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Bush
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Iraq: A dictatorship with a dangerous leader. He is
especially dangerous to his own poeple but he has been
contained for the past ten-plus years. Why would Sadam
Hussein strike out at the world knowing that the
consequences are an American invasion and his destruction?
Sincce we know that Iraq is not an immediate threat, why is the Bush administration so anxious to go to war with Iraq? To find out we have to look at what Iraq has that the Bush family and the Bush administration want or have to gain by invading Iraq. It's not to protect the Iraqi people because if that were true, we would have invaded at the time the worst atrocities were taking place when Sadam Hussein gassed the Kurds. It's not to protect us against terrorism because the CIA says that Al Qaeda has not made major inroads into Iraq. In fact, the CIA says that Iraq will be more dangerous if we attack than if we continue with inspections and, when neccessary, sanctions. It seems to me that the Gulf War taught Sadam Hussein a valuable lesson: it doesn't pay to fight the USA. You can't win! Oil: The Bush family business is oil. The Bush administration has favored oil right from the beginning. Our energy policy was made up by oilmen and their friends in government. The oil industry (controlled by a small group who only care about their own profits with no thought other than destroying the rules that protect the environment or that limit them in any way) paid millions of dollars to help elect Bush. They are now getting their payoff with reduced environmental regulations, huge tax breaks and large grants, tax credits and more. There was little attention or money given for finding alternate sources of energy, alternate fuels like hydrogen, solar, wind and others. He broke his promises to the people to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, reduce arsenic in our drinking water, to protect the environment and others that to go into now would take us too far afield. Also, the war on Iraq would cost at least $200 Billion dollars at a time that both state governments and the federal government are in dire need of more income. Where is this money going to come from? Well, what programs does Bush most want to get rid of? Well, all entitlement programs are anthema to the Bush adminstration. The biggest one I think is Social Security. So that is probably where they would get the money from at the cost of a later retirement age and/or lower payouts. They have already lowered payouts to doctors twice since they came into office two years ago. They promised a perscription plan but have offered nothing yet. What we need to do is finish what we started in Afghanistan! Yes, we need to get our hands on Osama bin Laden and the other leaders of Al Qaeda. We need to finish off Al Qaeda everywhere in the world. We could start by getting our so-called allies like Saudi Arabia, to stop teaching hatred of America in their schools. Pakistan is guilty of this too. As well as most of the Arab countries in the Middle East and Indonesia. In Afghanistan we haven't given much attention to the governments there; and, as a result, the country is run by warlords each jocking for a better positions not caring what happens to ordinary people. The Talaban has taken power in some areas. Freedom of Speech and civil rights are a distant, elusive dream. The rule of law doesn't exist except in their words to the West. We did this before in Afghanistan and the result was the Talaban and the war we still haven't finsihed. Isn't it now time to finish Afghanistan and Al Qaeda before we start another ill conceived war? |