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I think it was the right thing to do,

Why? Right does not mean its sensible.

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but if the world would have taken a brave decision and gave a wider support to US and UK, than the iraqis had had less legitimization to go on using terror now agains US.

Brave? That wouldnt be the adjective I would use.

Why is what the Iraqis doing constitute terrorism?

The USA is an occupying power which invaded Iraq in violation of international law. Which means that the act of invasion was a crime which therefore makes what the Iraqi's do against the USA quite legitimate resistance. Or if you wanted to be legalistic, since there was never a real end to conflict, their ruler Saddam Hussein never resigned office and we are told the Iraqis who carry out the attacks are "Baathist elements" soldiers, secret police and para-militaries they are only carrying out appropriate military activities and if they were captured and could show they were soldiers they would be required to be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention.

I seem to recall that the British army labelled the Israeli founding fathers as Terrorists. Didn't they do all the same things the Iraqis do, blowing up Hotels, ambushes of British patrols?

Or even better lets go back to the founding fathers of the United States, rebelling against their sovereign lord King George. Wouldnt they be quite legitimately labelled terrorists.

look on the bright side, if we keep f**king up in iraq, we may get a new administration (not like we elected this one)

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Originally posted by ResonantDrag look on the bright side, if we keep f**king up in iraq, we may get a new administration (not like we elected this one)

Newsflash: Abe Lincoln didn't win a majority of the popular vote either. Isn't that a tired statement? Or perhaps you think Lincoln was an illegitimate president?

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Originally posted by Shakka Newsflash: Abe Lincoln didn't win a majority of the popular vote either. Isn't that a tired statement? Or perhaps you think Lincoln was an illegitimate president?

sorry, didn't mean to make anyone cry

Waaaaaahhhh!

Like it's really that hard to figure out.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....storyID=3620338

"Pokin' at the hornets nest."

Latest Iraqi gallup polls:

Poll: Most in Baghdad Want Troops to Stay
Tue Oct 14, 1:53 AM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!


By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - When Gallup set out recently to poll Baghdad residents, the biggest surprise may have been the public's reaction to the questioners: Almost everyone responded to the pollsters' questions, with some pleading for a chance to give their opinions.


"The interviews took more than an hour to do, people were extremely cooperative with open-ended questions," said Richard Burkholder, director of international polling for Gallup. "People went on and on."


But many of those Iraqis still have sharply mixed feelings about the U.S. military presence.


The Gallup poll found that 71 percent of the capital city's residents felt U.S. troops should not leave in the next few months. Just 26 percent felt the troops should leave that soon.


However, a sizable minority felt that circumstances could occur in which attacks against the troops could be justified. Almost one in five, 19 percent, said attacks could be justified, and an additional 17 percent said they could be in some situations.


These mixed feelings in Baghdad come at a time when many in the United States are urging that the troops be brought home soon.


Almost six in 10 in the poll, 58 percent, said that U.S. troops in Baghdad have behaved fairly well or very well, with one in 10 saying "very well." Twenty 20 percent said the troops have behaved fairly badly and 9 percent said very badly.


Gallup, one of the nation's best-known polling operations, hired more than 40 questioners, mostly Iraqi citizens directed by survey managers who have helped with other Gallup polling in Arab countries. Respondents were told the poll was being done for media both in Iraq and outside their country, but no mention was made that the American polling firm was running it.


To conduct the poll, Gallup did interviews face-to-face in people's homes chosen at random from all geographic sectors of the city, and more than nine in 10 agreed to participate, at least double the response rate for many U.S. telephone polls. Pollsters in the United States have an increasingly difficult time getting cooperation from people called on the phone.


"This is the way we did polling in the United States before telephone ownership got to the point that we could do reliable phone surveys," Burkholder said in an interview with The Associated Press. The poll of 1,178 adults was taken between Aug. 28 and Sept. 4 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.


Burkholder said Gallup plans to do further polling in Baghdad in coming months and hopes eventually to expand throughout Iraq. Gallup plans to release much of the data through its subscription service, the Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing.


Gallup started its operation in Baghdad because it felt Baghdad would have the lowest security risks after the war, but that hasn't turned out to be the case, Burkholder said. Six in 10 Baghdad residents said that within the past four weeks they had been afraid at times to go outside their homes during the day.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm.../baghdad_poll_1

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Retro ...

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But if Americans re-elect Bush, he is going to let Neocons loose to attack Syria and Iran.

I dont know about that, I am sure they and Israel would like that very much but the United States is not all powerful. Its stretched to the limits doing what it does now let alone expand its operations elsewhere.

Why else is the United States clutching at straws trying to get other countries to help with peace-keeping in Iraq?

The United States would need to increase its troop strength if it wanted to put its soldiers in even more countries and it just cant afford to do that as well as tax cuts as well as replacing all its old equipment as well as rebuilding Iraq.

Because the United States is a debtor nation it has to pay for the neo-con dreams via the Bond Market since tax increases are not an option. This it will find increasing difficult to do.

"According to Risk Metrics, a research firm, in July Treasury bonds were, believe it or not, riskier than junk bonds for the first time ever" p72 Sept 27 The Economist

What that means is that the market is finding US Treasuries an increasingly risky investment.

With record low bond yields and the decline in the value of the US dollar the Chinese and Japanese Central Banks (the major buyers of US Treasuries) will have to think a lot harder about their current strategy of buying US dollars and Treasuries to keep the US dollar up.

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Originally posted by Shakka Newsflash: Abe Lincoln didn't win a majority of the popular vote either. Isn't that a tired statement? Or perhaps you think Lincoln was an illegitimate president?

I'm sure Lincoln is spinning in his grave at this very moment with the state of his party.

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http://www.discoboomer.com/forums/

Last edited by DaveSZ on Oct-16-2003 at 13:50

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Originally posted by DaveSaenz I'm sure Lincoln is spinning in his grave at this very moment with the state of his party.

As is Jefferson, Adams, Hancock, etc.

We've gone back to the ways of the mother country we tried so desperately to break from.

And people like to say that America is non-Imperialistic. LMAO.

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"Learn, child, to catch a hint through whatever agency it may be given. 'Sermons may be preached through stones." - Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Letters from the Masters of Wisdom, first series, p. 74, letter 31