Let’s not forget the beast from the sea (Rev 13:10)

  
A reminder of Iraq mess
ROY LEHMAN

I saw the other day where former President George W. Bush’s reputation had been rehabilitated from the 22 percent approval rating he had when he left office to an astoundingly high rate of 52 percent today. I was reminded of the collective amnesia of Americans, which the politicians can always count on to ply them with their propaganda.

Remember back in 2007 when Bush was praised for bringing some stability to his newly minted sovereign nation project of Iraq due to his “surge” of troops into the country? Lost in all that pro-Bush propaganda was the decision of Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, playing the long game, to have his militia stand down and the Sunni “awakening” in Anbar province, which was really nothing more than bribes paid to the Sunni leaders of the tribes to Anbar province for some stability.
Then forward to 2008, near the merciful end of Bush’s second term, working with his handpicked prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, (Ayad Allawi couldn’t work due to him being a Sunni in the newly established democracy with a Shiite majority and it turned out Ahmed Chalabi, his prime choice, was aligned with Iran) Bush dodged a couple of shoes as he and Maliki announced that they had achieved an agreement for all U.S. forces to be out of Iraq by December 2011.

This little factoid seems to have gone down the public’s amnesia hole as the “conventional wisdom” in Republican World is that President Barack Obama pulled the troops out too soon, which is a bald-faced lie. To do what the right-wing wanted, leave troops in Iraq, would have meant Obama would have had to countermand the wishes of Bush’s newly minted sovereign nation while putting American military at risk of the Iraqi justice system due to Bush’s and Obama’s inability to negotiate a status of forces agreement with Maliki. Worldwide, America has a SOFA with every host nation to protect our military.

Call it a can of worms or Pandora’s box, but the instability in the Middle East was birthed by Bush. ISIS is a risk to the region and Obama is wise to try to get the regional powers to handle the situation as ISIS is nothing more than a minimal threat to America’s security.

Obama’s injecting more troops into Iraq is not the right answer as the Western world has no answers to a 1,200-year-old religious schism. More Bush-style bribes for stability in Anbar might work again. Everybody up for trading stability in Iraq for new infrastructure in the U.S.?

On another “bright” note, Bush’s brother Jeb, possible Republican nominee for president, thinks we should be sending more troops to Europe.

I’m hoping Jim Webb joins the presidential race. He is a logical thinking, pragmatic leader.
The writer lives in Woolwich.

His Brother The Beast Will Cost Jeb The Election (Rev 13)

 
His Brother The Beast Will Cost Jeb The Election (Rev 13)

Dylan Stableford
Senior editor

Jeb Bush says that he would have authorized the 2003 war in Iraq — just like his brother did.
“I would have, and so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody,” the former Florida governor told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly Saturday after delivering the commencement address at Liberty University in Virginia. “And so would almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got.”

Bush, brother of former President George W. Bush and likely 2016 presidential candidate, said mistakes were made in not securing the country.

“By the way, guess who thinks that those mistakes took place as well? George W. Bush,” Jeb Bush said. “Yes, I mean, so just for the news flash to the world, if they’re trying to find places where there’s big space between me and my brother, this might not be one of those.”

Last month, George W. Bush sharply criticized President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, saying his successor pulled U.S. troops out of Iraq too quickly and mishandled nuclear negotiations with Iran.
“You think the Middle East is chaotic now? Imagine what it looks like for our grandchildren,” the former president was quoted by Bloomberg telling Jewish donors at the closed-door event. “That’s how Americans should view the deal.’”

Bush also told attendees that he likely won’t do any campaigning for his younger brother because he thinks it would hurt Jeb’s 2016 chances.

“That’s why you won’t see me,” he said, according to the New York Times.

In his speech at Liberty University, Jeb Bush took a jab at the Obama administration on religious freedom.

“Federal authorities are demanding obedience, in complete disregard of religious conscience,” he said in his speech. “What should be easy calls in favor of religious freedom have instead become an aggressive stance against it. Somebody here is being small-minded and intolerant, and it sure isn’t the nuns, ministers, and laymen and women who ask only to live and practice their faith.”

The Republican presidential hopeful bestows his wisdom to the graduating class of 2015.
In his interview with Fox News, Bush talked about an issue on which he seems less conservative than some of his GOP peers: immigration.

“I mean, there’s got to be a point where we fix this system so that legal immigration is easier than illegal immigration and show some respect for people,” he said. “[To] a kid that might have been here 10 years, that might be a valedictorian of their high school, to say, ‘No, no, no, you’re not allowed to go to college,’ I just think there’s a point passed which we’re over the line.”

The Bush Administration Was The Beast Of The Sea (Revelation 13:1-10)

National Politics Bears No Stamp Of God’s Approval

Published: Thursday, December 4, 2014 at 12:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, December 3, 2014 at 10:56 p.m.

Richard Hilliard’s recent letter states that God has given the U.S. a second chance [“God Has Given U.S. 2nd Chance,” Nov. 16].

I don’t believe God has anything to do with it. He would not put his seal on anything as corrupt as politics. Our problems are not the fault of President Barack Obama.

His predecessor was the beginning of our problems. He and his leader R.B. Cheney thought they would look good in the historical record if they were wartime presidents. So they got a few other countries to form a so-called coalition and talked the American people into believing that Iraq had nuclear weapons of mass destruction that would reach the U.S.

Quoting part of Cheney’s speech for invading Iraq, “We now know that Saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons,” when, in reality, he had very few small arms, let alone weapons of mass destruction of any kind.

The Iraq war cost 4,500 young American soldiers their lives, and many others were maimed and crippled for life. Countless Iraqi people lost their lives. The cost in money for this bogus war is almost $2 trillion.

Did God approve of this? The writer speaks of taking our country back. I ask where to? The Dark Ages? In my 84 years, I don’t recall our country being taken from us. This country doesn’t belong to one political party or another.

Religion should have no place in government. It says so in the U.S. Constitution. The God I’ve been taught to believe in would not condone what’s going on in these fanatical religious organizations that try to claim our county has been blessed by God.

The U.S. has been blessed by the hardworking immigrants who came here to escape religious tyranny.

AMOS MERRITT