Wow. You must be really critical of the Bush administration for negotiating with North Korea, Iran, the Iraqi insurgents and the kidnappers of the Fox reporters.

67 years ago, we knew precisely who the enemy was. Who is the enemy today? The ones who attacked us on 9/11? (still at large and largely unpursued by this administration). Or is it the Iraqis? Or is it muslims?

Are we at war with Oceania, or Eurasia?

Interesting you Bushians constantly drudge up WWII imagery, given that Bush himself appears to be on more of a war footing against his domestic opponents than against the ones who attacked us on 9/11.

To quote Mr Bush yesterday, "The war we fight today is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century." Oh really? If that's true, then how come Mr Bush takes longer and more frequent vacations than any other president in history? President Roosevelt, ailing for much of his presidency, rarely left his desk during WWII, such were the demands of his harrowing times.

Today, Americans are counseled to just go about their business, go to the shopping mall. The only sacrifice asked of them in this supposedly epic struggle is to continue to be good little consumer zombies... and to be periodically very afraid, especially around election time.

"We are at war! ... Now watch me hit this golf ball."

Very inspiring.

Agreed, 1000% !!!

Well said, Mark Noonan.

Best regards,
RPaine

Aaron,

Dodge, weave, obfuscate...if you don't know who the enemy is, then you are literally dumb as a box of rocks - but you do know, which means you have an agenda in pretending you don't.

These lefties will never learn. Appeasement through the course of history has always led to MORE bloodshed and wars down the line.

The same will happen if the lefties take control, they just never do get it and the pain is that much more costly down the road.

Someone should require liberals to take a history course or two.

AirheadInTime,

If your reresentative of the demnuts party and you can't identify the enemy by now...Americans damn sure don't want you in charge of security of the good ol' USofA.

Not sure who the golf ball reference is to.

How bout this one:

"Ooooh Monica...yeah baby faster...Ring..Ring...just a minute gotta answer the red phone"

"What's that...yeah,yeah,whatever...launch the tomahawks into the aspirin factory...later"

"Ok Monica...now where were we...oh yeah, oh baby, oh baby...Ring...Ring...Damn it...now what Betty."

"Yasser Arafat is waiting in the Rose Garden...Tell him I'll be there soon, I am mentoring one of the interns"

"Ok Monica...back to your intern training...Oh Baby"

So AirheadAaron...I bet that's the kind of President who inspires you moonbats.

Do YOU know who the enemy is, Mark? Does Bush?

Bush, and bushbots like you, routinely lump Iranians, Shiite militias, Sunni militias, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban, and Al-Queda into one terrible enemy. Unfortunately, its not that simple. All of these groups have different motives, goals, and strategies. Many of these groups are actually at war with each other; killing or enslaving the West is not even on their to-do list. Yet these differences disappear in your simplistic rhetoric.

Sadly, this childish rhetoric apparently directs US foreign policy. Politically and strategically, many of the Bush administration's failures can be laid at the feet of failing to truly understand our enemy. Any half-sentient being could tell that Saddam's Baathist regime was totally different than Al-Queda. Any half-sentient being could tell that the Shiites in Iraq would align with Shiite Iran. Unfortunately for us, many of our leaders are not half-sentient.

So we're left with this: three and a half years into the Iraq War, and five years into the war on Terror, and you're still talking about undefined, unspecified enemies. Apparently, all you've learned is that these enemies are evil. No s**t, now can you clearly specify which one we are fighting and how we plan on beating them?

"Dodge, weave, obfuscate...if you don't know who the enemy is, then you are literally dumb as a box of rocks - but you do know, which means you have an agenda in pretending you don't."

Mark, the TRUE enemy of this country is this current administration. You and a minority of follwers are failing to keep controll because TRUE Americans can now see through this charade. The lies and propoganda have caught up with BushCo and they are scrambling as we witnessed from Bush and Rumsfeld in the past few days spreading a nonsensical comparison to fascism and WWII. Mark, as President Lincoln once said; You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

Mark -

"...but you do know, which means you have an agenda in pretending you don't."

yes, Mark, I do indeed know our true enemy is. The enemy we should be fighting is religious extremism (including the extremist Christians here at home). Religious extremism is in fact the enemy of all humankind, and is was religious extremists who attacked us on 9/11. Remember?

But how is invading Iraq combatting religious extremism? Iraq was one of the few secular, non-religious, western-leaning governments in the region. Saddam surpressed religious extremists of all stripes.

None of the religious extremists who attacked us on 9/11 came from Iraq. Indeed, nearly all of the extremists involved in the 9/11 hijackings came from Saudi Arabia and other of our supposed "allies". Moreover, the religious extremists behind 9/11 were funded by Saudis, trained in Afghanistan, and are considered heros in extremist Islamic fundamentalist schools in Pakistan. Meanwhile, back in Iraq, Saddam was detaining and torturing fundamentalist extremists.

How do you fight religious extremism? By invading secular states and touching off sectarian violence? In the carnage and violence of Iraq, religious extremism is flourishing.

So I again ask you, Mark: do YOU know who our enemy is? Is it the Shi'a? Or is it the Sunnis? Is it Saudi Arabia? Or what? Or are you one of those "kill em all and let God sort em out" types? What are we doing in Iraq? In the end, it seems clear that Iraq will become a religious fundamentalist state, whether we continue to occupy it for another 10 months or another 10 years.

Is our mission in Iraq a boon or a bane to the religious extremists who attacked us on 9/11? Another way to pose the question is this: is there more religious extremism in the middle east after 4 years occupying Iraq, or less?

Mark!
"the enemy wants to kill or enslave us all"
This is what you need to believe in order to back the presidents plan.
They hate us for a reason, if you can not understand this reason, maybe you should look into the history of our involvement in the middle east. Take a look at Israel, and how we help the Zionists defend the land they forcefully took from the Palestinian people. Sure Israel loves us, at the tune of 3 billion plus a year, they are a willing whore.

By the way, the war of 1948 ended when Israel negotiated its borders with Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. War is always ended in negotiations, otherwise it is called genocide.

They hate us because of the war in Iraq, because we put Saddam in power, because we support Israeli aggression against them, because we spend more money bombing them than anything else, because we believe we have the right to dictate who does or does not have the right to nuclear technology. And believe it or not, it's not us, it's you they hate, neocons, republicans and at the very top, Bush is hated the most.

The enemy want Americans to pull their heads out of their asses and realize what our government is doing. 9-11 was a wake up call. You need to wake up and ask what are we doing that has these people so pissed off.

Guess that just doesn't fit the neocon's way of bashing Democrats, but then again, these are the words of the Republicans you're repeating, it doesn't matter if they can't point to anyone that actually suggested appeasement, propaganda doesn't have to be true, just repeated.

Israel left Lebanon in 2000 and Hezbollah has never stopped attacking Israel; Israel left Gaza and the West Bank and the murderous Islamic thugs have not ceased attacking Israel for a single day.
The Arab invasion of Israel by Egypt, Jordon and Syria ended in 1948 because the pathetic Arab losers had their collective asses handed to them by Israel and they had to bargain away more Arab land for peace. Just like 1968 and 1973. Arabs lose to Israel more than the French lose to everyone else and that’s quite a feat!
Backwards Islamic thugs murder human beings at random because Islamists are murderous animals, and I for one don’t give a fat rat’s ass why they hate civilized human beings; go preach your “why do they hate us” nonsense on the Arab street, I’m sure they’ll let you speak your mind on all things Islam. Just keep tight hold of your head or the thugs will cut it off.
You may not be the enemy, but you sure are enabling the enemy of mankind with your naiveté.

President Roosevelt, 1941: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Busians, 2006: "the enemy wants to kill or enslave us all!! Be afraid, be very afraid! Fear fear fear! OK, now vote for us - cuz if you don't the Islamofascists will kill us all! Fear!"

"The Jews love life, so that is what we shall take away from them. We are going to win because they love life and we love death."
Hassan Nasrallah

So, what part of the Bushians is Nasralla?

Bane - so are you saying we are in Iraq to combat Nasrallah and Hezbollah? Again, who exactly is the enemy? Why are we in Iraq?

Victory, not negotiations, end war. We can't buy or talk our way out of this war - the enemy wants to kill or enslave us all, and only the destruction of the enemy will bring us peace. There are more and less violent ways to destroy our enemies, and we should carefully choose the right amount of force at any given time to advance our cause - but make no mistake about it, there will be no peace until the Islamo-fascists admit they are defeated and surrender to our dictates.

So you're still buying that RNC scare tactic, eh?
Maybe you should ask yourself why they hate us in the first.
The only way to win a war is to first understand your enemy. Otherwise, you keep shooting blanks.

Victory, not negotiations, end war. We can't buy or talk our way out of this war - the enemy wants to kill or enslave us all, and only the destruction of the enemy will bring us peace. There are more and less violent ways to destroy our enemies, and we should carefully choose the right amount of force at any given time to advance our cause - but make no mistake about it, there will be no peace until the Islamo-fascists admit they are defeated and surrender to our dictates.

So you're still buying that RNC scare tactic, eh?
Maybe you should ask yourself why they hate us in the first place.
The only way to win a war is to first understand your enemy. Otherwise, you keep shooting blanks.

Aarontime - useful idiot.
Are you saying that we were attacked by someone other than Islamofascism?

Teenage,
Are you stupid or you just don't care about facts?
Islamofascism hates humanity. so, unless you want to join them, or assume the position on the bottom rung of the animal kingdom they hate you.

Bane of Liberals' Existence
"I for one don’t give a fat rat’s ass why they hate civilized human beings"

You will never find the solution to a problem you don't understand the root of, it is the type of ignorance you are showing that fuels the problem. You accuse me of being naive while you express no desire for knowledge.

"Islamists are murderous animals"
Bane, get a clue, people are the way they are for a reason, and it does not fit your racist view. I understand that in the world of BlogsforBush hateful ignorance is acceptable, but by being here on the internet, you expose yourself to others, expect to be criticized.

Israel could have never won on it's own, in every battle Israel has been propped up by either Britain, the U.S. or both, and yes there is no doubt that against the allied forces the Arabs were defeated, however, the war ended in negotiations, with Arab armies holding their positions.

Israel is not recognized by the Arabs because that land is Palestine. Without the support of Britain and the U.S. that land would still be Palestine. As long as the Palestinians live in a war-zone and refugee camps, that are a fraction of the land they had, live under Israeli sanctions, and with Israel holding their funds, they will never stop attacking Israel. I don't agree with it, I just understand the roots.

Bane - naive, uncritical Bushbot dittohead,

I am saying we were attacked by religious extremists - about that we can all agree. What you keep avoiding is this question: how does invading and occupying Iraq equate to fighting the religious extremists who attacked us?

Hezbollah is in Lebanon. Rapid, anti-western Wahabbi Islam finds its home in Saudi Arabia. Hate-filled Madrassas run by religious extremists proliferate in Pakistan. Secular Iraq under Saddam was one of the few countries in the region that wasn't an openly seething base for religious extremists. So why are we in Iraq?

James Harold

While it is true that the Arabs hate us primarily for our support of Israel, it is not true that Israel conquered Arab lands.

From 1832, when the modern Zionist movement began, until 1937 Zionists were purchasing unuseable land from landholders in Palestine. They only bought unuseable land specifically because to avoid a Palestinian backlash. In 1937, the Zionist movement began purchasing useful property, and indeed that is when hostility began, with Arab raids on the kibutzim built on the purchased land.

The formation of the state of Israel, the line drawn between Palestine and the new state was chosen specifically because the majority of that land already belonged to Zionists, legally purchased over more than a century. Palestinians were allowed full citizenship or assited moving to Palestine.

That the Arabs hate Israel is based on biblical/koranic doctrine and has little, if anything, to do with the land under Israel.

U.S. support for Israel has to do with the history of the Palestine colony of our best ally Britain, our guilt over turning away Jews trying to escape Hitler because of our immigration policy, and strong political clout of American Zionists. Our current support for Israel is because they are one of our best allies in the world and the only true ally in the region.

Bottom line, we aren't supporting Israel because we hate Islam, but Islamofascists hate us because we support Jews.

James Harold -

good points! Listen up Bushbots: understanding why we are hated throughout the Middle East is not the same as endorsing that hate, or sympathizing with terrorist attacks. If we are to prevail in the "war on terror", we need to understand more about what motivates someone to strap a bomb to themsleves, or fly airplanes into buildings. To say they are just "animals" not to be reasoned with makes the emotional chest-thumpers feel good, but it does nothing to staunch the real threats we face. Once we understand more about the conditions that make extremism an attractive option, the better equipped we will be to implement policies that work in the region.

Blind support for Israeli aggression, and turning a secular oil-rich Arab nation into a lawless bloodbath have only served to strengthen the supporters of terror. To really fight terrorism you need more than the hard-headed resolve exemplified by President Know-Nothing - it takes some brains.

First, the land in question was owned by Jews before Israel became a State. The charter creating Israel allows for all religion, but racist Arabs refuse to live in peace; Jews lived in those lands as long as the Arabs did. Buy a fact, get a clue! Second, in the six day war the Arab animals were defeated so quickly after they invaded Israel no other country had a chance to come to Israel’s aid. Third, Arabs held their positions; are you insane, Arabs invaded Israel! Arabs must have been advancing to the rear because they were expelled and the conquered lands became part of Israel. Held their positions, indeed!

If the Arabs live in refugee camps why don’t your beloved Arab countries offer them sanctuary? Because Arabs don’t want to put an end to the violence, they want to hate for the sake of hate. I’m a racist? You idiot, I’m a Jew!

Useful idiot,
Calling Islamofascists “religious extremists” is politically correct, but hardly accurate. The reasons we went to war with Saddam has been explained, a real pity you’re so partisan you can’t accept the answer, but there it is. The legitimate government of Iraq has asked us to stay and protect them until they can defend themselves. And defend from whom? Islamofascists!

Israeli aggression you arrogant moron. Try the legitimate right of Israel to defend itself from the likes of you and your Arab animal friends!

Banal Existence -

Nice dodge. So the conveniently amorphous "Islamofascists" are the enemy? Then why aren't we invading Saudi Arabia?

What we are facing is Iraq is a civil war - a civil war precipitated by our invasion. By the way, that "legitimate government" that is supposedly asking us to stay there is composed of religious extremists (or "Islamofascists", if you prefer the politically correct term from Bushian New Speak). The Iraqi government is dominated by Dawa, which is the party of radical Shi'a clerics. What they want is for US forces to saty there to help eliminate their Sunni minority opponents so that they can then institute an Islamic Republic closely allied with Iran. We are being played for fools.

"- the enemy wants to kill or enslave us all..."-Mark Noonan.

Andrew Bostom: Forced conversions in Islamic history are not exceptional—they have been the norm, across three continents—Asia, Africa, and Europe—for over 13 centuries. Orders for conversion were decreed under all the early Islamic dynasties—Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, and Mamluks. Additional extensive examples of forced conversion were recorded under both Seljuk and Ottoman Turkish rule (the latter until its collapse in the 20th century). But the list is much longer yet. The Shi’ite Safavid and Qajar dynasties of Persia/Iran. During the jihad ravages on the Indian subcontinent, beginning with the early 11th century campaigns of Mahmud of Ghazni, and recurring under the Delhi Sultanate, and Moghul dynasty until the collapse of Muslim suzerainty in the 18th century following the British conquest of India.

Moreover, during jihad—even the jihad campaigns of the 20th century [i.e., the jihad genocide of the Armenians during World War I, the Moplah jihad in Southern India [1921], the jihad against the Assyrians of Iraq in the early 1930s, the jihads against the Chinese of Indonesia and the Christian Ibo of southern Nigeria in the 1960s, and the jihad against the Christians and Animists of the southern Sudan from 1983 to 2001], the (dubious) concept of “no compulsion” (Koran 2:256; which was cited with tragic irony during the Fox reporters “confessional”!), has always been meaningless.

A consistent practice was to enslave populations taken from outside the boundaries of the “Dar al Islam,” where Islamic rule (and Law) prevailed. Inevitably fresh non-Muslim slaves, including children, were Islamized within a generation, their ethnic and linguistic origins erased. Two enduring and important mechanisms for this conversion were concubinage and the slave militias—practices still evident in the contemporary jihad waged by the Arab Muslim Khartoum government against the southern Sudanese Christians and Animists. And Julia Duin reported in early 2002 that murderous jihad terror campaigns—including, prominently, forced conversions to Islam —continued to be waged against the Christians of Indonesia’s Moluccan Islands.

"and only the destruction of the enemy will bring us peace."-Mark Noonan.

We've got a big job ahead of us.

Bane
Some of the land in question was owned by the Zionists, just like you may or may not own some U.S. soil, besides the difference between individual and state owned property, the Zionists ran the Arabs out of entire cities, and that doesn't fit your argument either.

The fact that you are Jewish, does explain a little about your blind support and pride in Israel, it also explains some of your views of the Arabs.
I'm not sure what to make of your comment "I'm a Jew", are you saying that referring to a certain race as animals, doesn't make you "Racist" because you're a Jew? or are you saying that of course you're a "racist", because your a Jew? You weren't real clear there, but either way I disagree, being Jewish has nothing to do with being racist. And you have a very racist point of view toward Arabs.

You seem to make a lot of assumption about my views, I don't hate Jews or love Arabs, I understand the conditions that created the problems we inherited.

Let me re-word my previous statement for you. Understanding the root of a problem, is the key to solving said problem. Lets try another version. IF YOU CAN'T GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL THAT BOMBING THE MIDDLE EAST IS WHY WE HAVE A TERRORIST THREAT, WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE A TERRORIST THREAT. BOMBING THEM IS THE PROBLEM NOT THE SOLUTION! Understanding the root does not put you on either side.

Whether foreign troops were involved in the 6 day war or not, the Israeli military was paid for by our tax dollars, and U.S. ships sat off shore to ensure an Israeli victory. You also forgot to mention that on the seventh day they rested.

You mention the legitimate government of Iraq is asking us to stay, but leave out that the people of Iraq are asking that government to step down.

Freedumb1 -

ah, so the enemy is Islam - right? So all we have to do is stamp out Islam, and the forces of good will have prevailed over the forces of evil, and Bush will be sainted. Riiiiight.

By the way, if you want to drudge up history, there are plenty of examples of "forced conversions" by Christians (or shall we call them "Christofascists"?). When the Catholic Kings reconquered Spain, they basically told all Jews, Muslims, and Gypsies that they either had to convert to Christianity or be executed. They then instituted the Holy Inquisition to ferret out and torture Muslims and Jews who only pretended to be Christian to avoid execution.

And lets not even begin to talk about the violent forced conversion of the native peoples of the Americas.

Come to think of it, why don't we just ban all religious extremism, be it Muslim, Christian, or Jewish. Surely the world would be a more peaceful place.

Freedumb1 -

ah, so the enemy is Islam - right? So all we have to do is stamp out Islam, and the forces of good will have prevailed over the forces of evil, and Bush will be sainted. Riiiiight.

By the way, if you want to drudge up history, there are plenty of examples of "forced conversions" by Christians (or shall we call them "Christofascists"?). When the Catholic Kings reconquered Spain, they basically told all Jews, Muslims, and Gypsies that they either had to convert to Christianity or be executed. They then instituted the Holy Inquisition to ferret out and torture Muslims and Jews who only pretended to be Christian to avoid execution.

And lets not even begin to talk about the violent forced conversion of the native peoples of the Americas.

Come to think of it, why don't we just ban all religious extremism, be it Muslim, Christian, or Jewish. Surely the world would be a more peaceful place.

Your reaction to the news of Islam's history of 13 centuries of forced conversions is to call me names? That's helpful/sarcasm.

"Come to think of it, why don't we just ban all religious extremism..."- Aarontime

Agreed. How?

Mark, I think you should get a little better grip on the reality we are facing with these terrorists. Because you are quite out of touch and extremely paranoid and a little delusional, with not too much education of what is going on in the world, or who your enemy is. There is a lot of unrealistic fear on your words and not much reality.

TL,

I have studied the enemy and know what motivates him and what his goals are - boiled down, they want us converted, enslaved or dead. If none of these three choices commend themselves to you, then your only choice is to support war until absolute victory.

Aaron,

It was convert or go in to exile...and that decree was in 1492...you know, 514 years ago? Not exactly just yesterday?

SUSA
Well put.

Mark
Maybe you should have studied psychology before tackling the enemy, because buddy you are clueless when it comes to peoples motives.