from the Ellis Island speech...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/transcripts/bush_text091102.html
Quote:
"The attack on our nation was also an attack on the ideals that make us a nation. Our deepest national conviction is that every life is precious, because every life is the gift of a creator who intended us to live in liberty and equality."
So, how does sponsoring state terrorism fit into that...as is the case in Israel? Does one actually believe that life is indeed precious if you purposely circumvent means to resolve conflict in a non-violent manner?
Quote:
"More than anything else, this separates us from the enemy we fight. We value every life. Our enemies value none, not even the innocent, not even their own."
Once again, how does that pan out in regards to the application of our foreign policy abroad? Seems that's not the case. What's the answer? BOMB THEM! doesn't sound like someone that values life to me.
Quote:
"We are joined by a great coalition of nations to rid the world of terror. And we will not allow any terrorist or tyrant to threaten civilization with weapons of mass murder."
Well, isn't that special? Seems that there's very little support for the pending attack on Iraq. "Threaten civilization...." doesn't the very existence of WMD threaten the very existence of everyone. I find this retarded. We have the largest cache of Weapons of Mass Destruction around. The largest nuclear arsenal....ask anyone who knows about Fort Dietrich Maryland. That's where that nasty batch of Anthrax was cooked up...right here in the good ol' USA. Seems we might need a good inspection too. Kofi....get on that!
Quote:
"We have no intention of ignoring or appeasing history's latest gang of fanatics trying to murder their way to power. They are discovering, as others before them, the resolve of a great country and a great democracy."
Here's another. Shouldn't we be held up to these same standards? PINOCHET for fucks sake! Or the Colombian death squads that were just awarded 41 Billion in military aid. Which was frozen at one point cause Congress found that the money was going to right wing factions that killed thousands of peasants, clerics, and organizers. Nothing's changed, and we know where that money will end up going.
Quote:
"We fight not to impose our will, but to defend ourselves and extend the blessings of freedom."
That's a good one too. "...Extend the blessings of freedom" huh? but "we fight not to impose our will"? Okay...so how is it that we are going to go to war with Iraq to force a governmental change, and yet not impose our will?
Now the speech to the UN General Assembly
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7737-2002Sep12.html
Quote:
"We created a United Nations Security Council, so that – unlike the League of Nations – our deliberations would be more than talk, and our resolutions would be more than wishes."
Quote:
"America stands committed to an independent and democratic Palestine, living beside Israel in peace and security. Like all other people, Palestinians deserve a government that serves their interests and listens to their voices. My nation will continue to encourage all parties to step up to their responsibilities as we seek a just and comprehensive settlement to the conflict."
OHH okay! My bad...I must have misunderstood. I thought that funding a nation that's hell bent on killing most and displacing the rest of an entire population would be in contradiction to what was stated in those passages. We support a country, Israel that scoffs at the UN all of the time. The only country that's thumbed it's nose at the UN more often is the US.
Quote:
"To suspend hostilities and to spare himself, Iraq's dictator accepted a series of commitments. The terms were clear: to him, and to all. And he agreed to prove he is complying with every one of those obligations."
Now that sounds strikingly like what the UN has been telling Israel for years...and yet look at Jenin and Ramallah. Yet there are still occupational forces in Gaza and the West Bank.
Quote:
"In 1991, Security Council Resolution 688 demanded that the Iraqi regime cease at once the repression of its own people, including the systematic repression of minorities – which, the Council said, "threaten(ed) international peace and security in the region."
Is that so. Well Security Council Resolution 242 of 1967 states, "withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in recent conflict" and "Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every state in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." So how does supporting a government that disregards the UN resolutions for 35 years play into the greater scheme of things...ohh wait lets not think about that.
Quote:
"This demand goes ignored. Last year, the U.N. Commission on Human rights found that Iraq continues to commit "extremely grave violations" of human rights and that the regime's repression is "all pervasive." Tens of thousands of political opponents and ordinary citizens have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, summary execution, and torture by beating, burning, electric shock, starvation, mutilation, and rape. Wives are tortured in front of their husbands; children in the presence of their parents – all of these horrors concealed from the world by the apparatus of a totalitarian state."
hmm? "Nicaragua's north western neighbor, El Salvador has a far more sadistic recent past. Roberto D'Aubuisson, "ARENA party founder" and "organizer of infamous squads with names such as the Secret Anticommunist Army (ESA) and La Mano Blanco (white hand)" was trained at a special school in Fort Benning, Georgia. There he learned "counterinsurgency strategies and tactics, psychological operations, torture and assassination" (Imperial America). With this knowledge he trained his combine in these same terrorist acts. After D'Aubuisson's downfall, the offspring's of his hard work began a more violent approach to their attacks, "beating infants against rocks, hanging women by their feet with their breasts cut off and the skin of their face peeled back so that they'll bleed to death, chopping people's heads off and putting them on stakes." (What Uncle Sam...22). " Tax payer money supported these bastards.
Quote:
"Iraqi dissidents abroad are targeted for murder. In 1993, Iraq attempted to assassinate the Emir of Kuwait and a former American President. Iraq's government openly praised the attacks of September 11th. And al-Qaida terrorists escaped from Afghanistan are known to be in Iraq."
"....and a former American President." doesn't he mean Daddy?
Quote:
"U.N. inspectors believe Iraq has produced two to four times the amount of biological agents it declared, and has failed to account for more than three metric tons of material that could be used to produce biological weapons. Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons."
Quote:
"United Nations inspections also reveal that Iraq likely maintains stockpiles of VX, mustard, and other chemical agents, and that the regime is rebuilding and expanding facilities capable of producing chemical weapons."
Scott Ritter seems to believe otherwise. And frankly I'm gonna believe someone who's actually stepped foot in the country being spoken about.
http://truthout.com/docs_02/09.10D.ritter.iraq.htm
Quote:
"In 1991, Iraq promised U.N. inspectors immediate and unrestricted access to verify Iraq's commitment to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles. Iraq broke this promise, spending seven years deceiving, evading and harassing U.N. inspectors before ceasing cooperation entirely."
actually, Clinton pulled out the inspectors...they were not kicked out.
Quote:
"The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of U.N. demands with a decade of defiance."
I can think of two or three other countries that have done so as well.
Quote:
"We want the resolutions of the world's most important multilateral body to be enforced."
sure we do. That's why we continue giving Israel 3 Billion a year...cause we want to see these resolutions adhered to.
http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/010201/0101015.htm
Quote:
"If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will cease persecution of its civilian population, including Shi'a, Sunnis, Kurds, Turkomans and others – again as required by Security Council resolutions."
It appears that it was conveniently left out that the Kurds were gassed from US helicopters with US supplied GAS.
dissonance