What was the difference?

[TheAnalyst]

Oh, so depending on how bad the crime is or what the situation is, it's ok to lie. That's great. And the president was testifying in a case brought against him by a young woman for sexual harassment. Guess that isn't important enough for you, but to her I'm sure it was. It wasn't like all of a sudden the goverment just decided to ask questions about his sex life. Who cares about that? When under oath, you do not lie about anything. I can't believe anyone would even defend that.

As far as the WMD's, I think Saddam probably got rid of them (destroyed or sold them to other countries) long before the invasion. But he got in a game of chicken with the international community for whatever reason. Who knows how his crazy little mind worked. He wanted to throw his weight around and make us look like fools, and he got called on it. I truly think he thought we would never invade. I do agree that he didn't move them at the last minute. Somebody would have stumbled onto something by now. Our intelligence in the Middle East was terrible back then, and I'm guessing it isn't much better today.

[fleaflicker]

Well Analyst, if the whole nation wants to know whether or not a certain person gave you a blow job last night, is it any of their business? Of course not, if you are cheating on your wife, that's business between you and your wife. It's not my place to know. And it's certainly not a trial attorney's place to put you under oath so that the whole nation knows whether or not you cheated on your wife, is it?

Now, if the whole nation wants to know why you are sending their sons and daughters to war, it is their place to know. The lives of their children are on the line, and you'd D*** well better not lie about it. Unfortunately, the president we currently have did.

And as far as Saddam, I think you're right. And he did make us all look like fools, because we fell for it and believed he was harboring WMD and ended up going in there and looking for them and finding NOTHING.

[TheAnalyst]

I think they were trying to prove his sexual tendencies and pervasiveness as relevant to the Paula Jones case. It is not up to the defendant to decide if he should tell the truth or not. You think the murderer and his friend should tell the truth, but they probably don't. By the way, I didn't mean any offense towards your mother. I hope it didn't come across that way. I was just trying to make my point personal. My apologies if it did.

[fleaflicker]

No offense was taken at anything, as I knew you meant no offense.

However, I still don't think lying about a blow job (even under oath) rates the same as lying to the nation about Iraq so we would approve of him sending our young men and women there to fight and die. Bush lied to the entire nation, including the parents of the men and women in the service, not about a blow job, but a war.

[TheAnalyst]

I still haven't seen enough proof to indicate Bush was lying at that time. It's obvious to see now what we were told wasn't true. Clinton knew he was lying when he did it. But I don't think you and I are going to agree on how serious of a lie that is in terms of damage to society.

I know you keep stating how many soldiers have died in Iraq. And I guess you feel they are dying in vain. But do you think the majority of soldiers feel that way? Do you think they signed up in the service for the fun of it? Didn't they (and their parents) know what they were getting into? When you sign up for the military you know the risks involved and I think most soldiers feel what they are doing in Iraq is for the good of our country.

[LionPride]

Analyst, he's drunk on the Amnesty International kool-aid. There is nothing anyone can say for him to stop his rhetoric. It never changes. He's hoping that if he says it enough, someone will believe him.

[fleaflicker]

At 18, I think many of these young men probably signed up for service believing that they would earn money for college. Some did know what they were getting into. Those in the National Guard had no idea that they would get sent to Iraq. They were just going to be weekend warriors. It's an unfortunate waste that these young men are fighting and dying for a cause that may not be worth fighting and dying for....

[TheAnalyst]

So I'm 18 and need some money. I could work at McDonalds or join the military. Now the military is going to train me to fire a weapon, learn tactical manuevers, and overall military thinking. Plus dress me in camo. I may get to sit in a tank and ride around in a humvee. Cool!However, I really don't know what I'm getting into. If I'm this dumb, I probably didn't join the military to pay for college. I just wanted to run around on the weekends and play cowboys and indians.

As for your last statement, you can believe what you want. I would rather have the fight over there with trained military personnel than in my own back yard. Is that justification for invading Iraq? No, not really, cause we were already in Afghanistan. But we must stay and finish what we started now.

[once a runner]

LP, Flea is simply using the same tactic as Bush. In one of his latest quotes Bush said, "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." It's actually a very effective tactic used by many politicians over the years.

Analyst, I do agree that since we invaded Iraq we have to finish the job. That's what made the remarks Gen. George Casey kind of surprising. He said that the US could substantially reduce its force in Iraq by next summer. Although I disgree with the war, I do hope he is right and things are settled enough for the troops to come home. Although, I am skeptical that Iraq will turn into a beacon of Democracy after we leave.

Maybe someone can explain this to me. Why are there so many reservists fighting in Iraq? Aren't there enough regular troops to do the job? I could be wrong, but I would think you would only call upon the reservists if the regular army was too small to do the job.

[fleaflicker]

Yes, those in the regular army would have been stupid not to think of the possibility of getting sent far off, and many of them did join up after 9-11 because they were feeling very patriotic and wanted to defend our country, and were willing to put their lives on the line.

With the reserve commercials though, it's always about getting money for college, or skills training for jobs, or whatever, and they are often derided by regulars (at least from the time my dad was in the military) as 'weekend warriors.' I doubt they had much thought of fighting and dying for their country, and most of them didn't really have any reason to believe they'd be doing anything too risky as far as fighting against terrorists.