Fresno Famous

silly?

it is silly to start a war with Iraq, just for lies
it is silly to send 157,000 American GI's to Iraq without having a real mission,
it is silly to send American GI's to Iraq poorly armored
it is silly to not have a real strategy to win in Iraq
it is silly to send 3,500 American GI's to their death for nothing
it is silly to keep American GI's in Iraq during a sectarian civil war
it is silly to keep arguing about it 4 years later

and yet we're still there
so why?

um...

dunno if I agree completely there...

most of the cars around here are waaaay sunfaded,
and like the banana republics?

-Lots of old sedans with fins on them, too...

(..still, I can't really envision the CLASH doing a song about Fresno..)

..okay,

you're right.

I'll let history be the judge

but for a so-called democracy to decend so low?

all we'll need is the death squads & we'll be just a typical banana republic, only with shinier cars

Hey I get it.

Hey I get it. You don't like the Bush Administration. That's fine.

This is a leap though. A big, ridiculous one that only makes your side of the fence look silly.

Disagreeing with policies and thinking we're in a screwed-up quagmire of a war that we shouldn't be in is one thing. Calling someone akin to Hitler or their policies akin to those of Nazi-era Germany just shows a lack of understanding about just how bad Hitler and the Nazis were.

Absurd? How so?

The Nazis created a nationalistic, hyper-patriotic state.
With the help of the Nazi political party, the generals, the military,
the merchant class, the industrial barons, and the general population.
They vilified scapegoats, imprisoned thousands, created concentration camps to house them, invaded countries & indiscrimately bombed civilians. Did I say they hated Jews?

What have we done differently in the war on Terror, or the War in Iraq?
We have illegal detention centers throughout the world, thousands held without charge within the US, emasculating both habeas corpus & the Geneva Convention, igniting a war against Iraq (without just cause), & in the process killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, that just happened to be in the way of stray bullets, bombs & missiles while we have target practice.

In my opinion, Bush is still looking for a "Final Solution" (Did I say they hated Muslims? or at least they act that way), but Bush is so incompetent, that he'll fail at that to, just like he's failed at everything else he's tried (unless you count Big Daddy & his friends' help).

Did I mention 9-11? A true leader would not have read "My Pet Goat" with "deer in the headlight eyes", but would have excused himself & jumped into action. His handlers were taking the day off apparently.
Did I mention Katrina? A true leader would have made sure that when the levees broke, that an organized rescue would have been in place & running.
Did I mention that Republicans have been in full power for over 7 years, that they have marched in lock-step from the Presidency, Houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, all the bureaucracies & mechanisms of power? And yet, what have they accomplished in preparing us for another 9-11, another Katrina, another war? Do you really feel they've done their best?

Some articles:
In quotes: Reasons for the Iraq war

US and UK leaders floated many reasons for the war on Iraq before it began. But Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction - in defiance of United Nations resolutions - was among the most frequently mentioned.
Here is a selection of reasons for action articulated in the run-up to the war.

From:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2948068.stm

Memos Reveal War Crimes Warnings

Could Bush administration officials be prosecuted for 'war crimes' as a result of new measures used in the war on terror? The White House's top lawyer thought so
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Michael Isikoff
Newsweek
Updated: 6:14 a.m. PT May 19, 2004

From:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4999734/

Review
America's Disappeared: Secret Imprisonment, Detainees, and the War on Terror

Edited by Steven MacPherson, Rachel Meeropol, and Barbara Olshanksky
Seven Stories Press
2005 (paper), 120 pages, $12.95
reviewed by P. Adem Carroll
"America's Disappeared: Secret Imprisonment, Detainees and the War on Terror is a gripping collection of essays that provides a clear and useful framework for those who care about the relationship between torture and extralegal measures and the Bush administration's unprecedented claims for executive power.

From:
http://www.forusa.org/fellowship/may-june_06/ReviewofDisappeared.html

Alberto Gonzales: No Constitutional Right of Habeas Corpus
from:

U.N. Urges Closure of Guantanamo Detention Facility
By Colum Lynch and Bill Brubaker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 19, 2006; 5:48 PM

A U.N. anti-torture panel today issued a rebuke of Bush administration counter-terrorism policies today, calling for the closing of the Guantanamo detention facility in Cuba and a halt to the transfer of suspected terrorists to countries where they may face torture.
The committee, charged with monitoring the 1984 Convention Against Torture that the United States has ratified, also stated that the imprisonment of suspects in secret detention facilities constitutes a clear violation of the treaty.

From:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/19/AR200605...

Published on Monday, January 10, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
First They Came For The Terrorists...
by Thom Hartmann

The Gonzales confirmation is not just about the torture memos. It's much bigger than that.
If Bush continues to roll back human and civil rights - and the installation of Alberto Gonzalez as America's chief law enforcement officer is very much a part of his campaign to do so - we may be facing a "Pastor Niem�¶ller moment" sooner than most of us could have imagined.

from:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0110-33.htm

Absurd

Just my 2 cents as someone who fits the bill of moderate Republican (I think anyway...social liberal yet defense-minded flag-waver). The comparison of the Bush admin that some seem to like to make to the Nazis/Hitler is the single largest reason why I in fact do NOT make the jump.

All due respect and everyone feels the way they do for a reason, but it's absurd.

Call on me to change political affiliations when they start lining up everyone without blonde hair and blue eyes at the Amtrak station. Then I'll be happy to join ya. I'm sure I already will have much sooner. Until then, the comparison is ridiculous.