Posted on 04/12/2008 12:31:48 AM PDT by T.L.Sink
In this final year of the Bush presidency, what was once a doctrine of preemption has given way to a weird presumption that threats that Washington doesn't officially acknowledge somehoe won't hurt us. It's an alarming sign when CIA director Michael Hayden says, as he did on NBC that, personally, he believes Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, but officially he stands by the NIE report that maybe they aren't. So America sails on, under the fiction that nothing dramatic need be done, despite Hayden's further warning that in Iran, "the development of fissile material, the development of delivery systems, continue apace." Likewise, the administration's special envoy for human rights in North Korea warned that the Six-Party Talks have failed. In Rice-world, these nuclear ventures can be stopped with failed talks, Iran's nuclear quest can be contained with U.N. resolutions, and peace in the Middle East can be built by downplaying Palestinian terrorism to clinch the umpteenth "peace" deal between Palestinians and Israelis. These fantasies are a strange counterpoint to the surge in Iraq where the administration has correctly understood that America must win. But Iraq is the exception, not the rule.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
And yet so many of us were supporters of President Bush and Condoleeza Rice in the "old days".
They have caved irretrievably and hopelessly to evil forces around the world. North Korea. Iran. Syria. China. Myanmar. Palestinian terrorists.
It is now fully an AXIS OF APPEASEMENT.
And it disgusts many of us Security-First, Freedom-First, international-oriented Freepers to no end!
We are happy we are in the "lame duck" mode now, but we know things will continue or even worse from 2009. This is serious business.
And blame Congress, don't blame the President. Because if the nest Congress is controlled by the Democrats, nothing will change.
Right.
Just so everyone knows - “Syria is on notice!”
It was my opinion that Bush was in a foreign policy denial mode from about October 1999 on. Even before he held office, he was already revealing the surrender monkey flag to Mexico. He was already signaling that China would be getting the kit glove treatment.
As you pointed out, we had a number of threats out there, and Bush acted as if none of them were all that important, even after 09/11. When the guy said that he wasn’t going to leave any rock unturned in his efforts to seek out and destroy terrorists, my ears perked up a bit. But then we were back to business as usual with regard to our borders or more accurately, a lack thereof. It was business as usual with the Palestinians, Hezballah and all. We were back to warning Israel, telling it what it needed to surrender next in the interest of peace. I had no idea Bush would be this tough on terrorists, or that he actually believed Israel was a terrorist state, but it’s the one he’s making all the demands on.
China knocked our aircraft out of the sky and we sat in a corner like a neutered chijuaua. There was always the WOT to point the finger to, to say Bush was tough on terrorism. Nothing else mattered.
We are looking at a growning number of (terrorist) states with nuclear weapons. We sit back and watch North Korea proliferate nuclear technology to our most ardent adversaries, and play like six nation talks are going to get us anywhere. It’s truly pathetic.
I have been disgusted with Bush since day -365. What bothers me more than his actions/inactions, is the public fawning that has taken place on this forum over the last eight years. These people not only fiddled as Rome burned, they praised, idolized and knelt down to the main fiddler. We have spent eight years watching them pray for Bush, and not one day praying for the nation, or only as an afterthought.
With leaders and supporters like that, why bother trying any longer. It’s truly been a real eye opener to see the complacency even here. We are now poised to put a man even worse into the White House by choice, and folks still don’t realize what a desperate situation our nation is in.
Denial? Bush isn’t the only one sipping from a cup clear full of it.
The absurdity of your comments in that post is overwhelming. Please tell us what international efforts intended to take terrorist states to task, that Bush has pushed, that have been shot down by Congress.
Very good references and we’re in complete agreement. Let me add that although this isn’t the first administration or Congress to kick the can down the road and hope that others in the future will deal with matters, seldom have the issues put on the back burner been more serious. A nuclear Iran and Korea change the dynamics of the international power structure so egregiously that things will never be the same. Chamberlain at Munich may have been naive but even he didn’t have the clarity that we have to know what is VERY LIKELY to happen in the future!
He most certainly can. He has the Bully Pulpit. He can go before the American people and expose the so called Democratic Party for the Marxists that they really are.
I’m sure that Jimmy “never met a terrorist I didn’t like” Carter will resolve this in his talks with Hamas and jihadist regimes. After all, look how he groveled and rolled over for the Ayatollah of Iran in 1979!
And what would you possibly expect from any international efforts? The international community just wants to hide its collective head in the sand.
And the Republicans lost Congress because . . .?
Do you SERIOUSLY still believe Bush is a conservative? I am simply stunned that there are any who believe that to be true.
Hasn’t the media over past 5 years blasted Bush and the Pentagon for listening to the CIA in the first place? Besides trying to get Bush at both ends, the media is bringing this to our attention because ...?
I couldn’t even get into the substance of the article. The writing was so bad it made blood shoot out of my eyes. I learned about run on sentences in seventh grade.
I don’t really know why but if I had to guess I’d say that was because the CIA (like just about everybody else in the world) was wrong about the WMD in Iraq. Also, George Tenet (Democrat hangover) made a fool of himself with his notorius “slam dunk” remark. By the way, the CIA was neutered by the infamous Church Commission back in the 70’s and made PC by having its great espionage capabilities gutted. In any case, the media went after Bush for everything - what Krauthammer calls the “Bush derangement syndrome.”
America is snakebit and may be nuked before anyone wakes up. We are now a communist country and will die with a quick death, perhaps a nuke attack, or a slow death, as politicians destroy America from within and send our wealth overseas.
Why do the heathen rage, and the people of the earth imagine a vain thing. Or to put it another way,
Psalms 2
1. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,
3. Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
5. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee.
8. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
10. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
11. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
The man won't even stick up for himself, let alone his party, the military, and, at times, his country. NOW reports are coming out that yes indeedy, Iraq sure did have WMD, a large portion of which are now in Syria--and the President surely had to know this, yet he'd just stand there and look guilty when people accused him of lying to get us into Iraq.
bttt your post
I'm as aware of that fact as you are.
Now let's ask about President Bush.
Is he too obtuse to know that the Democrats are on the side of our enemies?
Or does he know it but has decided not to say?
[What bothers me more than his actions/inactions, is the public fawning that has taken place on this forum over the last eight years. These people not only fiddled as Rome burned, they praised, idolized and knelt down to the main fiddler. We have spent eight years watching them pray for Bush, and not one day praying for the nation, or only as an afterthought.]
I am a bible believing Christian and do not support Bush anymore and realize that the man is a fool. I also realize that the people who do support him are fools also.
We are a nation of fools now and it shows. But to attack all Christians as fools and not exclude the bible beliving Chistians who know the truth is foolish also. Secular humanist rinos are nearly as foolish as the marxist democrats are and that is why we do not support the fool McCain either, just another rino.
bttt your post too!!!
The DemeocRATS are like any other schoolyard bullies (and with an emotional age that is approximately the same): Stand up to them, and they back down. The President has chosen not to do that. He can call it the “high road” if he wishes. I call it dropping the ball. A really big ball: so much is at stake.
[Do you SERIOUSLY still believe Bush is a conservative? I am simply stunned that there are any who believe that to be true.]
I don’t, a liberal rino by any other name is still a liberal rino.
[The DemeocRATS are like any other schoolyard bullies (and with an emotional age that is approximately the same): Stand up to them, and they back down.]
No, no they won’t. They smell blood and will continue to attack like a schoolyard bully and must be fought with.
[And the Republicans lost Congress because . . .?]
They are power mad fools also.
No, they smell blood precisely because no one will stand up to them. The few times that has actually happened, they backed down. The American people will, by and large, rally behind a leader they believe cares about the issue enough to stand up for it. This President has seldom exhibited that quality.
[any international efforts? The international community just wants to hide its collective head in the sand.]
Wrong. The international community of despotic nations does not hide their head, they simply use the politicians to destroy America from within. They intend to rape and destroy America and Israel.
[curious...why would you capitalize Christians and not ‘Bible’....worrisome]
I am not a Catholic or a cult Christian and believe the Holy Bible is all true, but what are you really asking?
I question whether, given the current atmosphere in DC (DemocRATs and Republicans), this is a "miscalculation." I hope it is, yet even I have my doubts.
The day the planes flew into the WTC towers, the media at first did their best to portray it as an accident (which grew more difficult as the attack commenced); when the shoe bomber tried to take out a plane, they pooh-poohed it as a lone nut incapable of doing real harm; when someone suggests that unprotected borders could be letting in far more than drug dealers and identity thieves, they say you're afraid of foreigners.
So, I just have to wonder. WOULD it be a miscalculation to assume we'd be just as--or more--likely to ignore aggression as we would be to fight back?
Well strong leadership and an adherance to conservative principles certainly can’t be blamed.
Thank you.
You can't lead an international community that doesn't want to be led, so America either does nothing, or it does what it does alone.
If you want to guarantee a Obama/Clinton victory in November, by all means push for another war with Iran, North Korea... because a war is President Bush's only option, besides doing nothing. These countries know this, even if you don't.
There's more to the 2006 election, but you can do your own research in the archives. I've spent too much time on this already.
Or does he know it but has decided not to say?
You’re right. A strong and committed President can exercise LEADERSHIP which can mobilize public and congressional support. The Executive branch can be as influential - sometimes moreso - in shaping policy as the Legislative.
You’re right - Bush is not conservative and I don’t think any true conservatives believe he is. He’s given us the biggest entitlement (prescription drugs) since LBJ; in his first term he refused to veto every piece of wasteful, earmarked, pork legislation that came before him. Yes, he cut taxes but that was nullified by a spending binge that would shame many liberals! By the way, we don’t feel the pinch right now but Heritage has projected that the unfunded liability of the drug program will saddle the next generation with a multi-trillion dollar debt.
A cartoon is worth a thousand words!
That’s a really good question. I’d guess that it takes a lot to make Americans fighting mad, and sometimes we’re slow in recognizing who our enemies really are, but eventually we get the picture and then - look out! The question, in my opinion, is whether or not today we have the capacity to respond as a unified country in time. By that I mean that we are a balkanized nation - consisting of so many ethnocentric, racial, and commercial special interest groups that we seldom speak with one voice. That impedes decisive and unified action. We see that PC thought, moral equivalence, and cultural relativity have infected all our educational, political and social structures. Have we lost what’s necessary to act as America traditionally has?
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