[Mishmash] Report: American Troops should stay in Iraq:Churchill's Grandson

[Richard Barth]

Hi, Fred.

At 08:07 PM 5/15/2007, you wrote:
>Dick,
>
>     The thing I am concerned about is all of that genocide by old Saddam.
>All of those mass graves were not something we could continue to overlook.

Saddam was a vicious, murdering dictator; no 
argument there.  But he was not a threat
to us.  Usama bin Laden was, and is, and he's 
still running around loose.  We let him
get away.

>     Additionally, I remain unconvinced that there were no WMDs in Iraq.  We
>messed around at the U.N. for so long that they could have easily loaded
>them on trucks and driven them into Syria.

People can continue to believe in things for 
whose existence no evidence exists, like WMDs.
They can believe that he was trying to buy 
Uranium in Niger, when that has been disproved.
They can believe that he was allied with bin 
Laden, when that has been disproved as well.
They can ignore the Downing Street memo leak, 
which showed that the decision to go to war
in Irag was made without regard to evidence that 
assertions made to support the war were
false.  They can believe that the administration 
actually knew what it was doing there but
if they do, they're part of a minority that 
continues to decrease in size as time goes by
and facts continue to come out.

I respect your viewpoint, Fred, but I'm afraid we 
don't see eye to eye on this one.

Dick

>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Richard Barth" <w3hwn at comcast.net>
>To: "Mishmash" <mishmash at mishmash.net>
>Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 8:00 PM
>Subject: Re: [Mishmash] Report: American Troops should stay in
>Iraq:Churchill's Grandson
>
>
>Susan,
>
>I don't disagree with what you say.  My complaint
>is that individuals are telling us to stay there who aren't there
>themselves.
>
>As to Afghanistan, remember Afghanistan is not
>Iraq.  The U.S. entered Afghanistan because it
>was playing host to the perpetrators of the 9/11
>massacre, Usama and Co.  There were few people,
>including many Muslims I suspect, who disagree
>with what we did there.  Iraq is another
>matter.  If we had spent as much time and effort
>in tracking down Al Quaida as we have spent in
>trying to make a democracy out of Iraq, we
>probably would have caught UBL and his major co-conspirators early on.
>
>Dick
>
>At 03:52 PM 5/15/2007, you wrote:
> > >------- Original Message ------- >From    :
> > Richard Barth[mailto:w3hwn at comcast.net]

> >Sent 5/15/2007 11:26:38 AM
> >To      :> mishmash at mishmash.net >Cc      :
> >Subject : RE: Re: [Mishmash] Report: American Troops should
> > stay in Iraq:Churchill's Grandson > > I'm sure
> > the American troops in Iraq would appreciate
> > additional help >from those Canadians who think
> > it's important that we stay there while they stay home and >make speeches.
>
>
> >For openers, this is not a Canadian war or a
> >NATO war or a U.N. war going on in Iraq, it is a
> >U.S. instigated war begun contrary to a U.N.
> >Resolution and without the sanction of the
> >United Nations. Secondly, our troops (and the
> >troops of several other countries) are in
> >Afghanistan (also a conflict continued by the
> >U.S. after Russia pulled out) as part of NATO.
> >(http://www.nato.int/issues/afghanistan/index.html)
> >The Americans were there blowing that country to
> >kingdom come - and then they set their sights on
> >Iraq and suddenly wernâ?Tt there to any
> >appreciable degree and now NATO is stuck with
> >trying to clean up that particular mess.  Our
> >troops are there on the front line, killing and
> >being killed - though we don't have a fraction
> >of the casualties the U.S. has had in Iraq.  I
> >don't think this is commonly known or reported
> >in the U.S. because a friend in California was
> >amazed to learn this some months ago when I
> >mentioned it. We do not have the military
> >strength in numbers and equipment that the U.S.
> >has so can't be in Afghanistan and Iraq at the
> >same time.  Plus there would probably be a civil
> >uprising here in Canada if it happened - the
> >country is divided over our role Afghanistan as
> >it is. The first Canadian female member of the
> >military ever to be killed in action belonged to
> >my church so I see on a regular basis what war
> >does to families.  Her family is crushed so just
> >because we don't have the same number of
> >casualties does not mean the deaths of these
> >young people go unnoticed. Hope this clears up
> >some confusion.

>Susan

Richard Barth *** W3HWN(at)ARRL.NET *** Silver Spring, MD