I nearly didn't answer this out of the sheer lunacy of such a claim. sm

• Colbert White House Correspondents' Dinner sm - LVMT
  • I love him and thought he was great! - PK
  • I'm a fan too!!! - Democrat
    • I found it rude and disrespectful. sm - ?
      • Speaking of rude and disrespectful... - madhattie
        • Wrong. nm - ?
      • Well you're entitled to that...sm - Democrat
      • It was the truth & I admire Colbert's guts. sm - LVMT
        • You need to examine your behavior. - Be very careful
        • Is shoot the messenger the new mantra here. - ?
          • I do not follow the 'party' system. sm - LVMT
            • That's just silly. - Lila
              • No not silly. History is repeating itself. sm - LVMT
                • Oh so true, LVMT. Love the way you put that...El Duce the Moose! - holy cow
                  • I must have missed the humor in this. - Lila
                    • I paid attention during history lessons. sm - LVMT
                      • I know what his nicknames are. - Lila
                    • As far as I see it, there is no debate. - holy cow
                      • You are absolutely right. - Lila
                • Exactly - PK
                • I nearly didn't answer this out of the sheer lunacy of such a claim. sm - Lila
          • Are you the same person who just said "that's a liberal for ya??" - Democrat
            • I was talking about myself when I said that. - ?
              • LOL! - LOL!
        • Weren't they. I kept thinking someone was going to yank the cord...sm - Democrat
  • Even most liberals present thought it was poor taste. - ?
    • How do you know what most liberals thought? - Lurker
      • Great post. - PK
      • Was a Colbert fan before - holy cow
        • Did you see the look on George & Laura's face?sm - LVMT
          • No, that's why I wish they would rerun the - holy cow
            • Google video has the whole thing from CSPAN. See link. - LVMT
              • Thanks. Watched it last night, and - holy cow
      • I believe I used the word *present*. nm - ?
        • Yes you did...were you there? - Lurker

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This issue has been ongoing since right after 9/11, almost FOUR YEARS now, and this president hasn't lifted a finger to do anything about it.  To me, that's worse than lunacy.  It's neglectful, irresponsible and violates his oath of office.

I certainly hope he pays attention to the American people who signed this petition, but I don't expect him to.  He should have taken this very basic step to protect America before even thinking about going into Iraq.  But he didn't and still hasn't.  His actions suggest that he'd rather spend the money on war than securing his own nation.

Maybe the way to stop illegals from wanting to come here is to write a new law to the effect that ALL illegals caught crossing the border will immediately be shipped to Iraq to fight the war.

 The Billy Graham/Mother Teresa reference was made only to say what if one of them asked the question. If one of them did, a) we would not have character assassination for days on end so we could cut straight to the chase. What I am saying is that if a person pretty much all Americans admire were to ask the president, "why did _____ die in this war?" what would his answer be.

Are you going to Iraq to help nation-build?

I have never claimed that.  Did I vote for him....no.  Have I given him a chance?  What chance is there to give him?  Look at what he has done in this short time.  I don't want to wait another term in office before I see the huge mistakes that are happening now.  And please correct me if I am wrong but I do recall many of you putting Bush down for every little thing that he ever did.  I didn't vote for Bush either and I do believe he made some huge mistakes as well.  You people have no problem cutting people down and not giving them a chance unless we are talking about Obama and then all of a sudden we are all horrible for opposing government spending MORE of our money.  That makes us instantly prejudice.

You ridicule Bush for the war in Iraq and Obama said he would pull our troops out ASAP.  We are still there and Obama has pushed back the time line to pull them out.  Now we are in Afgan fighting the Taliban....which are the same terrorist freaks we ran out of Iraq.  Gitmo is still open with no plan of where to put these terrorists.  The usual rules in bankrupcty were changed in Chrysler's dealings so that the unions came out top dog....which is not supposed to happen like that.  Obama has spent more money than Bush ever did and he wants to spend more.  He promised no taxes of any kind to 95% of Americans and yet he wants to institute cap and trade which will tax everyone.  The jobs that he claims will be created with the spendulous package are not sustainable jobs.  Only 1 out of 10 green jobs are sustainable long term.  He is capping what CEOs can make.  He has done nothing but apologize for the US wherever he goes and yet he fails to comment on all the good things that we have done for other countries or how much we gave relief to people after natural disasters.  A man who gives abortion rights but takes away the rights of doctors and hospitals to deny performing a procedure they don't believe in when those patients could easily go elsewhere for that particular procedure.  Our government is getting bigger and taking over too much.  What right does our government have to cap pay for anyone?  What right does our goverment have to okay bonuses for AIG and then turn around and demand the bonuses be taken away.  I don't agree that they should get bonuses but congress approved it in the first place.  Did you sleep through all of this?  They are talking about taxing health care benefits to help pay for universal health care when Obama ridiculed McCain during the campaign stating how ridiculous it is for McCain to want to tax someone's benefits.....hello? 

ARE YOU LISTENING?  How much more time should I give him because I can say that he sucks?

smoke anywhere but you did mention nonsmokers not being content with banning you from smoking in public places and this is a constant argument I had with my dad for many years.  A lot of smokers are very inconsiderate.  More often than not you see them smoking at ball parks that have no smoking signs just because they think it is their right to smoke no matter how many children are around them at the time.  I've been in my car at a stoplight and my car filled with a smell of smoke and I looked over to see the person in the car next to me smoking.  Smokers just do not realize how far their smoke carries and how really harmful it is to nonsmokers.  Parents who continually take their kids to the doctors for ear infections or respiratory problems and yet continue to smoke around them.  My dad used to smoke in the car with all three of us kids in the back but he thought we would be fine because the window was cracked.  All that did was blow unwanted ashes back towards us.  Amazingly none of us three kids smoke.  We all vowed never to pick up the habit and none of us married a smoker either.

I wasn't trying to be rude.....but smoking is a very sore subject with me.  Not only did I lose one grandpa to lung cancer and another grandpa to emphysema but I lost my dad 2 years ago to emphysema and I just absolutely HATE cigarettes.  To think of the years those stupid things robbed me of my 2 grandpas and my dad.....I just loathe cigarettes.

This morning I was thinking this Rove thing over and the main issue is the deception by this administration over the wanting to buy uranium claim.  When Wilson went to check it out and reported back that the claim was incorrect, it still was included in the State of the Union address, to scare the American people into war.  That is the main issue, the lies for going to war. 

even figure out who's WITH you, as evidenced by the little hissy fit above between you and another CON!!!

Please keep posting.  You're getting whackier with each post and revealing yourself for the nut case you truly are!!!

Plus, I'm intrigued by all the different voices in your head who surface at different times.  I guess tonight TM is doing the talking, and TM seems to be even more rude and angry and hateful than you usually are.

Why so angry, MT?  Roberts was confirmed today.  Why aren't you happy?  Or do you just have a terminal case of chronic bitterness, no matter what? Have you ever been nice to ANYONE?

PLEASE keep posting.  You're quite entertaining, even if in a pathetic sort of way.

...your mind, claim to know how well you "scan," etc.  They're the scariest of all. 

Have fun, kids.  I need another break from the board for a while.

I wonder how Gourd Painter is doing.  Looks like she was chased away by the bullies.  Too bad.  I enjoyed her perspectives. 

After all, you are not GW who can manipulate the truth as he pleases.  But anyway, please provide the "burn in hell for eternity" quote that seems to appear over and over.  I notice that this "quote" also changes slightly each time it is "quoted."

For those who can read and decide for themselves.  http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_bill_clinton_pass_up_a_chance_1.html

that made her well rounded!!!

When a senator sponsor a bill, he originates the concept, surveys the landscape for support or lack thereof, identifies targets for persuasion, and works for bipartisan consensus.  This would involve extensive research on the content of the bill, assessment of benefits versus cost, knowledge of past voting records of constituents and fashioning persuasive arguments using pros and cons, according to who his individual target is and where he or she is coming from.  He determines constitutionality, legality and any possible conflict of interests.  He authors the bill.  He introduces the bill, debates the bill in the chambers, takes and answers criticism, compromises, rewrites and so forth until passage is achieved.  He then turns around and goes through much the same process to promote the bill in the house.  Then he holds his breath and hopes the president from his opposition party does not wipe out all his hard work with the stroke of a veto pen.  When he cosponsors a bill, he does much the same thing with a partner or partners. 

The accomplishments I listed under the state experience section actually were Obama's initiatives.  The US senate list does not just reflect legislation.  It also demonstrates varied committee membership, which reflects a completely different type of experience, much along the lines of study groups and research focused on strategy building of national and internation consequence.   

Two final observations.  Every single item listed under O's experience indicates the issues he takes most seriously and aligns consistently with the platform he now proposes on a national level in the presidential campaign.  Thus, this addresses the trust issue so often raised by his detractors.  O obviously has been a quick study, or he would not have been able to successfully seize the nomination of his party. 

I do not understand how SP's so-called executive experiences trumps this record.  In fact, my question would be where then DID she get her consensus-building experience from if she was so totally in charge of people she expected to simply fall in line.  Lastly, I am still wondering exactly how SP's record is comparable in this regard...or in words of one syllable...how does she stack up?

    Thursday 10 November 2005

The myth of al-Zarqawi, Napoleoni believes, helped usher in al-Qaida's transformation from a small elitist vanguard to a mass movement.

The myth of al-Zarqawi, Napoleoni believes, helped usher in al-Qaida's transformation from a small elitist vanguard to a mass movement. (Photo: spacewar.com)

    Al-Zarqawi was born Ahmad Fadil al-Khalayleh in October 1966 in the crime and poverty-ridden Jordanian city of Zarqa. But his myth was born Feb. 5, 2003, when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell presented to the United Nations the case for war with Iraq.

    Napoleoni, the author of Insurgent Iraq, told reporters last week that Powell's argument falsely exploited Zarqawi to prove a link between then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. She said that through fabrications of Zarqawi's status, influence and connections the myth became the reality - a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    He became what we wanted him to be. We put him there, not the jihadists, Napoleoni said.

    Iraq's most notorious insurgent, Napoleoni argues, accomplished what bin Laden could not: spread the message of jihad into Iraq.

    In an article of Napoleoni's in the current November/December issue of Foreign Policy, she said, In a sense, it is the very things that make Zarqawi seem most ordinary - his humble upbringing, misspent youth and early failures - that make him most frightening. Because, although he may have some gifts as a leader of men, it is also likely that there are many more 'al-Zarqawis' capable of filling his place.

    The myth of al-Zarqawi, Napoleoni believes, helped usher in al-Qaida's transformation from a small elitist vanguard to a mass movement.

    Al-Zarqawi became the icon of a new generation of anti-imperialist jihadists, she said.

    The grand claim that al-Zarqawi provided the vital link between Saddam and al-Qaida lost its significance after it became known that al-Zarqawi and bin Laden did not forge a partnership until after the war's start. The two are believed to have met sometime in 2000, but al-Zarqawi - similar to a group of dissenting al-Qaida members -rebuffed bin Laden's anti-American brand of jihad.

    He did not have a global vision like Osama, said Napoleoni, who interviewed primary and secondary sources close to al-Zarqawi and his network.

    A former member of al-Zarqawi's camp in Herat told her, I never heard him praise anyone apart from the Prophet [Muhammad]; this was Abu Musab's character. He never followed anyone.

    Al-Zarqawi's scope before the Iraq war, she continued, did not extend past corrupt Arab regimes, particularly Jordan's. Between 2000 and early 2002, he operated the training camp in Herat with Taliban funds; the fighters bound for Jordan. After the fall of the Taliban, he fled to Iraqi Kurdistan and set up shop.

    In 2001, Kurdish officials enlightened the United States about the uninvited Jordanian, said Napoleoni. Jordanian officials, who had still unsolved terrorist attacks, were eager to implicate al-Zarqawi, she claimed. The little-known militant instantly had fingerprints on most major terrorist attacks after Sept. 11, 2001. He was depicted in Powell's speech as a key player in the al-Qaida network.

    By perpetuating a terrifying myth of al-Zarqawi, the author said, The United States, Kurds, and Jordanians all won ... but jihad gained momentum, after in-group dissension and U.S. coalition operations had left the core of al-Qaida crippled.

    In her article, Napoleoni says, [Zarqawi] had finally managed to grasp bin Laden's definition of the faraway enemy, the United States. Adding that, Its presence in Iraq as an occupying power made it clear to him that the United States was as important a target as any of the Arab regimes he had grown to hate.

    ... The myth constructed around him is at the root of his transformation into a political leader. With bin Laden trapped somewhere in Afghanistan and Pakistan, al-Zarqawi fast became the new symbolic leader in the fight against America and a manager for whoever was looking to be part of that struggle, she wrote.

    The author points to letters between al-Zarqawi and bin Laden that have surfaced over the past two years, indicating the evolution in their relationship, most notably a shift in al-Zarqawi which led to his seeking additional legitimacy among Sunnis that bin Laden could help bestow.

    In late December 2004 - shortly after the fall of Fallujah - the pan-Arab network Al-Jazeera aired a video of what was bin Laden's first public embrace of Zarqawi and his fight in Iraq.

    ... We in al-Qaida welcome your union with us ... and so that it be known, the brother mujahid Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the emir of the al Qaida organization [in Iraq], bin Laden declared.

    Napoleoni believes that al-Zarqawi, however, is still largely driven by the romantic vision of a restored Caliphate, and that his motives still are less political than some other factions participating in the Iraq resistance.

    She questions whether he has actually devised a plan for what he will do, if and when, he wins.