Monday, December 1, 2008

[1886 - Rex (Todhunter) Stout, mystery writer, born in Noblesville, Indiana]

[1897 - Cyril J. Ritchard, Tony Award-winning actor, born in Sydney]

[1911 - Walter (Emmons) 'Smokey' Alston, Dodger Baseball HoF manager,
born in Venice, Ohio]

[1913 - Mary Martin, Tony Award-winning actress, singer, born in Weatherford, Texas]

[1933 - Lou Rawls (Louis Allen), Grammy Award-winning singer, born in Chicago]

[1940 - Richard Pryor, comedian, actor, born in Peoria, Illinois]

[1941 - Civil Air Patrol is created by Director of Civilian Defense]

[1955 - Rosa Parks is arrested for disobeying Alabama law
requiring black passengers to relinquish bus seats to white passengers]

Victory in Iraq

During the recent presidential campaign we heard lots more talk from the Republicans about Victory in Iraq. No one including the President has yet to adequately explain what we are doing in Iraq, let alone define what would constitute a victory there. He and the Vice President have attempted to justify our invasion of this small Middle Eastern nation as follows:

Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to our nation because he had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and was prepared to use them. [False - None Found]

Saddam Hussein was involved in the suicide attacks of September 11, 2001. [False]

The world is better off without Saddam Hussein and his henchmen in power in Iraq. [Right, but the same "ends justify the means" argument could be made for about half the nations of the world and their current heads of state, including my beloved land]

The United States has an obligation to spread freedom in the world by force of arms. [Sorry, I don't find this in my copy of the Constitution]

Forcibly establishing a western democracy in the Middle East, promotes peace and stability. [World does not look any safer or more stable since the start of the war, and indeed has become far more dangerous]

Invading Iraq keeps the terrorists busy and provides greater homeland security. [No proof of this, and the price tag of four thousand lives and $10 Billion per month seems a bit steep]

Now we are told that we cannot leave the mess in Iraq because all-out civil war might result and because we must have victory. In other words, it does not matter why we went to war against a country that had not attacked us and posed no threat to the USA, but once we did so we are obligated to complete the conquest.

This is a splendid strategy. We Americans are a proud people, and we hate to lose. Even if we start a fight with a weaker opponent for an invalid reason we are not about to leave until we kick the crap out of somebody.

William's Whimsical Words:

Thank goodness the folks who suffered delusions about Victory in Iraq will no longer reside in the White House next month.

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