On 14 Oct 2006 00:57:22 GMT, Jim Yanik wrote:

"dpb" wrote in
roups.com:


JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"dpb" wrote in message
ups.com...

wrote:
One might add that Chavez has been very generous in helping folks
with free heating oil ...

Not really much at all in the overall scheme of things. A few here
and there for the political advantage, not at all motivated by
actual humanitarian objectives says the cynic in me...

No more of a political stunt than Bush sending out those tax rebate
checks at a time when he's spending like a drunken sailor with no end
in sight.

Defending the country is expensive.
Even moreso since the last administration neglected so much. B-)

Excuse me, but which country was attacking us? I mean, against which
country did we need to defend ourselves?

ISTR that a group of crazies armed with box cutters attacked us -
thanks to the utter stupidity and inattentiveness of our institutions,
who ignored the warnings of a few alert officials. Plus, of course,
the utter arrogance of the Administration, disregarding explicit
warnings..

Presumably the crazies were organized and funded under OBL auspices.
(and funded by Bush's good friends, the Saudis). So why didn't we
follow up in Afg. rather than recklessly invade Iraq? The Admin.
deliberately failed to go after OBL when the military had definite
info of his whereabouts in Afg. Interesting...

Saddam was in no way, shape or form allied with the Islamist
terrorists. He hated OBL guts, and used his dictatorial powers to
keep Iraq SECULAR! Women were free; they could study, dress normally,
and exercise professions. Unless you were on Saddam's S-list, life
was pretty good for his fellow Sunnis -- jobs, cafes, entertainment; a
reasonable standard of living.

But Saddam -- not exactly in touch with reality -- was whacky enough
to think that he could turn down the US offer to keep him in power as
long as he would guarantee the supply of oil.

The Saudis went for the deal years ago, and have been in clover ever
since. Cutting off hands, oppressing women, executing infidels,
sucking the country dry to keep the "royal family" in booze and
whores; the whole ball of wax. But the oil supply is guaranteed!

Saddam actually wanted to bust OPEC so he could price his oil
fairly, AND he wanted to denominate the prices in Euros, not Dollars.
Heavens to Betsy! The nerve, wanting to control his own oil.

And the rest is history, with the White House chicken-hawks saying
openly that Afgh was on the back burner, "because there are better
targets in Iraq."

Colin Powell let his country down at that UN yellow-cake speech.
When he realized how he'd been had, the only noble course
would have been immediately to resign and go public about his
reasons.

BTW - You'll recall that the acronym for the invasion of Iraq
started out as Operation Iraqui Liberation. But somebody
pointed out that OIL just might be, uh, a little too obvious.
So they changed it to Operation Iraqui Freedom...

Q.E.D.