[Vision2020] Free Speech and Crazy Bush

[joeh]

"Melynda Huskey" <mghuskey@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Joe reminds us that there is classified information--perhaps related to 
> missing chemical and biological agents--to which we ordinary citizens can> 't 
> have access, which might affect the Bush administration's urgency to go t> o 
> war.

The report from Hans Blix has some pretty scary stuff in it, even without the presence of additional classified information:

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=5835

Or do a search on http://news.google.com/ for the words "iraq" "vx" "blix"

> That argument is a substantial one, but it depends very heavily on the 
> trustworthiness and acuity of the administration, doesn't it?  An 
> untrustworthy person might make the "top secret" argument to conceal an 
> *absence* of evidence, or might manipulate facts to produce false or 
> misleading evidence.  And a not-terribly-bright or self-serving or 
> determined person might see a smoking gun where another saw progress towa> rd 
> a reasonable goal.

Absolutely correct.

> I have not yet seen in President Bush's actions on any front--economic, 
> educational, civil rights, the separation of church and state, HIV/AIDS, > the 
> so-called "war on terror"--reason to find him either intellectually gifte> d 
> or over-burdened with integrity.  So naturally, I don't trust him when he>  
> asks me to believe that he's got a good reason to attack Iraq.

The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.

	-Winston Churchill-

> As a pacifist, of course, I never saw a war I thought was necessary, just> , 
> or right.  But this particular instance seems to me more atrociously wron> g 
> than most.

I'm dumbfounded at this.  You would not have taken up arms to stop the cattle cars hauling Jews to the camps?  Or you just think there would be a 'better way'?  Keep in mind that one machine gun, a few thousand rounds of ammo, and one heartless sociopath to pull the trigger trumps 10,000 people at the candlelight vigil.  Hiding or assisting the Jews, even distributing anti-war leaflets (read about The White Rose Society), in Germany during the early '40s was punishable by death.

I'm not at all convinced that war with Iraq is necessary, just, or right.  I just can't convince myself that it is unnecessary, unjust, and wrong.  How did you convince yourself of that?  And did you convince yourself of that when we were doing the bombing in Bosnia?

I'm more inclined to agree with Mr. Churchill:

----
If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without 
bloodshed, if you will not fight when victory will be sure and not so 
costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the
odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival.  There may be a
worse case.  You may have to fight when there is no chance of victory, 
because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

	-Winston Churchill-
----

-joe-