2004-7-13 04:23:00
Robert:
As far as the statement about Iraq being liberated and the Iraqi people now being free is concerned, it would be laughable if it were not so sad.
The Iraqi people are now free, free to be a part of the 60 percent unemployed and free to watch Halliburton import thousands of foreign laborers to "rebuild" Iraq.
JJ:
If you want to criticize your own country and president you should at least have the consideration to do it with correct information. With correct information you may not have to serve as such an attack dog and a negative force.
The unemployment figure you cite was believed to be true before and right after the war. Since then the employment figures have improved dramatically with current estimates as low as 25%. If progress continues then imagine how good it will be in a couple years.
Robert:
They are "free" to watch the wholesale privatization of their nation's resources, infrastructure, economy and everything in-between by the same U.S. multinationals importing labor. But, the Iraqi people have been liberated.
JJ:
Privatization sounds great to me. Surveys show that the majority of Iraqis think they are better off now than before the war.
Robert:
They are free to see their fellow citizens subject to arrest, detention, torture, and murder in the same prisons that Saddam used for the very same purposes. But they have been liberated and are now free.
JJ:
There are abuses in every war. The handful of abuse in Abu Ghraib was nothing compared to what the Iraqis suffered under Saddam Hussein or even during the Vietnam War or World War II.
Robert:
They are free to wonder, with all the money Halliburton has been paid, when they will have potable water, electricity more than 8 hours a day.
JJ:
The Potable water supply before the war was 13 million liters a day. The current level is 22 million liters a day, a dramatic increase.
Prewar electrical output was 4400 megawatts. After the war it went down to 3193 megawatts. It has now risen to 4292 megawatts, very close to the prewar condition. It would be much higher if not or the sabotage of the terrorists. As soon as they are contained there will be great improvement in this area. Another item to consider is that numerous old plants are being torn down to build new ones. In the interim there will be shortages in certain areas. Many projects that will improve life in Iraq are hindered or at a standstill because of the danger posed to the companies working there by the terrorists.
There is no other company in the world with the range of skills required for different work as Halliburton. I have no problem with people getting paid for what they do.
When the oil fields were set on fire in the first Gulf War some predicted that there was no way to put them out and we may suffer a nuclear winter. Halliburton figured out a way to do it, perhaps doing more to save the environment than any company in history. We need to look at the good large corporations do as well as the bad.
Robert:
They are free to wonder about this and much more. They are free to wonder why Americans pay no attention to their own General Accounting Office reports that clearly state that Iraq is worse off than before the invasion. (GAO report, June 2004, "Iraq is Worse off Than Before the War Began")
JJ:
It said that Iraqis worse in certain areas and what was not taken into consideration is the benefit of being free from Saddam Hussein. One Iraqi named Pletka said it well: "It is far better to live in the dark than to run the risk that your mother, father, brother, sister, husband or wife would be taken away and never seen again."
There have been great improvements in freedom, food service, telephone service, water, healthcare, schools, hospitals, employment and many other areas.
The physical inconveniences are temporary and nothing compared to the benefit of liberty and the hope for a better future.
Here is a quote: Andy Bearpark, the soft-spoken Briton in charge of the US-led coalition's reconstruction efforts in Iraq, was detailing an impressive list of achievements Wednesday morning.
Phone services, basic sewage, electricity, and oil production have all improved to near prewar conditions. A nationwide poll found that 70 percent of Iraqis say their lives are going well since the US invasion.
Iraq's infrastructure "is roughly back to where we were before the war,'' Mr. Bearpark says. Christian Science Monitor, March 19, 2004
Robert quoting some poor mislead soul named Jack Dalton:
For those willing to use the brain's memory cells, you will recall that in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, not one time was "liberating Iraq" part of the discussion. From beginning to end it was weapons of mass destruction, mushroom clouds over Manhattan, and the link between Saddam-bin Laden and al Qaida. All of which have proven to be false and deliberately so! It was when those "reasons" began to unravel that Bush's adventure morphed in to a war of "liberation."
JJ:
Bush's own words prove this to be false. There were numerous times I heard Bush talk about liberating Iraq before the war and even named the project "Iraqi Freedom."
Here are a few of Bushes words BEFORE the war that I had time to round up:
From the nationally televised State of the Union Jan 28, 2004:
And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country -- your enemy is ruling your country. (Applause.) And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of your liberation. (Applause.)
And as we and our coalition partners are doing in Afghanistan, we will bring to the Iraqi people food and medicines and supplies -- and freedom. (Applause.)
Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity. (Applause.) State of the Union 1/28/03
Speaking to the military, Bush said, "We are coming with a mighty force to end the reign of your oppressor. We are coming to bring food and medicine and a better life. We are coming and we will not stop and we will not relent until your country is free."
"Our victory will mean an end of a tyrant who rules by fear and torture," he said. 3/30/2003
You'll be fighting not to conquer anybody but to liberate people," Bush told the cheering troops. "Wherever you serve or wherever you may be sent, you can know that America is grateful and your commander in chief is confident in your abilities and proud of your service. Jan 3, 03
And there's no doubt in my mind, when the United States acts abroad and home, we do so based upon values -- particularly the value that we hold dear to our hearts, and that is, everybody ought to be free. I want to repeat what I said during my State of the Union to you. Liberty is not America's gift to the world. What we believe strongly, and what we hold dear, is liberty is God's gift to mankind. And we hold that value precious. And we believe it is true.
And as we work to make the world a safer place, we'll also work to make the world a freer place. 2/09/03
Iraqis are a good and gifted people. They deserve better than a life spent bowing before a dictator. The people of Iraq deserve to stand on their feet as free men and women, the citizens of a free country.
This goal of a free and peaceful Iraq unites our coalition. And this goal comes from the deepest convictions of America. The freedom you defend is the right of every person and the future of every nature. The liberty we prize is not American's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity.
The Army Special Forces define their mission in a motto, "To liberate the oppressed". Generations of men and women in uniform have served and sacrificed in this cause. Now the call of history has come, once again, to all in our military and to all in our coalition. We are answering that call.
We have no ambition in Iraq except the liberation of its people. We ask no reward except a durable peace. And we will accept no outcome short of complete and final success. March 26, 2004
JJ:
Perhaps you would like to notify Dalton of this correction.
I hear time and time again that Bush lied about the war. He may have made some mistakes but I cannot find one lie he told. If anyone could find an actual quote from Bush that has been proven to be a deliberate deception, I would like to hear it. If you cannot do this then to say such a thing is extremely mean spirited and damaging to our country and the unification of the people.
Section 83 of the just released from the bi-partisan senate report tells us that there is no evidence that Bush lied or hyped the data from intelligence agencies on WMDs.
The bastards who run our country are a bunch of conniving, thieving, smug pricks who need to be brought down and removed and replaced with a whole new system that we control. Michael Moore
Copyright 2004 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved