Monday, September 25, 2006

Let's ignore facts, info about drug use & NIEs, and maybe Iraq will seem less like Vietnam


Yes, plenty of comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq have been made, but most raise some especially valid points and questions that can't be ignored or dismissed. After a little reading this weekend, I came up with one comparison of my own. According to uber conservative William F Buckley, Jr: "The assertion, which has been made in reputable circles, was that over 40% of Americans fighting in Vietnam were using heroin and 80% marijuana... under special circumstances, the use of drugs increases. Well, granted there was stress in Vietnam." Uh... do ya think? And now according to The Sunday Times UK: "The army is suffering an epidemic of drug abuse. Earlier this yr The Sunday Times revealed how the army regiment involved in the first Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal was awash with drugs as the soldiers went to war. One former fusilier claimed that 75 men from his company, some 60% of its strength, regularly took cocaine, ecstasy or marijuana. "There's guys who have to have 2 or 3 lines of coke before they can operate," he said. According to a parliamentary answer, 1,020 army personnel tested positive for drugs last yr, including 520 cases using class A drugs — a 50% rise in the past 5 yrs." Uh, ya don't think these UK troops are trying to... gee, I don't know... perhaps drown out the horror that unfolds around them and helps numb them to the things they have done and will be asked to do, do ya? Of course not. B/c according to BushCo, it is a non-stop party in Iraq, and quite frankly, if you ask Bush himself, the bloodshed and deaths in Iraq will merely be "like a comma in the history books." Awfully cavalier attitude for a man who was AWOL during his own chance to see and cause some bloodshed, and for a man who has 2 perfectly healthy daughters in their 20s who could easily strap a set of combat boots on, huh? Well, a party it ain't. Just take a gander at this compilation of nonstop bloodshed and violence... and it compiles the bloodshed and violence for the month of Sept ALONE, and month by the way which has allowed us to reach the grim troop death landmark of 2700 killed (58 deaths in the month of Sept thus far). Perhaps Bush needs to ask Iraqi police officers how fabulous things are for them when the decapitated heads of 9 of their fellow officers are tossed out of a speeding car in the centre of Tikrit, and maybe he needs to wonder why exactly is it that Iraqi Pres Talebani is asking for a long-term US military presence in Iraq, and saying that his country will need 2 permanent US air bases to deter "foreign interference"? But why would Bush ask those pertinent questions when the WH refuses to acknowledge the NIE report that says in clear terms that the war in iraq is making us less safe and is actually fueling terrorism?
Posted by Tina :: 12:52 AM :: 11 Comments:

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