What would damage the morale of US troops more, the...

[harlinchi]

...knowledge that some elected officials are questioning the rationale behind the Iraq conflict or the knowledge that the president, vice president, sec'y of defense and sec'y of state, AT A BARE MINIMUM, did not present all of the facts known when they made their case for the invasion of Iraq, i.e., had they told all of the facts known at the time there would likely have been no invasion of Iraq? Wouldn't the suspicion that the administration might have misled the public or even lied be more damaging?

Which fact would damage morale more? If I knew folks who died there (and I'd suspect that anyone in theater knows some of the dead) and I knew their deaths could have been prevented, that would be the most damaging to my morale. That's why Cheney is fighting as aggressively as he is.

[ComerPerro]

1. Either way, it would be the Dem's and liberals' fault

Its our fault if we criticize Bush, and its our fault if we expose the lies that led to war.

Granted, I don't agree with this, but thats how things have gone.

Remember the torture photos? Conservatives were pissed at liberals for wanting the pictures to be released.

They blamed us for reporting their crimes!

[harlinchi]

3. There were two pictures that stand out in my mind from the Vietnam...

...war. One was the two children, one older female and one younger male, running down a road wide-armed and naked after having been napalmed and the other was of a man, with a fear-contorted face, standing with his hands tied behind his back while a Vietnamese officer or intelligence official pointed a handgun at his head, prior to killing him. I believe these pictures were published during the war. The news services which showed them are not remembered by me. The pictures and the government which allowed them stands clearly in my mind. I hope the same occurs with the Iraq torture photos.

[dajoki]

6. the Vietnamese officer...

ended up running a pizza shop somwhere in VA. i read this in Time many, many years ago and it just stuck with me. i also remember the photo of the monk on fire.

[harlinchi]

8. The image stayed with you! I'm just memory-challenged...

...because I couldn't remember the news outlet!

[dajoki]

9. so am i...

but it's funny how certain things just stick while most just get lost somwhere, like my keys.

[wtbymark]

2. That they lied - say it again, they lied

thats why cheney was so adamant in his remarks- somebody with power and influence has to call him a bold faced LIAR, to his face, in public. Get this fuckin' ball rollin'!

[Wickerman]

4. What I find most distressing, as a former uniform wearer

is that the facts seem to indicate there were a lot of untruths or lies leading up to war, but now that folks are rightfully questioning those tactics, the VP is playing politics with patriotism to prevent his lies being discovered. Much worse than the initial lies, very damaging.

[Toots]

5. I am a Vietnam Veteran and I was thrilled to know people were standing

up for my safe return and the end of violence in Vietnam in the late sixties. It made my heart warm to know I was from a caring nation that wanted an end to warfare ASAP. I don't see why that would not hold true today as well. I did not hate the War protesters because I knew it was war they were protesting and not the soldiers. The right wing has tried to make everyone believe that we protest the soldiers and not the war but again they LIE. They have been Lying forever to get their War Profiteering into high gear. The GOP is nothing more than War Profiteers and that is what needs to be hammered upon at every opportunity. GOP=War Profiteering

[beaconess]

7. Certainly it would be the latter - that's why we can NEVER mention it!

Don't you see? If you REALLY supported the troops, you would allow Bush et al to continue lying through their teeth and shutting up any mention of the fact that the troops have been sent to war under false pretenses since if the troops knew the truth, they'd be really, really bummed about it.

So everyone shut up already.

[Medeling Kid]

10. The forest behind these here trees

Is with enough prodding, Junior and company just might stumble upon the idea of reminding folks of the nasty little fact that there WERE WMD's found in Iraq; Missles of a prohibited range, a boat load of reference strains of viruses, New research on Brucella and Congo-Crimean hemorragic fever +ricen and afatoxin, 500METRIC TONS of regular uranium, 1.77 METRIC TONS of enriched uranium,17 chemical warheads purchased by the Polish Gov't (most containing cyclosarin) to prevent dispersal, a enriching centrifuge buried in a garden, and 1500 gallons of chemical agents right in a Mosul warehouse. Also it will eventuallly come out that Valerie Plame was not at all a secret agent, merely a WMD advisor who was well known, as often bragged about by her husband well before any leak. Why must we keep jousting at these windmills instead of focusing giving the public the Ideas and
solutions they want?

[beaconess]

11. You'd better call W quick. They don't seem to know any of this

Thank God you're around to educate them about what they actually found in Iraq but forgot to mention to anyone.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Buh-bye.

But just one question before you leave... Why did the CIA request that the disclosure of Valerie Plame's identity be investigated if she wasn't a covert agent and her identity was well-known, as you incorrectly claim? I should think the CIA would know the status of its own agents, and would not have demanded the prosecutor call a grand jury to determine whether somebody illegally leaked the identity of an agent who wasn't even covert. Puh-leeze. Also, the federal appellate court that addressed the Judith Miller contempt proceedings has already stated that she was covert-- as a matter of law. Joe Wilson never bragged about her; even her own friends and neighbors didn't know she was CIA. Oh, and where are those WMDs right now? Nobody else seems to have been able to find them, but you know all about them?

:rofl: