"Come on Dilip, everyone knows WHO they are. The point is not their identities as individuals. It is the ideology, the mindset, that has gotten us into what we have." --- � Being from the hickville in Texas, I don't know who "they" are, and hickvilleans cannot think in abstract ideas and obtuse references. So it will help me if some names other than G.W. Bush are listed. I understand full well that Bush has been branded as a cowboy just like he brands his non-existent cows. Dilip =================================================================
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Come on Dilip, everyone knows WHO they are. The point is not their identities as individuals. It is the ideology, the mindset, that has gotten us into what we have. Not that we did not know what could follow the invasion justified with half-truths and falsehoods. Some of us did anyway. But having justified the invasion under one pretext ( Bush's and the Neocons'), or another ( Tom Friedman's--of liberating Iraq and setting up a liberal democratic govt. as a lesson to them Arab scoundrels, who our oil barons have cozied up to and helped build up for decades), giving out vague and easy lessons on what to do to dig out quickly from the doo-doo we got into doesn't exactly read like a profound column. My two bits :-). At 7:50 AM -0700 7/16/03, D Deka wrote: >Please name the "Cowboys" and the "NeoCons" who are the thorns on your >side. If they are not doing the job they are supposed to be doing for US >citizens, we'll dole out texas style justice. Better yet, 2004 election is >coming up soon. You will get your chance to replace the "Cowboys" and the >"Neocons" with "Cityslickers" and "Liberals" of your liking. > >Chan Mahanta wrote: > >>Second, we must provide massive support for the new Council in Iraq to >>enable >it to assume more powers as quickly as possible. The more power it >>assumes, the >more it speaks for Iraq and Iraqis to the Arab world, the >>more it will be clear >that America is the midwife of Iraq's liberation, >>not its occupier, and those >who shoot at us are shooting down Iraq's (and >>the Arab world's) future. > > >*** If I might be allowed to use a Molly Ivins - the Texan-- expression >here, no doo-doo! > > >I like Friedman's views--generally. But Tom has been all over the spectrum >on this Iraq thing, ever since the invasion build-up began and the French >were made the whipping boys for not going along with the puppet-cowboys at >the ends of the neo-cons' strings. > >The big question is how W and the Cowboys ( wouldn't th! at be a nice name >for a neo-con-country western group?) going to execute what Tom and all the >other well-meaning pundits and wishful thinkers wish? > >What exactly IS massive support? 200 thousand army troops that Rummy said >would never be needed, complete with tactical nukes? Billions of dollars >poured into the land to be re-paid, with interest, by Iraq for centuries >to come? Astute political advice? American nation-builders recruited from >the sea-to-shining-sea and air-lifted to, Iraq to deliver a fast -rack, >turn-key democracy, Bechtel designed, built and delivered in six months? Or >flood the place with state of the art voting machines, so that the Iraqis >can elect themselves a democratic government to rule themselves and live >happily ever after? > > >*** The fact is the Cowboys and Neo-cons and all their supporters as well >apologists, including Tom Firedman, miscalculated. And miscalculated big. > >I hate to see the US get bogged d! own. It is a lose-lose situation. But to >have thought that big brother can go on a pre-emptive invasion, to teach >them Arabs a lesson not to mess with us; while spouting democracy, nation >building, and bringing freedom to the Iraqis from every which orifice; was >dumb, at the very least. And we shall pay for letting a bunch of cowboys >and neo-cons jockey us around. > > >****************************************************************************** > > > > >At 5:37 AM -0700 7/16/03, D Deka wrote: >>Tom Friedman is right. The goal was and should remain a change in >>government. US can make friends in Iraq only by jump starting a local >>government. >remiumproducts/newstracker/index.html> >> OP-ED COLUMNIST >> >>Winning the Real War >> >>By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN >> >> >> >>ast Sunday was the most important day in Iraq since the start of the war, >>and maybe the most important day in its m! odern history. It was the first >>day that one could speak about the "liberation" of Iraq. It was the day >>that a multireligious, multiethnic Governing Council of Iraqi men and >>women began to assume some power and responsibility for their own country >>� the most representative leadership Iraq has ever had. >> >> >> >>And what was their first act? It was to declare that April 9, the day >>Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled, would be a national holiday. >>President Bush, Gen. Tommy Franks and The Weekly Standard could all call >>April 9 Iraq's V-E Day, but it became real only when the first >>representative Council of Iraqis embraced that day as their liberation. It >>is way too early to know whether this appointed Iraqi Council will >>flourish and pave the way for constitutional government and elections in >>Iraq, which is its assignment. It will first have to prove itself to the >>Iraqi people � ! and prove that while most Iraqis may not want us or Saddam, >>they do want one another. But these are not quislings, and therefore the >>Council's formation is a hugely important first step. This is what we came >>for. There is hope. >> >> >> >>Had you been watching most American news shows or cable TV last Sunday, >>though, you would not have gotten a sense of this. They were focused >>almost exclusively on who was responsible for hyping Saddam's nuclear arms >>potential. This is understandable. The notion that the president may have >>misled the nation into war, and then blamed it on the C.I.A., is a big >>story. >> >> >> >>For me, though, it is a disturbing thought that the Bush team could get >>itself so tied up defending its phony reasons for going to war � the >>notion that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction that were >>undeterrable and could threaten us, or that he had link! s with Al Qaeda � >>that it could get distracted from fulfilling the real and valid reason for >>the war: to install a decent, tolerant, pluralistic, multireligious >>government in Iraq that would be the best answer and antidote to both >>Saddam and Osama. >> >> >> >>If the Bush team wants to win the real war, it must keep its eyes on the >>prize and that means the following: >> >> >> >>First, U.S. forces need to finish the war. Sorry, Mr. President, but >>"major combat" is not over as you declared. Because major combat never >>happened in the core Sunni Muslim areas of Baghdad and the Sunni triangle >>to the west, where 80 percent of the attacks on U.S. forces now come from. >>What happened instead is that two divisions of Saddam's Republican Guards, >>which dominated these areas, simply melted away, and are now killing U.S. >>troops. These regions need to be reinvaded and then showered with >>reconstruction funds. >> >> >> >>Second, we must provide massive support for the new Council in Iraq to >>enable it to assume more powers as quickly as possible. The more power it >>assumes, the more it speaks for Iraq and Iraqis to the Arab world, the >>more it will be clear that America is the midwife of Iraq's liberation, >>not its occupier, and those who shoot at us are shooting down Iraq's (and >>the Arab world's) future. Russia, France and Germany hold most of Iraq's >>$60 billion in foreign debt. Most of this needs to be forgiven. The Bush >>team needs to get off its high horse and challenge, and reach out to, >>Russia, France, Germany and the Arabs � to get those who were so ready to >>coddle Saddam's dictatorship to support a self-governing Iraq. >> >> >> >>Third, according to Peter Bouckaert, senior researcher for emergencies at >>Human Rights Watch, over 20 mass ! graves have already been uncovered in >>Iraq, and there may be as many as 90. One grave alone in Hilla is >>estimated to contain 10,000 people murdered by Saddam's regime. Human >>Rights Watch estimates that there are 300,000 people missing in Iraq. >>President Bush is flailing around looking for Saddam's unused weapons of >>mass destruction, when evidence of his actual mass destruction is all over >>the place in Iraq. Yet the Pentagon has done almost nothing to help Iraqis >>properly exhume these graves, prepare evidence for a war crimes tribunal >>or expose this mass murder to the world. >> >> >> >>Eyes on the prize, please. If we find W.M.D. in Iraq, but lose Iraq, Mr. >>Bush will not only go down as a failed president, but one who made the >>world even more dangerous for Americans. If we find no W.M.D., but build a >>better Iraq � one that proves that a multiethnic, multireligious Arab >>state can ! rule itself in a decent way � Mr. Bush will survive his hyping >>of the W.M.D. issue, and the world will be a more hospitable and safer >>place for all Americans. >> >> >> >> Do you Yahoo!? >> >> >>SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Assam mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam > > > Do you Yahoo!? > > >SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Assam mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam
