Duke Boomington's blog: "The war."

Jay Leno wrote this; it's the Jay Leno we don't often see.... "The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true, given the source, right? The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence, 2/3's of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change. So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ''What are we so unhappy about?'' Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time, and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year? Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all, and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital. Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes , an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers. How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy. Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. , yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here. I know, I know. What about the President who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The President who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same President who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The President that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks? The Commander-In-Chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad? Think about it...are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the "Media" told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day. Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an ''other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig. So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want, but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds, it leads; and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells , and when criticized, try to defend their actions by "justifying" them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about "how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way"...Insane! Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad. We are among the most blessed people on Earth, and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative. "With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?" Jay Leno 2007

The facts are that the terrorist training camps were found all over Iraq in nearly every province except the kurdish province. That is how i concluded saddam does have EVERYTHING to do with terrorists, even if he personally had no part in 9-11, himself. Now to me if your going to have a war against these kind of people, you have to catch the small fry (hussien) in order to get the bigger fish (bin laden). Although we have not captured bin laden himself yet, we do have him effectively contained to the point where he cant organize world wide terror like he did just a few years ago. With several acts of aggression against the US, starting with the obvious WTC attacks in 1993 which he took credit for, he has been waging a world wide attack on civilization as a whole, bombings in several countries including the US. Attacking our warships and embassies among other things like the train bombing in spain and the bomings in england. They will not let up until we all die, it is their stated purpose to turn us into their form of islam, or for us to die, and quite frankly I dont think they care which. Now back to Iraq. We started out in afganistan, to cut off communications, rout the taliban, and immediately cripple Al Quiada as a whole. The next step at the time was to go after those who seek nuclear weapons, aka Iraq and Iran. I can conclude from our course of action that according to our intelligence sources, which of course were flawed , hindsight is 20/20, that Iraq was closer to having nukes than Iran and that north korea had already acquired nuclear technology which requires a different strategy than to merely go in and take them out. Now having said that, Iraq was the obvious first choice to go first, we can get in there and topple saddam rather quickly. We did not count on al quiada as a whole to ship a lot of their resources into iraq after saddam fell ( we gave them too much credit as in disgression being the better part of valor ) . So yes there were miscalculations and things didnt go EXACTLY as planned, but on the whole they are carrying on with the intended purpose: regime change with a regime friendly to the US. Now this could change depending on how desparate the terrorists get and how much more resources they are willing to spend in Iraq. They underestimated one thing, the will of the american army. We may not all agree here at home, and there may be a few soldiers here and there ( trust me compared to the army as a whole , VERY FEW ) that dont agree with the foreign policy at the moment, but they know their job and they all signed up for it voluntarily, knowing they may be put in harm's way. Terrorists dont understand that our freedom go to and fight for what we believe in, is ultimately why we will win, and they will lose. They have to try to convince people by using religion and empty promises to get their people to kill themselves for the cause. On to Iran, the next stop on this war against islamic fundamentalists or extremists, whatever you choose to call them, either way they are assholes all the way around. Iran is on the verge of getting nuclear technology and once Iraq can stand on its own 2 feet, Iran is next, we will give them the same ultimatums we did for saddam, only we may not have as long of a fuse this time as we did with saddam. Iran will be told to give up their nuclear ambitions or suffer the consequences of being invaded and the regime replaced by one friendly to the US. Once Iran and Iraw have been liberated, so as terrorists dont have control of the purse strings to fund terror, that is when we move on to north korea, who at that point will be backed into a corner with the rest of the world looking down on them and nothing to distract away from them and their nukes, they will either be forced to disarm, or nations OTHER than the US will take them out, ultimately we shouldnt have to lift a finger there to make north korea crumble and make it a free society. Those are the stated goals in the war on terror. After they have been reached, I dont know for sure exactly where we are going to go from there, but, if I had to make an educated guess, it would be to more of a spy/police role rooting out individual cells and taking them out one at a time or even two at a time as we find them. Some of that is going on already but the new ones will sprout up as long as the money is there. Some of you will agree, some of you wont. I understand that fully. Please be nice when leaving comments, I'm trying to have political discussion, withit out getting stupid So be warned if you spout off something half cocked, just forget it , I will delete it. I dont want to here theories without sound evidence to back it up either> I'm a firm believer in backing up what I say, and that if you are to tell me im wrong that you should too. So lets be nice and maybe we can all educate each other a bit!