Attention :The pictures of the dead and captured American troops!! (inter to SEE!!)

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http://www.petroleum.co.uk/education...hl=en&ie=UTF-8[/url]


Who produces the oil?
RANK COUNTRY MILLIONS OF TONNES PRODUCED
1 Saudi Arabia 426.5
2 USA 382.5
3 Former USSR 355.3
4 Iran 182.8
5 Mexico 151.3
6 China 149
7 Venezuela 146.4
8 Norway 139.9
9 UK 130.3
10 United Arab Emirates 112.8
11 Canada 110.9
12 Kuwait 104.4
Total world production 3,252.40
Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 1998.

[philly]

Moss,

One of the most disturbing statements you made was referring to the 9/11 attacks.

"The 9/11 attacks are terifying but is still the result of US
intervention all over the world. You cannot go around opressing
people and still expect to be safe. There will be more 9/11
because although americans are arrogant, they are not invincible."

Terrorism is a cowardess act against the innocent.

My Veteran Brothers at PF have profiled you quite well. You are a COWARD hiding behind the internet.

[reconeil]

All that enemy and/or typical protestor-like perversion of truth style propaganda aside, I have to agree with all the others,...if for no other reason than THEY ARE HONEST.

Besides, such dribble insults my and friends intelligence. Also, if it was all about: "Oil" (the typically diversionary rhetoric),...we could stop hostilities TODAY. Haven't we already captured all the oil fields, and plus who-the-hell needs Bagdad anyway?

Maybe, and just like once done for the ungrateful French, we might be trying to liberate the greatly tyrranized Iraqi People?
I personally don't think that's such a bad thing to do. Do you?

Neil :cd:

[Boats]

Hey Doc,

You are so good at telling it as it is! Nice come back and well said.

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http://www.nationalreview.com/goldbe...erg090402.asp.

note hi-lited areas............................................. ...>>>> <<<<

THE CASE FOR WAR
The antiwar forces on the right, for example, correctly cite the Black Hawk Down disaster as a cautionary tale, saying it was an adventure outside the realm of our national interest. They condemn the use of American soldiers as "nation-builders" and policemen on foreign soil. But, they also neglect to credit those very soldiers who have said time and again that their outrage over the incident lies not in having been sent there, but in having been removed from Somali soil before they could "get the job done." The cause was noble enough for the men, but their sacrifice was rendered meaningless by the inability of political leaders to have the courage of their convictions.

The antiwar forces on the left, meanwhile, see virtually every military exercise since World War II as morally suspect or vividly corrupt. In Korea, a terrible war in every respect, America fought to liberate a nation from Communism. The Left, unleashing through I. F. Stone a torrent of lies, distortions, and outright Soviet propaganda about American conduct, deemed the war illegitimate. And yet, as a second and third generation of North Koreans learns to eat grass and make soup of old shoes to survive ? while South Korean children spend their allowances on ski trips and handheld electronics ? can an honest person dispute that that war was an unalloyed boon to the South Koreans? Can anyone fault a North Korean for fantasizing about a past that never was, in which MacArthur's troops liberated the entire peninsula?

Indeed ? as a purely moral argument, leaving aside the legitimate arguments about what was and was not possible ? how can anyone disagree that an all-out war on Stalin's Soviet Union wouldn't have been preferable to the Cold War? In a nation which has declared time and again that death is preferable to tyranny ("Give me liberty or give me death," "Live free or die," "Millions for defense, not one penny for tribute!" etc., etc.), how is it possible to argue that leaving whole generations of entire societies imprisoned behind the Iron Curtain was an instance of taking the high road? Indeed, the trillions of dollars Americans sacrificed for the sake of the Cold War cost lives too.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

In 1991, the Left, with most of the Democratic party in tow, argued that Saddam Hussein would have left Kuwait under the pressure of sanctions. They then argued that sanctions alone would keep Hussein from pursuing weapons of mass destruction, even as he expelled inspectors. Indeed, at times it seems the Left advocates repealing the sanctions even while arguing that sanctions are sufficient to keep Saddam from pursuing these weapons ? and even as he pursues them. The obviously inflated numbers of Iraqi children who've died since the war are constantly cited as some vague evidence in the case against the war in the first place. And yet it doesn't seem to occur to anybody that if the U.S. had pressed the war further, removing Saddam entirely, those children's lives would doubtless have been saved.

There are two arguments for war with Hussein's Iraq. The first is grounded in realism: Saddam Hussein poses a threat to our security. This case can be made in a complete moral vacuum. It isn't contingent on moral categories like tyranny, cruelty, whatever. Saddam is an actor on the global stage whose aspirations conflict with America's, and since the international system is a Hobbesian state of nature, we have every "right" to protect our interests by any means necessary. Such arguments are important, necessary, and in this case, I believe, persuasive.

But it is the second argument, the one rooted in morality, which I find more compelling. To some, this colors me a warmonger or imperialist ? a term invariably thrown around by people eager to close off a debate, rather than have one. But so be it.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The cultures of the Middle East are rich and impressive. But at the moment, they are also stagnating in a cesspool of bigotry, poverty, and oppression of every sort. Even the ? by most accounts ? decent societies of the region, like that of Jordan, are being held back by the undertow of bile which flows freely through the Arab street. In 1990, for example, the king of Jordan had to show fealty to an Iraqi dictator he surely must have despised.

What a staggering embarrassment it must be for the denizens of North Africa that many of their poor neighbors south of the Sahara have been more successful at embracing democracy and the rule of law than has any Arab regime. I have every confidence that there are untold millions of Arabs who desperately want to live normal lives and that there are millions more who would shed their ideological blinders if given the opportunity. Donald Rumsfeld was right when he said we should think of these populations as hostages, not as citizens.

Those who fetishize "stability in the region" really mean the stability of cruelty and tyranny (and those who blame Israel for the attitudes of the Arab street are arguing, in effect, that it would be better to abandon one friendly democracy than to establish 50 of them). A stable, Nazi-run Europe would have been no friend and an unstable but democratizing Middle East would be no foe. After the Gulf War, the signs were there for a U.S.-led transformation of the region, but we turned our backs on those we had encouraged to rise up and embraced, once again, those committed to keeping their subjects down. Until that status quo is crushed and flushed clean by the tide of history, there will always be bin Ladens. Indeed, that is where the moral and realpolitik cases for war intertwine.

The biggest favor the United States ever did to militaristic Japan was to crush it militarily. Our victory ushered in prosperity, democracy, and a productive peace. The Iraqi people would be lucky if we did them the same favor.

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[1sgboom]

Let me explain something to you young man. You DON"T, I repeat DON"T post pictures of our dead brothers in arms!!!!! I for one saw ENOUGH death to last me a lifetime, In the first Gulf war, I watched two of my soldiers DISAPPEAR after stepping on a mine, and I still see their faces today. So I don't need some "Rookie" posting pictures of our brave brothers and sisters, just to get a reaction. HAVE SOME RESPECT PAL!!! DO YOU READ ME?!!!

"SAPPERS BREECH HELL!"