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.

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

Beast Of The Sea Is Delusional (Revelation 13:7)

George W. Bush: U.S. Is Safer Because We Invaded Iraq

The Huffington Post  | By Igor Bobic

 

Posted: 11/12/2014 1:09 pm EST Updated: 3 hours ago

 

Former President George W. Bush isn’t done spinning the Iraq War, one of the longest and costliest conflicts in U.S. history, as a net positive for both nations.

Discussing his new book 41: A Portrait of My Father, which touches on his father’s legacy, Bush was asked on NPR Wednesday morning whether he thought Iraq is safer now compared with when Saddam Hussein was in power. The answer that followed was a vague “hypothetical” of Hussein’s capabilities had the U.S. not intervened — under what many believe to be false pretenses.

“One could envision a nuclear arms race between Iran and Iraq. The man, Saddam Hussein, would have a lot of revenue as a result of high prices of oil,” Bush said. “And even though there wasn’t, you know, a — we found a dirty bomb, for example — he had the capacity to make chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. And so there’s — you know, it’s all very hypothetical.”

“I could argue that we’re much safer without Saddam,” he added. “And I would argue that the people of Iraq have a better shot at living in a peaceful — a peaceful state.”

A “hypothetical” where Iraqis have “a better shot” at peace is a far cry from democratic nation-building, given recent developments — the rise of the Islamic State, for one – that have yet to give way to stability.

But Bush argued that his successor was to blame, because the U.S. failed to maintain a troop presence in the country. He noted that “in 2009 and 2010, the violence in Iraq was settling down. And the democracy, even though it was not perfect — kind of like ours was initially not perfect — was beginning to work.”

H/T The Washington Post