"Where are the people with the flowers welcoming the American liberators?"

[swag]

Assorted quotes from the 0406 AP story "Bush Briefed on Iraq"


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-US-Iraq.htm...


Robert Byrd: "Surely I am not the only one who hears echoes of Vietnam in this development. Surely, the administration recognizes that increasing the U.S. troop presence in Iraq will only suck us deeper, deeper into the maelstrom, into the quicksand of violence that has become the hallmark of that unfortunate, miserable country."

"Starkly put, at this juncture, more U.S. forces in Iraq equates more U.S. targets in Iraq. The harsh reality is this: one year after the fall of Baghdad, the United States should not be casting about for a formula to bring additional U.S. troops to Iraq. We should instead be working toward an exit strategy."

. . .

Chuck Hagel a Republican member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States and its allies are "right on the edge" of losing control in areas of Iraq.

On CNBC television's Tuesday night program, "Capital Report," Hagel said the current situation was "dangerous, complicated and I think we're on the verge of seeing, in some of these areas, of seeing some of the progress we've made over the last year come undone."

He said Abizaid is seriously considering whether more troops are needed "and if he decides that's what we need, we need those troops in there, we need them now," Hagel said.

"This is a crucial, critical time. We cannot allow some of these areas to become uncontrollable..," he said.

. . .

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry criticized the administration Wednesday for deciding at a relative early juncture to set the June 30 target date for transferring sovereignty back to the Iraqis and said Bush has yet to explain to whom power in Iraq would be delivered.

"You don't set an arbitrary date for the transfer of power to a non entity. You have to make the judgment of stability. I mean, this date it, appears to me, may well have been set by the American election, not by the stability of Iraq," Kerry said in an interview with American Urban Radio.

"Where are the people with the flowers, throwing them in the streets, welcoming the American liberators the way Dick Cheney said they would be?" Kerry said. "This is one of the greatest failures of diplomacy and failures of judgment that I have seen in all the time that I've been in public life."

[jobycom]

1. Trying to pull their dead children out of our bomb craters? nt

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

2. I just finished reading this, posted by a Vietnam vet on another site

as said before, from personal experience....

when one has to run around in an urban area with tanks,
flak jackets and steel pot helmets,

IT AINT GOOD....

From the beginning this thing has been FUBAR.....

I have been into the Ia Drang, at the Catecka Tea Plantation,
at Plei Me, and at Ducco and even into Cambodia but I never wore
a helmet or even put on the flak jacket....and there were scads
of NVA guys around...and I ain't no hero...and the NVA outside of the Apache and Cheyenne are the best ever....

in the urban areas one never even carried a weapon....even in Kontum or Pleiku....

So for your sons and daughter to be heavily armed in Iraq means things ARE and WERE VERY BAD from the get go.....

Similar to Vietnam in the outright lies of the Military and Political Goons running the show....

I would think we have been lucky so far that more have not died...
this could get really bloody....


http://www.politicalhardball.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show...

[librarycard]

24. Helmets in Vietnam were probably used more for bathing

than body armor.

[Supormom]

3. In Afghanistan...

They are throwing poppies!

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

4. "Harvesting"

you mean to say.

[Moderator]

5. swag

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
news source.


Thank you.


DU Moderator

[swag]

7. 10-4

Will do.

Thanks, mod.

[truthspeaker]

6. it was a typo; "flowers" was really "flamethrowers"

[unionpaid]

8. I think they are afraid of the insurgents killing them and their family

While the majority of Iraq welcomes the chance at democracy there are a small number of armed America haters and those that want forced cleric dictatorship. As the number of armed radicals drops the people wanting freedom will hit the streets. I can't blame them for hiding from the terrorists.

[Robbien]

10. Only people following the GOP talking points

call these Iraqis terrorists. Only people following the GOP talking points believe that the majority of Iraq welcomes us.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mmonk]

9. too busy enjoying democracy right now

[buddhamama]

12. maimed or dead from our bombs

hungry and tired from lack of food and lack of paid jobs with which to buy it with,
scared to go out onto the streets...,

[mouse7]

13. What's up with Hagel lately? When did he stop being GOP-borg?

Hagel's actually said some things that are almost helpful lately. Is Hagel feeling well?

[buddhamama]

14. Hagel's constituents may not be feeling well

with what's happening in Iraq.

Their 'eyes' are always on the next re-election campaign.

[bemildred]

22. Yeah, fear focuses the mind something wonderful.

He thinks he might not get re-elected if this gets ugly enough.

[name not needed]

15. in the mosque we destroyed

[Zorra]

16. Putting the flowers on graves. n/t

[DulceDecorum]

17. Pushing up daisies in Sadr City.

Quotes from Babylon 5.

Captain John Sheridan:
If more of our so-called leaders would walk the same streets as the people who voted them in, live in the same buildings, eat the same food instead of hiding behind glass and steel and bodyguards, maybe we'd get better leadership and a little more concern for the future.

Ambassador Londo Mollari:
Physics tells us that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. They hate us, we hate them, they hate us back. And so, here we are, victims of mathematics!

Elric: As I look at you, Ambasador Mollari, I see a great hand reaching out of the stars. And I hear sounds; the sounds of billions of people calling out your name.
Ambassador Londo Mollari: My followers?
Elric: Your victims.

[ThoughtCriminal]

18. When will we Ever Learn?

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE
words and music by Pete Seeger

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young girls gone?
Taken husbands every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Covered with flowers every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

[snippy]

19. I believe that was changed to "floral program related activities."

This means that it is possible that the Iraqi people theoretically could have the means to acquire potential flowers to possibly greet us with if they had the intent to do so. Or perhaps Cheney just lied.

[yelladawg]

21. Where are the WMD?

Why are we still there?

[spooky3]

20. Watch the Halliburton vouchers for Floral Contracting Fees.

[swag]

23. No Vouchers! - Accounts Receivable too busy...

...DOING THE MAMBO!