No, actually we were led to war by yale and harvard graduates who wanted us to get in there and do whatever.

Oh yeah, Bush's Degree... I wonder how much his Dad paid for it?

Besides, I've met plenty of graduates who probably wouldn't even be able to figure out their own name if it wasn't written on their National Insurance card...

LOL there ya go being all superior again, how much did his dad pay for his degree? probably as much as the tuition cost. And he is president of the USA the most powerful nation on earth, amazingly as brilliant as you think you are youre not even local mayor or anything.

I find it hard to believe that a man who said "I apologise for bringing an interpreter to Mexico with me, but I never studied Latin at school" can be an excpetionally bright individual with a well rounded education...

I think people are as good as they believe they are, and as good as they way they treat everyone else... To me, the President of the USA, or Neil Armstrong or the Guy Who Sweeps The Floor In My Local Pub are all as good as each other, based on the kind of character they display... Resepect has to be earned, you don't just give it away because someone has a highfaluting job description...

Each one of us is born with certain talents that other people don't have, and I'm fortunate in that I'm getting the opportunity to use mine at the moment... That's all one can ask for, and I think I am the same as everyone else, no better, no worse...

Actually, our current President is an oil man with a curious history. Of course his oil connections have nothing to do with the oil industry making record profits under his administation.

Here are some observations from several Texas reporters regarding George W.'s oil dealings...

• Robert Sherrill

"Reporters have been particularly intrigued by George W.'s adventure in the oil industry, and well they might be. There was something about it that smacked of a shell game run by a very fast hand."

• Michael King
  
  "Bush was still at Harken Energy, the company that acquired a failing Spectrum 7 where Bush was CEO, when his father won the 1988 presidential election, and in January of 1990, the company acquired exclusive offshore drilling rights from the government of Bahrain. Harken acquired those rights even though, according to the Wall Street Journal, the company had 'never drilled a single well overseas or in water,' and had to seek out additional investors."

• Jacci Howard Bear
  
  "In 1992 U.S. News and World Report reported on some questionable dealings including possible insider trading involving Harken Energy stock. Although the evidence was serious enough to warrant an SEC investigation they ultimately decided not to punish Bush. Yet there are lingering doubts about Bush's activities and even about his Dad's political influence having a hand in the outcome".

That's the scary part. They should be well educated enough to know better than attack a soveriegn nation (Iraq), with nothing more than a fictitious provocation (WMDs), and minimal international backing.

The Reasoning was lame for sure, but a free and democratic Iraq is in the worlds best interest. We need more friendly nations in the middle east.

And going in and killing lot's of them is going to improve relations?

I agree that more democracy in the world would be in everyone's best interest, regardless of the location. However, playing shoot 'em up cowboy in somebody else’s country tends to turn the populous of that country against you. As near as I can tell, our presence in Iraq is seen by all too many people worldwide as an occupation force, and when it comes to the "War on Terrorism", the US has only made things worse, not better, by attacking and occupying Iraq.

The other problem is the so called democratic government of Iraq. If and when they manage to get a constitution approved, and we pull out, how long will it take the religious fanatics in that country to turn it into an Islamic state like Iran? My guess is not long. Then what, we attack again?

We are on a thin wire over there, and we had better be very careful how we handle it, and at this point, I don’t think Shrub and his cronies are doing a very good job.

It's a tough situation, no doubt. One we should not have gotten into in the first place, IMO. However, we're in it up to our proverbials.



How about a hypothetical…



You’re the PM of the U.K. and I’m the Prez of US. What do we do now? We both agree we need out. How do we go about it?

We don't... There's no way we can pull out now and leave them to their own devices, they have total lawlessness, limited utilities and increasing numbers of terrorist insurgents appearing out of the woodwork... It's worse than Glasgow on a Saturday night...

All we can hope for as the Prez and the PM of the UK is that we learn our lessons from this and NEVER attempt anything so ill conceived, unethical and idiotic ever again...

Hmmm... Sounds like I need to visit Glasgow one of these days...

Agreed, however, I don't hold out much hope. After all, I quite honestly thought the US had learned its lesson about military interference in other countries from our stint in Viet Nam.

I'm actually very surprised Tony Blair showed such missionary zeal for such an unpopular war... Usually, he rides the coat tails of the public's prejudices very adeptly, but lately, he's been making some very odd judgement calls... I think we have a PM who has fallen head over heels in love with his own legend, and completely lost all perspective...

It's not bullshit, it's what happened. Russia killed more Germans than the rest of the Allies combined.

It was not us that were killing the Kurds in record numbers. Now its Iran doing it. Iran just killed a bunch of Kurds for no reason at all. My friend at work who is a Kurd from Iraq was pretty pissed off about it today. He was in Iraq when they were wholesale slaughtering his friends and family. WMDs or not Saddam was slaughtering Kurds left and right. He was anything but an innocent.

The Germans killed more Russians though. And that is fact. Almost 3 to 1 if I remember correctly. I can run and get numbers though when I have time

Not if everyone has your attitude. I am not highly sensitive. I am rightly angered that my Forefathers are snubbed by people who would not exist today in freedom were it not for thier contributions and deaths. I am rightly angered that you say we did nothing before actively taking part in the war when we were sending weapons and ammo and pilots galore while attempting diplomacy. Yet you say that we acted to quickly in Iraq. Which shall it be??? You cannot have one or the other.

We acted in the proper manner during WW2 an dwe acted promtly when the japanese bombed us. It was OUR threats which caused the Japanese to ignore Great Britian. Can you imagine if both Germany and Japan actively sought the destruction of England???

It was us that gave him the weapons and perhaps more importantly the "green light" to use "whatever means" to deal with Kurds and the Iranians... Donald Rumsfeld even went as far as to call him "our man in the middle east" not long before he invaded Kuwait...