Comments on: freeSpeech: Katrina vanden Heuvel

The Nation Publisher Speaks Out About the Cost Of War In Iraq

[huskerarmy]

"Civil War was always the danger that was the argument for not invading."

"We will be greeted as liberators...with flowers." -*** Chaney

[huskerarmy]

"The Democrats do not have a plan and I suggest they sit it out until they can come up with a good reason for even existing."

The Democrats have no plan, stay the course, fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here,liberal media bias, Clinton, Clinton, Clinton, la la la, finger in my ears, la la la, stay the course, Democrats have no plan, la la la...

Thank God the neo-con plan is working so well...

[bellal-2009]

Ok, I was wrong the Democrats do have a plan. What was it, Democrats' plan to reward work not wealth. Well, that ought to do it for them.

[bellal-2009]

Why should the war have been over in one year? Civil War was always the danger that was the argument for not invading. Whatever. The Democrats do not have a plan and I suggest they sit it out until they can come up with a good reason for even existing.

bellaL:
Democrats have lots of plans and solutions, but you won't find them on Fox News or Drudge. See the 30-page presentation of Democtratic plans and solutions at http://www.democraticleader.house.gov/pdf/thebook.pdf

Stock market soaring? It just last week finally got back to where was the day that W announced for president (look it up). And that is just because the oil prices have finally let up, just in time for the election. Most analysts expect continued sideways motion, in sharp contrast to the soaring market under Bill Clinton.

It is an honor thing for those in our volunteer army, but more and more are realizing that they were mislead into war, and so badly lead due to Rumsfeld's incompetence. This war should have been over in one year. Rumsfeld tried to outsource it and underman it, didn't secure the country when it was easy, wouldn't change course except to react to developments on the ground only well after they were reported in the New York Times.

They used to say the Palestinians under Arafat never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Well times have changed, and now it is the USA under GWBush, at least with regard to foreign and military policy, that seemingly never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

[scottish26]

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/imtconst.htm#art6

"Article 6.

The Tribunal established by the Agreement referred to m Article 1 hereof for the trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries shall have the power to try and punish persons who, acting in the interests of the European Axis countries, whether as individuals or as members of organizations, committed any of the following crimes.

The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which there shall be individual responsibility:

(a) CRIMES AGAINST PEACE: namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing;"

[scottish26]

trailboss49 you are the one whose wrong. A couple years ago the number of 100,000 dead/wounded Iraqis came out in a study and was reported by numerous sources

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1338749,00.html

This one refers to 100,000 bout half way through

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3962969.stm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7967-2004Oct28.html

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/29/iraq.deaths/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6354133/

As of 2004 the numbers were reaching 6 digits and that was 2 years ago.

I say shame on us all for allowing this circus that Bush is running to continue on its merry way and not holding those in charge accountable.

According to the allies at Nuremburg what Bush has done is committed a crime against peace he invaded a country that had not done harm to the US and used the excuse of preemptive strikes using weapons that have since not been found. Preemptive strikes were illegal for Hitler and are just as illegal for Bush sad part is Bush is getting away with it because the US's moral compass is all messed up since 911 with people eating at the fear table that Bush has laid out. It's time to stop feeding on the fear he's serving and reset this moral compass. Invading a country that was not involved with 911 is wrong period.

If you struck someone first cause you thought he/she was going to hit you then you would be the starter of the fight and found guilty if charged.

Peace

[borntwice-2009]

Jesus said,"Peace be with you."

[bellal-2009]

mh4cbs1,Even the Democrats aren't supporting your call to get out,or so they say. So what's the point in voting for them? They haven't put forth any solutions. as far as the stock market soaring, it did so in the 90's and we all benefited what's different. The poor kids fighting the war? No, the same families have always sent their kids to fight. Their dads and their dad's dad and their dad's dad's dad fought. Believe me I know. It's an honor and country thing.

[joeshields56]

With no real proof of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, just unsubstantiated rumors, the U.S.A. invaded a sovereign nation with no just cause. "shock and awe", "axis of evil"... and we wonder why Iran and North Korea are scrambling for nuclear weapons? The world problems are not hither but within. We need different leadership in this country. Voters, November 7th is coming. Do your duty.

[bkurtin]

The entire executive branch is guilty of breaking their oaths to defend the Constitution of the United States. They are collectively doing all that they can to destroy what every member of the armed forces have died for or become horribly disfigured for. They are guilty of treason and should be treated as such. As for the current debacle, Hassert, et al are guilty of being accessories after the fact and thus are criminals too. Is this country strong enough to rebound? I pray so. Let's get out of Iraq NOW!

[frankly6]

To Mrs. Katrina Liberal-hueval this war may have cost a lot of money but what's more important is that it's made a lot of money for companies that support our GOP machine. An awful lot of that money comes back to us in the form of campaign contributions bribes that we depend upon. We take it from working American's and we give to our corporate supporters then they give it back to us. It's a perfect circle of giving that helps to keep the good and righteous GOP in power. But hey we're not completely selfish. We do look after the little guy sometimes. Just look at all the underprivalaged kids who might not have a job if we didn't ship them to Iraq to kill brown people.
If we Kut-and-Run what's going to happen to them? You ever think of that? Guess not. So in the name of God, Freedom, Family Values and all that's good and true, let the killing continue. It's good for business and that's good for everyone. Jesus would want it this way. God Bless America! Praise the lord! Amen!

[kiboki-2009]

mh4cbs1, Well said!

[mh4cbs1]

bellL, maxiG55:

Also, the people in Iraq don't want us there (governement survey showed this last month). Our presence fuels the insurgency and gives terrorist their recruiting power!

In Vietnam, we were told by Nixon in '68 that we needed to have "Peace with Honor". After several more years of carpet bombing, death and destruction, with another 30,000 or so US soldiers dead, with mass murderer Pol Pot rising up from our invasion of Camobodia, we finally did end up leaving. And there was finally peace.

When will you figure out that supporting the troops means fighting against the policies of their commander in chief when he uses them as cannon fodder for their wars of folly and empire??

Do you see kids of the wealthy and of the politicians serving in Iraq? NO! It is the poor and middle-class kids who fight and die, whose families suffer the losses. Have the wealthy sacrified for this War? NO! they have gotten massive tax cuts and their stocks are doing great (War can be profitable when you don't have to fight it).

WAKE UP! They are making you Chumps for their fear-mongering, war-mongering empire-building.

[bellal-2009]

mh4cbs1,yea, got it, knew it, fought against it (unlike so many Democrats who gave the administration a green light for fear of losing their congressional seats). Not a reason for lessening our resolve to see this through.

[mh4cbs1]

bellaL:

No, it is not our soldiers who are the bad guys. They are putting their lives on the line in service to their county.

Tragically, our troops are victims of the Bush gang (chicken hawks themselves), who have hijacked the GOP. It is FACT that this gang LIED us into a needless War OF Terror in Iraq. 9-11 was exploited by this insidious gang, for the pretext of an Invasion that they had been drooling over since the day they took office.

Don't believe it? Read Downing Street Memos, Tyler Drumheller (was head of CIA operations in Europe), Richard Clark, Scott Ritter (ex-Marine, Republican, UN inspector) and countless others who have come public. Even an email from Jack Abramoff surfaced this week where he talked about the 'upcoming War in Iraq' -- one year before the Invasion.

The Sheeple of America are waking up! We need to neutralize the neo-fascists in November. Honor the troops, defeat their chickhawk War-Mongers who use them as cannon fodder for their wars for power and profit.

[kiboki-2009]

maxiG55,

So you think this is "...the first sign that things are more difficult than we first thought."
EXACTLY HOW BAD DOES IT HAVE TO GET before you will conclude that it is so much worse that we first thought that it is time to do something different???

[snowbrd7]

If Iran is the real threat we're in a good place to deal with them and as far as N.Korea, China and Japan need to figure that out.

[kpdkpd1]

ALL WRONG

Tommorrow, Sean Hannity on free speech

ALL RIGHT

[jabusario]

The views of vanden Heuvel is not especially revolutionary, and reflects what most resonable people should have known, given the information available, for at least the past three years. As to the administration's bumper sticker type sloganeering like "cut-and-run" that they toss out to the shrinking clan of America's miseducated, which constitutes the hard core Bush voter base, the new menace posed by North Korea makes it pretty plain that Bush was wrong to tie the troops down fighting a weak power like Iraq when it was known at the time that North Korea and Iran were real threats. Even now, we would do better to "cut and run" so as to free up the military to adress these threats, especially now that Kim Jung Il has exposed himself as way more crazy than foxy. Instead, The Bush white house remains committed to it's Keystone Cops approach to warfare, which was about as good as you could expect of a president that failed in every business he tried prior to being elected, and since, has demonstrated that everything he touches turns to bleep. We now are all reaping the consequences that only he and his feeble-minded voter base deserves. We don't have time for these people to come out of their coma.