PEOPLE AND POLITICS
The Height Of Presidential Arrogance
By: Cedric McClester, Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
It is the height of presidential arrogance to suggest that it is time for the Iraqi government to stand on their two feet, considering we are the ones who knocked their legs from under them. Remember Shock and Awe? Who engineered that cataclysmic fiasco? You guessed it, America; the same America that now occupies their once sovereign land. We killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. We ruined their infrastructure and disbanded their army. Now we are demanding that their army stand up, so we can stand down. While there has been some progress toward that end, we are quite a distance from being able to stand down.
To be sure, the American people do not support the war that one of the most unpopular presidents in recent memory, got them into. The American people would like to see the troops withdrawn, sooner, rather than later. A strong argument against immediate withdrawal is that it would result in complete ciaos, as if ciaos is not what currently exists. Of course, presidential candidate John McCain, a staunch supporter of the current President, would have you believe that everything in Iraq is honky dory. The truth of the matter is the antithesis. Things couldn’t be worst. It doesn’t matter what you choose to call it, sectarian violence or civil war, Iraq is engaged in a pernicious brand of internecine warfare that isn’t likely to end any time soon. This means America’s armed forces are honor bound to remain until such time as things settle down. Absent American presence, what we are witnessing now could denigrate into wholesale ethnic cleansing.
Say what you will about Saddam Hussein he was a brutal dictator, but, he kept the trains running on time and the people in check. it wasn’t our place to remove him. That should have been left to the Iraqi people. There are those who would like to see George Bush removed. What do you think our response would be if a foreign power were to attempt to remove him? Do you think we would welcome them with open arms and garlands, or would we mount a tough resistance, as did the Iraqi people? The answer is obvious. President George Bush has gotten us into some deep do do and it will not be easy for us to extricate ourselves from the mess. The situation in Iraq is of our own making. Our standing in the world has diminished greatly during the Bush tenure. He has squandered every ounce of good will that existed after Nine-Eleven. To leave Iraq now wouldn’t help the situation one iota. It would further weaken us in the eyes of our allies and enemies. The question is, how much more loss of life and limb are the American people prepared to withstand before the bleeding is staunched? Recent public opinion polls would suggest that our patience is running thin. We are faced with a true dilemma, with no easy answer. We will probably have a presence in Iraq for many years to come.
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Comment by jglnjzlloy — June 27, 2007 @ 11:32 am
I don’t care about what Bush says or does anymore. His term is almost up and he has done about as much damage as possible. one must start to look at 2008 Presidential Candidates and see what they have to say about their Iraq plan.
Comment by 2008 Candidates Comparison — July 7, 2007 @ 1:17 pm
Foriegn powers do influence the current ruling leader
Comment by Conservative Blog — August 7, 2007 @ 4:38 am
1. “We will not have any more crashes in our time.”
- John Maynard Keynes in 1927
2. “I cannot help but raise a dissenting voice to statements that we are living in a fool’s paradise, and that prosperity in this country must necessarily diminish and recede in the near future.”
- E. H. H. Simmons, President, New York Stock Exchange, January 12, 1928
“There will be no interruption of our permanent prosperity.”
- Myron E. Forbes, President, Pierce Arrow Motor Car Co., January 12, 1928
3. “No Congress of the United States ever assembled, on surveying the state of the Union, has met with a more pleasing prospect than that which appears at the present time. In the domestic field there is tranquility and contentment…and the highest record of years of prosperity. In the foreign field there is peace, the goodwill which comes from mutual understanding.”
- Calvin Coolidge December 4, 1928
4. “There may be a recession in stock prices, but not anything in the nature of a crash.”
- Irving Fisher, leading U.S. economist , New York Times, Sept. 5, 1929
5. “Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. I do not feel there will be soon if ever a 50 or 60 point break from present levels, such as (bears) have predicted. I expect to see the stock market a good deal higher within a few months.”
- Irving Fisher, Ph.D. in economics, Oct. 17, 1929
“This crash is not going to have much effect on business.”
- Arthur Reynolds, Chairman of Continental Illinois Bank of Chicago, October 24, 1929
“There will be no repetition of the break of yesterday… I have no fear of another comparable decline.”
- Arthur W. Loasby (President of the Equitable Trust Company), quoted in NYT, Friday, October 25, 1929
“We feel that fundamentally Wall Street is sound, and that for people who can afford to pay for them outright, good stocks are cheap at these prices.”
- Goodbody and Company market-letter quoted in The New York Times, Friday, October 25, 1929
6. “This is the time to buy stocks. This is the time to recall the words of the late J. P. Morgan… that any man who is bearish on America will go broke. Within a few days there is likely to be a bear panic rather than a bull panic. Many of the low prices as a result of this hysterical selling are not likely to be reached again in many years.”
- R. W. McNeel, market analyst, as quoted in the New York Herald Tribune, October 30, 1929
“Buying of sound, seasoned issues now will not be regretted”
- E. A. Pearce market letter quoted in the New York Herald Tribune, October 30, 1929
“Some pretty intelligent people are now buying stocks… Unless we are to have a panic — which no one seriously believes, stocks have hit bottom.”
- R. W. McNeal, financial analyst in October 1929
7. “The decline is in paper values, not in tangible goods and services…America is now in the eighth year of prosperity as commercially defined. The former great periods of prosperity in America averaged eleven years. On this basis we now have three more years to go before the tailspin.”
- Stuart Chase (American economist and author), NY Herald Tribune, November 1, 1929
“Hysteria has now disappeared from Wall Street.”
- The Times of London, November 2, 1929
“The Wall Street crash doesn’t mean that there will be any general or serious business depression… For six years American business has been diverting a substantial part of its attention, its energies and its resources on the speculative game… Now that irrelevant, alien and hazardous adventure is over. Business has come home again, back to its job, providentially unscathed, sound in wind and limb, financially stronger than ever before.”
- Business Week, November 2, 1929
“…despite its severity, we believe that the slump in stock prices will prove an intermediate movement and not the precursor of a business depression such as would entail prolonged further liquidation…”
- Harvard Economic Society (HES), November 2, 1929
8. “… a serious depression seems improbable; [we expect] recovery of business next spring, with further improvement in the fall.”
- HES, November 10, 1929
“The end of the decline of the Stock Market will probably not be long, only a few more days at most.”
- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics at Yale University, November 14, 1929
“In most of the cities and towns of this country, this Wall Street panic will have no effect.”
- Paul Block (President of the Block newspaper chain), editorial, November 15, 1929
“Financial storm definitely passed.”
- Bernard Baruch, cablegram to Winston Churchill, November 15, 1929
9. “I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism… I have every confidence that there will be a revival of activity in the spring, and that during this coming year the country will make steady progress.”
- Andrew W. Mellon, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury December 31, 1929
“I am convinced that through these measures we have reestablished confidence.”
- Herbert Hoover, December 1929
“[1930 will be] a splendid employment year.”
- U.S. Dept. of Labor, New Year’s Forecast, December 1929
10. “For the immediate future, at least, the outlook (stocks) is bright.”
- Irving Fisher, Ph.D. in Economics, in early 1930
11. “…there are indications that the severest phase of the recession is over…”
- Harvard Economic Society (HES) Jan 18, 1930
12. “There is nothing in the situation to be disturbed about.”
- Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, Feb 1930
13. “The spring of 1930 marks the end of a period of grave concern…American business is steadily coming back to a normal level of prosperity.”
- Julius Barnes, head of Hoover’s National Business Survey Conference, Mar 16, 1930
“… the outlook continues favorable…”
- HES Mar 29, 1930
14 “… the outlook is favorable…”
- HES Apr 19, 1930
15. “While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed through the worst — and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There has been no significant bank or industrial failure. That danger, too, is safely behind us.”
- Herbert Hoover, President of the United States, May 1, 1930
“…by May or June the spring recovery forecast in our letters of last December and November should clearly be apparent…”
- HES May 17, 1930
“Gentleman, you have come sixty days too late. The depression is over.”
- Herbert Hoover, responding to a delegation requesting a public works program to help speed the recovery, June 1930
16. “… irregular and conflicting movements of business should soon give way to a sustained recovery…”
- HES June 28, 1930
17. “… the present depression has about spent its force…”
- HES, Aug 30, 1930
18. “We are now near the end of the declining phase of the depression.”
- HES Nov 15, 1930
19. “Stabilization at [present] levels is clearly possible.”
- HES Oct 31, 1931
20. “All safe deposit boxes in banks or financial institutions have been sealed… and may only be opened in the presence of an agent of the I.R.S.”
- President F.D. Roosevelt, 1933
Comment by amjoe — September 15, 2007 @ 6:28 pm
I support the war efforts and the troops 100%, but also want to get out of the dirty desert as quickly as possible. I can not stand the people who now in hindsight say that we should not be in the war. What a bunch of crap. Everyone of us was for going to war after 9/11. Every single person. Yet now some want to criticize. Personally I am happy they found Saddam all dirty and hiding in a hole. I am happy that he was brought to trial and executed on December 30, 2006. Now we have to finish the job we started. Were there weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Who knows. Not you and not me. And please don’t try to make me believe that what “the report” did or did not prove. The report DID say:
The massive report does say, however, that Iraq worked hard to cheat on United Nations-imposed sanctions and retain the capability to resume production of weapons of mass destruction at some time in the future. “[Saddam] wanted to end sanctions while preserving the capability to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction when sanctions were lifted,” a summary of the report says. (CNN.com story)
“While the ISG has not found stockpiles of WMD, the ISG and other coalition elements have developed a body of fact that shows that Saddam Hussein had, first, the strategic intention to continue to pursue WMD capabilities; two, created ambiguity about his WMD capabilities that he used to extract concessions in the international world of disclosure and discussion and negotiation. He used it as a bargaining tactic and as a strategic deterrent against his neighbors and others.” (CNN.com story)
That’s enough for me, especially after 9/11. What we did know was that Saddam was a monster of a bad person and most probably did have some involvement/association with terrorists, if not being one himself. He had all intentions of getting WMD, and if he did not have them he would have them as soon as possible.
While I support our war efforts completely I am also pissed off that it is taking to long in my opinion to train the people of Iraq to protect themselves. It IS time that this becomes the only priority with some sort of deadline.
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Political Disgust at http://www.politicaldisgust.com
Comment by Politcial Disgust — March 30, 2008 @ 7:21 am