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Many of you, I'm sure are basking in the warm after glow of the Republican
Convention. Comfortable that the GOP has outlined it's history,
accomplishments and plans with gusto and truth. Ya'll are now ready to
trample that flip flopin Kerry. I would have to agree the GOP put on quite a
show. "Give'em Zell" Miller almost had me believing! Well maybe not. The
Republicans stayed true to their cause and stayed on course repeating time
after time the same "truths" they have been advancing and modifying for
months. Seems time somebody examines some of these truths to see if they
are truly factual.

I make no bones about the fact that I oppose President Bush in his election
bid. Though I will try as best I can to stick to the facts in my analysis. How
about humoring me, read on, maybe it will give you some chuckles... or maybe
it will cause you to pause and think. This will be a multi-part series so each
piece is not too long. Your comments will be welcomed. Don't hold back, but
no name calling please.

Now that the American fatalities have exceeded 1000:

Why did we go to war in Iraq?

This is a question that none of us (us meaning the populace) can truly answer
with any surety.   We have to discard the WDMs, couldn't find em. Al Queda
connections? Even in his acceptance speech President Bush continued to
link 9/11 to Saddam. The Vice President isn't even subtle about it, he claims
to know Saddam and Osama were in cahoots [1]. There was no basis for that
allegation 18 months ago and there is still no basis for it today[2] [3]. We are
left with this sad justification: we went to war to free the Iraqi people. Now any
straight thinking American knows that's not true. We did not go to Iraq and
sacrifice 1000+ of our service people and spend 132 billion dollars[4] (so far),
to free the Iraqi people. However, that is the only thing the administration has
to hang it's hat on today. We all agree: the world without Saddam is a better
place. But we would not have supported this war on that basis alone.

The latest justification, is to blame the Intelligence community for misleading
the administration. This is hard to understand considering
Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz designed their own intelligence group called the
Office of Special Plans [5] to re-analyze the intelligence they were being fed by
the CIA and Iraqi informants. This was an attempt to leap frog over many in
the CIA who did not feel they had sufficient intelligence to go to war. And then
there was our paid informant Chalabi, (CIA didn't trust him either) he misled
us, too. So if President Bush was misled he was misled by his closest
advisors. In the corporate world if a CEO was this easily misled, on matters so
dire, he wouldn't be led, he would be kicked out the door.

Did we go to Iraq to "take the fight to the terrorists"? No, remember the
scenario: we were going to walk into Iraq and everybody was going to lay down
their weapons to welcome us. We were going to oust Saddam and install
Democracy. The whole program wasn't going to take 3 months, 6 months max.
That was the plan, remember. Well, we are certainly fighting terrorists now.
After we got there, they came in droves to fight us . Rumsfeld's "few dead
enders" turned into a pretty formidable force that is keeping us out of much of
the country today.

We have installed a government in Iraq: it is not well accepted nor respected
by the Iraqis, because it is "our" government, not theirs.   A case in point - In
Najaf our army and the government-backed Iraqi troops killed 800 people.
Their efforts to take over that city failed. The Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani,
unarmed, drove into Najaf and achieved a cease fire as well as the laying
down of arms. [6]   Amazing what the respect of one man can accomplish vs.
overwhelming military force!

So what have we achieved in Iraq? Forget the political rhetoric about
accomplishments. We have lost many of our own service people, 7000 more
of our troops face a changed life when thy return home because of their
injuries, we have spent a bunch of money. We have antagonized half of the
world and all of the Muslim world. And many of our "coalition of the willing" are
pulling out because of the increasing violence.... Osama is still roaming the
hills of Afghanistan directing his merry band of terrorists who may be playing in
your town next week. But oil production in Iraq has doubled within the past
couple of weeks [7]. That's a good thing, right!?

We do now have a military foothold in the Middle East should we decide to go
to war with Iran. Iran incidentally has had trackable links to Al Queda for
years. And if "nothing will turn us back" [8], Iran is the next logical choice
right? Yet, in President Bush's acceptance speech he didn't say much about
pursuing his fight against terrorism.   He didn't even mention the Axis of Evil.
He did say he would protect the country, but then outlined funding for
programs at home. Listening to his speech, I got the impression the fight is
over.   Did we win? Hard to tell: Osama is still free. He is hardly ever
mentioned anymore. He was responsible for killing 3,000. Saddam is in
prison. He wasn't responsible for killing any of us - at least not since the Gulf
War.   I don't necessarily feel the country or the world is safer, as terrorist
attacks are higher this year than in previous years. What was the point,and
further what is the point (the killing goes on)?   Was the whole reason we
fought this war to get Saddam? If so, Mission Accomplished!

Take Care, till next time.
Paul