[Grovenet] A little bit at a time . . .

Tue Dec 5 12:24:55 PST 2006

That NZ commentator's piece if very interesting, Bob. Thanks. 

He talks around a point he never quite makes that I think is important: our
responsibility to the Iraqi people. 

The moment we invaded and overthrew Saddam, we became the "government" of
Iraq. 

A government must provide a working infrastructure and security for the
people so they can go about their daily lives, make a living, feed their
families and live in safety. 

If the government doesn't provide those things the people will revolt. That
is NOT "Politics 101". It's  far more basic than that. It's, at best,
"Kindergarten politics"; as basic as finger-painting. 

We didn't do it. The people revolted. That outcome was as certain as putting
your hand in fire and getting burned. 

Saddam did those things. That's why people did not  revolt, by and large. He
abused the Kurds, so they did. He fixed that with decisive action. We might
not agree with how he fixed it, just as we might not agree how he or any
despot keeps the peace, but peace there was for most Iraqi citizens and the
country of Iraq continued to function. Besides, in WWII we Americans
purposely slaughtered over 500,000 civilians in one night, most of them
burned alive (1).  How is that not a thousand times worse than Saddam's
actions? 

That's all history. 

Now that we have made Saddam's gassing of the Kurds look like a child's
tantrum compared to the death and destruction we've allowed to happen across
Iraq, what will we do? 

Do we take responsibility for our actions or do we run and  hide? 

To put it more bluntly, do we Americans act like adults or is that cartoon
of the President in a high chair an image of America as a nation?  

I believe that Iraq is now an opportunity. It's an opportunity for us to
step forward as adults and take responsibility for what we've done and fix
the problem. It will be hugely expensive, in terms of dollars and time. It
may take many decades. It may require that we Americans redefine ourselves
in terms of what's important to us and what we want our role to be in the
world. 

If we don't step forward and define ourselves by good actions in the future,
the world will define us by our failed actions in the past.

It's our choice. 

Ron D'Eau Claire 

(1) http://www.rense.com/general19/flame.htm

-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Bob Browning
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 10:31 AM
To: Forest Grove local interests list
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] A little bit at a time . . .

Oh, I think he "knows" it, it is just that he does not want to believe it so
he ignores it!!!

Muriel, here's a New Zealand commentator on Bush's duplicity and total
disregard for the truth or any semblance thereof.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00076.htm

As for Bush's and others' quotes - - - -

http://zfacts.com/p/87.html

The child in a high chair image is most revealing, a little like a child who
can not "see" you when you cover your own eyes!!

bob "how much longer" browning

Muriel Gordon wrote:

You really think he doesn't know that already? I would not want to be in his
shoes at all.. not even president for a day....... I hope we get the answers
to end all this soon, but I don't think it will be as easy as some might
think so or would like to think so.  Don't get me wrong, I am not agreeing
with everything he has done but all this stuff everyday about how he doesn't
know how bad it is over there! where's the balance? He has noted several
times he knows it is rough over there and things are not going well.  The
media needs to report oon all sides.

Muriel

  ----- Original Message ----- 

  From: Bob Browning <mailto:rab at jurislex.com> <mailto:rab at jurislex.com> 

  To: Grovenet <mailto:grovenet at rdrop.com> <mailto:grovenet at rdrop.com> 

  Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 10:56 AM

  Subject: [Grovenet] A little bit at a time . . .

  The current administration has to be spoon fed the news that things are
not going too well in Iraq - - - -

        C2006 CartoonArts International/CWS  

  bob "a little bit of sugar helps the medicine go down" browning

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