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<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4>Joan writes:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>(BTW, Doctors Without Borders has withdrawn its personnel
from that country because the U. S.-backed government of Hamid Karzai
cannot keep them safe. The Taliban is resurgent, warlords again
control most of the provinces, and Afghanistan will this year produce a
bumper crop of opium. Happy days are here again in needle parks around the
globe. And where do you think that drug money will go? Guns?
Terrorists? To buy nuclear bombs from the failed states of the ex-Soviet
Union? So much for the American attention span.) </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4>Excellent point! And another reason
not to have invaded Iraq: We need far more troops, support,
reconstruction, and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan to finish what we started
(with perhaps justification) there.</FONT></DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4>
<DIV><BR>Wayne</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Art Deco (Wayne Fox)<BR><A
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">deco@moscow.com</A><BR></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=auntiestablishment@hotmail.com
href="mailto:auntiestablishment@hotmail.com">Joan Opyr</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020 Moscow</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, August 12, 2004 12:53
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Re: Courageous
Barbara Lee!</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Ted writes:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">>We can get as nuanced as we want, but I knew with
certainty, as I think anyone studying the intentions of the Bush
>administration and the PNAC ideology made clear in the 1990s would know,
that Bush was going to invade Iraq, no >doubt. So the distinction
between granting the threat of the use of force or the actual use of force is
somewhat >meaningless when you know the intention is to use this granted
authority to go to war. And I think a careful reading of >the
authority granted did not forbid the use of force, only allowing threats, so
Joan, where is the reality in your >distinction? Let's say I know the
guy with the boxing gloves will cross that line no matter what his opponent
does and >beat him up? Do I still grant him authority to use
threats? Paul O'Neill from the W. Bush administrations early days
>reported the focus on invading Iraq was active before
9/11.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">Let's not get confused. These aren't my arguments,
Ted; they're John Kerry's. I would not have voted to grant Bush the
authority to use force. I was out protesting both before and
after. Now, would I have voted to grant Clinton the authority to use
force? Perhaps. Under those circumstances, I might have had
cause to believe that war was a final resort, not an inevitability. Then
again, I might not. I wasn't happy with Clinton's decisions
regarding Kosovo and Bosnia, nor yet Somalia. I haven't said that I
agree with Kerry's reasoning on this point, just that I understand it,
and I used the boxing analogy to explain it. I've also pointed out
that Kerry has not changed his stance despite strong public opposition to
the Iraq war. This doesn't exactly endear him to Deaniacs like me, but
it does seem to me a principled consistency. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">I admit that, on the ground, a principled consistency
might be indistinguishable from a foolish one, but as we've been
governed these last three-and-a-half years by self-evidently small-minded
hobgoblins, that's a chance I'm willing to take. Who knew that Bush
would make such a hash of Iraq? Some guessed; most didn't have a
clue. Many, myself included, thought Iraq was rather beside the
point. We were still thinking about Osama bin Laden and
Afghanistan. (BTW, Doctors Without Borders has withdrawn its
personnel from that country because the U. S.-backed government of Hamid
Karzai cannot keep them safe. The Taliban is resurgent,
warlords again control most of the provinces, and Afghanistan will this year
produce a bumper crop of opium. Happy days are here again in needle
parks around the globe. And where do you think that drug money will
go? Guns? Terrorists? To buy nuclear bombs from the failed
states of the ex-Soviet Union? So much for the American attention
span.) </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">Would it be better to be Barbara Lee? Of
course! I'd much rather be right than reasonable.</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">Yours sincerely,</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">Joan Opyr/Auntie
Establishment <BR>Agnostic Peacenik
Cynic</P></FONT></FONT><BR clear=all>
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