Cigarettes and jackoff mags are surely doing well because of long deployments in Iraq and S.A.[/quote]
Wouldn’t they Jack off no matter where they were?[/quote]
True, but there’s a LOT of smuggling of nudie books that goes on in a war zone. Hell, Mom and Dad gets the boys subscriptions for Christmas.
[quote]
[quote]That’s great.
A mind is a terrible thing. [/quote]
I took that as an insult, but maybe I misread it wrong.
And sorry for being off topic, but there is no logical reason for waging this war other than profits. It’s not just Halliburton, but they are the easy target.[/quote][/quote]
Richard, I will back down a bit here. It was not a hapyhappysmiling thing to say. I’ll admit that. I do not believe you are stupid, but I do believe that there are high roads and low roads to take, and bashing the Halliburton Ho is weak. When you do post seriously in IP, I for one, listen quite carefully, even if I do not always agree.
War for profits. Sure. I’ll buy that, but so what? I doubt this war will lead to the end of capitalism. The best reasons for war are staring us in the face in Africa. I say, let’s go and whip some occupation on them. But then again, government is not a charity.
I cal myself among the most cynical people in the world but I still don’t feel comfortable with this view.
I think, as I’ve said many times, it’s too lte. The war has happened and to leave Iraq in the current state would be almost as big a crime as starting the war. What are the alternatives to staying and sorting it out?
Okay, broadly, yes, I agree. It is obviously about defending a certain political/economic system. In that system profit matters. But what is the alternative?
No. I mean it in the narrow sense. Certain people have vested interests in destruction and reconstruction and manipulated people and events to get lucrative contracts at the expense of a few tens of thousands of human lives. I’m going to keep researching this. If someday I’m found dead in the Dansui river with a face full of buckshot, you’ll know why.
The facts appear to be that the Bush administration destabilized a volatile part of the Middle East largely because of a lack of understanding of its complexities and created a potentially catastrophic power vacuum there. Unfortunately the most aggressive, evil element in Islamic society – Wahhabism – has filled part of that power vacuum with increasingly destructive consequences.[/quote]
The facts appear to be that the Bush administration destabilized a volatile part of the Middle East largely because of a lack of understanding of its complexities and created a potentially catastrophic power vacuum there. Unfortunately the most aggressive, evil element in Islamic society – Wahhabism – has filled part of that power vacuum with increasingly destructive consequences.[/quote]
Hammer Nail Head
We may not like it, but it is true. [/quote]
Yeah, well what if nothing had changed and then the ME ran out of oil in 50 years and the rulers abandoned the area leaving broke desitute angry young arab men?
At least now there’s SOME chance that they will be able to get their country (Iraq) started again.
Iraq was a huge mess before the invasion. If our only interest was lucrative construction contracts, we could have patched things up with Saddam in exchange for construction contracts, and Saddam could have paid for the same from proceeds derived from selling oil to us, which we would have bought as part of the reconciliation.
No. The reasons for going to war have been outlined by President Bush. You may argue that he has not conducted the war well… but, warring for profit doesn’t make any sense at all, IMO.
Tigerman, not wanting to speak for Richardm, I think he means vested interests within the state and not the state as such. The masters of war, as it were.
I don’t think it’s going to come to that. Damn, you make me feel like I’m reading one of those liberal message boards with every poster claiming the FBI follows them and hacks their email.
Oh, and SpooK: my bad, I haven’t been reading this forum long enough to know that about you.
Pick your targets more wisely Trebushie, our man Richardm aint no dunce. Sometimes it really does pay to read back and see people over time.
HG[/quote]
Excuse me if I think that someone living in Taiwan who claims he will be murdered by the government for something or another is making a pretty big claim. I wonder what would happen if I contacted the FBI and told them that some forumosa poster was getting the goods on Bush & Co. Probably…nothing.
Iraq was a huge mess before the invasion. If our only interest was lucrative construction contracts, we could have patched things up with Saddam in exchange for construction contracts, and Saddam could have paid for the same from proceeds derived from selling oil to us, which we would have bought as part of the reconciliation.[/quote]
Good point. However, I think there are serious ethical implications when a President accepts campaign money from an organization that later profits from a war the president has declared. To me, that reeks of corruption, even if it is legal.
Surely, were you GWB, you would have admitted that everything was your fault and how sorry you were that it happened and you wish that you could repay those who died. That might make the Iraqis and crazed muderous Muslims happy.
You know, once you demonize a person, it is imposible to talk about them in an unbiased way.
You should see the clip. He was stumped for a good few seconds searching that great barren brain basin of his looking for the word “evil”, one of his favorite words generally.
