A bit of politics

[Wing Nut]

I cannot believe what our president said today.  Just in case you missed it, when questioned today about the attacks on US troops in Iraq, the president's response was "Bring it on"  I certainly cannot decide on how to feel about the current political climate.  I mean, it is nice to see the US finally not putting up with crap from every little pissant country or lunatic with a cause that comes along.  But it's also scary how eager this little Napoleon is to go to war.  Now we're talking about Liberia?  And for a US President to encourage people to attack US troops is certainly not right.  I really think there is some secret agenda this guy has.  If he really wanted to invade a country that was doing harm to the US, he should have invaded Columbia...

[Iroquois]

Oh, I don't like where this is going. Politics is strongly discouraged. This topic will probably end up getting locked. About his bring it on comment, he reminds me a bit of Pierre Trudeau. Many concider him Canada's best Prim Minister while many concider him to be the worst. During the FLQ crisis in the 70s, he had to enact the War Measures Act to turn Quebec into a police state after a separatist terrorist group was causing chaos across the province. When asked about the act and wether he should or not, his response was "Just Watch Me."

[Oz]

Yeah i agree this topic might brew up some trouble..

Well we gotta remember that most politicians just cant realize how horrible war really is. We think its just terrible here at home watching TV and seeing those images but imagine how the soldiers must feel. The only time the politicians feel bad about it is when their own sons and daughters join the service and go out to the front lines, or if the politicians themselves have served in a previous war.

[Wing Nut]

I will bow to the experience and wisdom of my betters.  This is something that is really bugging me.  I'm usually not this indecisive about things, but I feel confused about the current state of affairs.  If this gets out of hand, please feel free to delete the whole posting and you'll get no hard feelings from me about it.

[loomex]

I cant see why you are troubled by this Dread, you have twins.  ;D

[Ivan]

Afghansitan was to please the public

Iraq was finishing what his father started...

But it seems to me he's trying to use the cultural divide in the middle-east to put pressure on saudi-arabia, while at the same time ensuring the flow of oil if Saudi-Arabia drops out.

For what other reason does he try to get an excuse to attack both Syria (not that much oil, reasonably large shia community, anti-israel) and Iran (huge gas reservers, 99% shiite, anti-israel) when he already has iraq (large oil reserves, 70-80% shiite).
Not because they are anti-israel (as most middle-east countries are,even if the official government says otherwise), but because of that other cultural denominator: religion.

Bin Laden, being from Saudi-arabia and having connections with the Wahabite sect, is 99% sure a sunnite muslim...

And for economical reasons:
At this moment, Saudi-arabia still is allied to the US, and used as a place to station troops. As planned, these troops will be moved to Iraq. With the troops moved out, Saudi-arabia isn't that useful anymore because the oil reserves aren't that big compared to the ones in iraq (which were exclusively managed by ELF, and that on a small scale)
So when they have control over iraq, they aren't dependent on saudi-arabia anymore, not for oil and not for stationing troops. Oil can be transported over land into Turkey, which is a NATO member , bypassing both the Suez canal, so the price can be lower, and the Hormuz strait, giving less chance of terrorist attacks on tankers.

[ozzy72]

No politics allowed guys. It only ends up with people jumping up and down on each others heads.
'Fraid I'll have to lock this down before we have any trouble.

Ozzy