letters to the Editor
Boca Bill
Published Letters: 44
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Do I want to win in Iraq? Do I want the troops out of Iraq?
[Read the article: Cokie Roberts speaks out on the war on behalf of the American people]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sitting at a poker table and down a thousand dollars a prudent player might decide it is better to save his remaining money and walk away from the table. If you ask that same player if he wants to win at poker he will say yes. An experienced poker player knows that these two sentiments are unrelated. They want to win over the long haul but that does not mean you don’t walk away from the table when things are not working. If you thought that the desire to win meant staying at the table until you did win then you would be falling into an emotional trap that earns casinos billions of dollars a year.
You carefully research a stock before purchasing it but the stock, for a variety of reasons, goes down in value. You decide you made a mistake and need to sell. If you are asked if you would like to make money on that stock you would say yes but this does not mean you should keep the stock. Any investor wants to make money on an investment but that does not mean keeping the investment until you make money. The desire to win and the intelligence to cut your loses are two different things.
It is in this manner that I think the media is being truthful when they say that Americans want to win in Iraq but deceitful when they say this means Americans want us to stay in Iraq. You ask just about anyone on the street if they want to win in Iraq and I would bet that the majority would say yes. It would be strange for someone to say they want to lose in Iraq. But the majority, as the poll numbers Glenn sites indicate, also want us to pull our troops out of Iraq. It is in this way that the media is being deceitful and they know it. America wants to leave Iraq but America wants to win therefore we can’t leave until we win. These are two unrelated sentiments and linking them is fraudulent and is a formula for disaster. Of course, the Republicans will use this logic in reverse as we approach the 2008 election by stating that anyone who wants to pull out of Iraq also wants to lose. A reprehensible conclusion but their media lap dogs will lick it up rather than challenge it.
The funny thing is that one of the rare true moments in this Iraq saga was when President Bush declared “mission accomplished” from the deck of that carrier. As much as he has been criticized for this it was probably the only true statement he has ever made about Iraq. Once Saddam’s government was toppled the mission was accomplished and there were no more military victories to be had. The longer we keep our troops in Iraq the more we separate them from this victory and the more it will look like defeat when they return home. You don’t win occupations, you end them.
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Truly Amazing Poll Numbers
[Read the article: Public opinion on Iraq ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The thing that amazes me about these poll numbers is that they occur in such a pro-war media environment. One has to wonder what the poll results would be if the American people consistently got the straight scoop on Iraq and the damage this misadventure has done to our country. This must really aggravate the media elites who, despite their best efforts, have not fooled a majority of the American people.
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Encouraged But…..
[Read the article: Have Republicans given up on FISA and telecom amnesty?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While this is certainly good news I am sure the Republicans are backing off on this because they have a plan to insure that any lawsuits or investigations of the Telecoms will go nowhere. As an example check out this article from the NY Times on Deferred Prosecution.
www.nytimes.com/2008/04/09/washington/09justice.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
This is just but one example of the way the Bush administration guarantees that corporations will not suffer any real consequences for their criminal activities. I expect we will soon be hearing something similar that will give the Telecoms a pass. I also hope we will be as diligent about thwarting such an effort as we have been up to now.
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The Mission Was Accomplished.
[Read the article: Dem candidates weigh in on "Mission Accomplished"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think the irony here is that this event was the only moment of truth that ever came out of the Bush administration on the Iraq war. “Mission Accomplished” was a true statement when you consider that the mission was regime change in Iraq. We won and our troops prevailed. Saddam was now defeated but rather than build on this victory we embarked on an occupancy without end. Each and every day that this occupancy continues our brave soldiers pay for it with their lives and each and every day this occupation continues we further remove them from their victory. This creates a situation that looks more and more like defeat. Is this how we honor our troops? They did their job and completed their mission. It’s long past the time we brought them home.
A further irony here is how the Bush administration shrank away from their only moment of truth on Iraq. Remember how they tried to blame the “Mission Accomplished” banner on our troops? What a cowardly bunch these Bushies are. Our troops and the American people deserve so much better.
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Dick "J Edgar" Cheney
[Read the article: What backroom conniving are Steny Hoyer and the Chris Carney Blue Dogs up to on FISA?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This may have been stated in an earlier post but when I see both Republicans and Democrats mindlessly working to give Bush what he wants regardless of what the American people want I have to wonder who Dick was listening in on all these years. He sure has not disrupted any major terrorist attacks but he has obtained mindless loyalty from both sides of the aisle. I wonder these things because the positions of so many of our congressmen make no sense what so ever and fly in the face of logic and public opinion. So what kind of dirt does our dear Vice President have on so many members of congress and maybe even the President himself?
Makes you wonder…..