what ever happens in a presidents first term is usually caused by the guy before him good or bad. sometimes this extends into the 5th year.


this of course doesn't count things such as Americans being taken hostage. and some president blowing the rescue attempt.


or a president that apologizes to the attackers for an attack on American troops equipment or citizens. yes i know troops are citizens.

You are correct sir.

In the wake of WWI in 1917, the British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour formalized a document later called "The Balfour Declaration", in which Britain ceded Palestine to Jews and opened up immigration. For many years, Jews coexisted with Arabs and other ethnicities in the region without much turmoil until the Palestinian Liberation Organization began regular terrorist attacks.

A brief history of Palestine
In the year 132 AD, Jewish leader Simon Bar Kochba led a revolt against the Roman occupation of Israel. After 3 years, in 135 AD, the Romans defeated the revolt. Nearly 1000 Jewish villages were razed and over 500,000 Jews lost their lives.

It was in the aftermath that Roman Emperor Hadrian, willing to make an example of the rebellion, renamed Israel "Syria Palaestina" and consolidated several adjoining provinces. Hadrian's reasoning was to break the will of the Jews by renaming the land after their ancient enemies, the Philistines. To this day, the opponents of the Jews rigidly insist the land is called "Palestine", when it was originally Israel.

In 1948, Israel declared their independence to the dismay of antisemites around the globe.

Now, here we are over 50 years later, Israel is stronger than ever, and people are still calling it "Palestine."

"But what about the Palestinian people?", you ask. The answer is relatively simple, that is provided you aren't a simpleton. There were no Palestinian people until tens of thousands of Syrian refugees fled for their lives under the oppressive Syrian regime. The same happened with Jordan. Many of the "new" Palestinians are imported from Egypt to create a problem for the Jews.

The Israeli government has provided for the Palestinians for decades and yet they are mostly unwilling to receive any aid. They must be kept poor and oppressed in order to blame the Jews. They are the poster children for antisemitic propaganda.

By the way, Yassir Arafat was not a "Palestinian." He was an Egyptian antisemite who happens to be the nephew of the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. When you connect the dots, it starts to make sense.

"But the Jews create squalid living conditions for the Palestinians and constantly kill them without mercy." The Israelis have provided free electricity, and many free facilities for the "Palestinians", and they squander everything. When the Jews pulled out of the Gaza Strip recently, the suave and sophisticated Palestinians burned everything to the ground. They are too saturated with hatred to be wise and invest in business or be productive in any way. They are deliberately kept in a state of ignorance, impoverishment, and misery as a festering sore so they can blame Israel.

166 comments? Really? Wow. I'm surprised/impressed ya'll are still following the argument. Amazing really. Wait. Must write something angry. Mild mannered David Bannister, I just slashed your tires!!! No wait, political and angry. Mild mannered David Bannister, Dick Cheney slashed your tires! I voted for NADER! Kerry torches kittens! Robert Gates sleeps with soldier's wives while they're deployed in Iraq, that's why all our deployments were extended an extra three months!!!!!

{AAAAAAAHHHH RUN.......ITS THE HULK!!!!!!!!! And he's going Green!!!!!!!}

Thanks, Daniel. Yeah, I read that before in an earlier response. Still, how funny is it that management comes on, says it should be moved and yet here it remains?

Wow, what a long rant. Tell me, did you read my original article? for the 1,000th time: I am not sure it was bad to invade Iraq. I am sure the reasons bush gave, the handling and planning of that invasion, the debathification (leading no domestic leaders) in the country after the invasion were all major problems that cause me to question Bush's effectiveness as a leader.

I (the writer of the article to kick off this thread) did not get into Israel. I haven't responded to any of the attacks regarding Israel, I'm not sure what my beliefs are yet. I think it has little to do with Bush as a leader, every US president in the last decades has faced similar Israli issues and all have had basically the same policy.

What makes Bush bad is his lack of planning, forsight, and execution. PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE THINK ABOUT THAT AND MOVE OFF SH WAS A BAD MAN. I DON'T ARGUE WITH YOU. WE AGREE.

I kicked off this thread with a fairly balanced argument. I'm pretty middle of the line in my beliefs (read my other postings if you are rolling your eyes back in your head and saying yeah, right). MY issues with Bush focus on his planning and execution of this war -- not the invasion itself. It's those facts I thought didn't get a lot of discussion. Unfortunately, this thread has diverted onto everything from SH was a bad man to racist rants about who knows what. My ADD kicks in and I stop reading. It just kicked in now! Time to go tickle my Hillary doll.

What a can of worms. Damned that Robert Gates. I KNEW IT! Bugger.

I'm so glad you said that....though you are not the first to do so!! One man said the very same thing years ago, even felt the need to act, and now he's branded a terrorist across the 'so-called' civilised world.

Disregard for a moment his evil methods, but does anyone here actually know what Osama bin Laden's original ideals/messages were? Of course not, they were censored by your government...so nobody might actually see his point and agree that the US meddles far too much in other nations affairs: that if compliance is not forthcoming the US invades and occupies...sets up puppet governments to rule from within the shadows.

Don't blame me for the thoughts and words of another! Thing is, though, it's oh so easy to shoot the messenger when you don't like the telegram...and because I'm obviously not a US citizen, there'll be a queue lining up to closed mindedly say: "What the fuck do you know?" Aha, but that precisely where I have the advantage...I wasn't indoctrinated with a war mentality from the day I was born/started school, and I can stand on the outside looking in....and to be honest, much of what I see sickens me to my stomach.

In all of my 37 years living in Australia, I can NOT recall a single shooting in an Australian school, but sadly, it's a common occurrence in the US and kids...kids for Christ's sake, are killing other kids and teachers....WHY??? It has a lot to do with the war mentality that's prevalent throughout US institutions. Is that the kind of society you want for your kids/grandkids....a place where everyone is in a kill or be killed mode, and you're not sure whether or not you or your family should step outside the door on any given day????

Really, what would you prefer? The school(s) where my grandkids go to be educated in other than gunplay???...or the one where any one or a number of students carry guns and knives....and could crack at any moment because military minded/gun happy dad gives 'em a hard time cos his mind is war-fucked???? Should be a no brainer, but it's embedded too deeply in US culture...the right to go to war, bear arms and shoot first.

And don't get me started on the 'guns don't kill people, people kill people' mentality! If you put a gun in the hands of some twit whose background is a strict military family with no room for mistakes...much less compassion, you've got yourself a high potential for a school or mall shooting. In the hands of an indoctrinated/disturbed individual with a point to prove, a gun DOES kill...no ifs or buts

Did Bush start it? Heck no, but he pro-actively perpetuates it with his kill or be killed mentality...his "you're either with us or agin us" approach to everything. Yep, that's right, I see Bush as a gun-toting megalomaniac who will invent/create enemies if none 'actually' exist. But even then it's not entirely his fault!! The blame goes back generations to his political predecessors - the 'resolve all with a military option' mindset - and blind compliance purely because 'the president' said so.

Tell ya what, despite my opinion/dislike of John Howard, I've been more free here in Australia than I ever would be in the (land of the free) US. Don't agree??? Step outside for a while (if you can) and take a good long, unbiased look at what's really going on...I dare ya!

You know, instead of constantly flexing its muscles, power and military might, the US would be better off making international friends through good will and peaceful deeds, out of the kindness of its heart, rather than bullying/intimidating lesser powers to become 'reluctant' allies/trade partners...because aggression is/will eventually be the US' downfall. Think about it.

Oh, and before anyone accuses me of hating Americans, I don't! I have several American/US friends for whom I have considerable respect and admiration....some of whom migrated here to Australia because their views of 'home' very much mirror those I've expressed here. No, it's not the people/imdividuals, but the agression/war psyche I deplore.

Peace.

I didn't vote for the bum either. One thing most of us don't know is that the Clintons are very close friends with the Bushs, very close so be careful who you vote for in 08. Everybody (for the most part) here has made all good points about the war and Bush. The Bushs stole the election in 2000 and we (not me) voted him in the second time becuase the Democrates could not come up with someone good enough to pit against. They lied about the reason to invade Iraq, and they let 911 happen in order to get the American people behind them in waging war on "Terrorism". Oil does play a major role in what happens in the Middle East and as long as we are so dependent on oil we will be fighting for control of it. The oil is not going to last forever so there will be a lot of fighting going on to gain control of what's left.

I blame the American people (including myself) for what has been happening. We allowed a family (Bushs) to steal/rig a presidential election and we didn't do anything about it. It could not have been more ovious, then to top things off we (not me) elect him again, shame on us twice. Bush is an incompetant rich kid who dosen't care about the loss of lives he and his father have caused over the years just to make their pockets books fatter. The mess Bush has created in the middle east will last a very long time and I feel bad for the next president who has to clean things up.

Nothing we say or do now will change the mess Bush has created, I only hope the American people wise up in the next presidental election. Oh Iran will be a big problem soon.  

Oh, god, I hope not. Surely he can't be that stupid, can he? A three front war? The thought sends chills down my spine.

Iran has seized on an opportunity we created for them. What forethought in foreign policy!

and the Veep still seems intent on some kind of action. And, many of the people who have responded in this thread would probably support such action. Geez. I'm heading to the gym.

I can think of many, previously great nations, this was the case for, dating back 3,000 years to present. Over and over again, nations fell because (even if their intention was good) they overstretched. I repeat: history should teach us, but I'm afraid it's lessons have been lost.

Damned intellectuals! That's the crap they teach you in those liberal ass univsersities? f**k (spit) f**k!

There must be some sort of latency - my comment was #167 and it was posted 5 minutes before yours.

funny

Joe, I can't disagree with you. Your observations and conclusions are probably correct.

For the record, I'm not a conservative, liberal, or any standardized classification. Nor am I Republican, Democrat, or "Independent." I just don't care. I think I'll vote for Bugs Bunny in 2008.

But Joe, I have to ask...why do you care? I mean, why would anyone truly care about an asinine president moving his military pawns around, making oil deals, bombing the hell out of dictators, and lying every step of the way. What purpose is there in obsessive preoccupation with politics?

Someone might be inclined to reply, "But cosmic retard, thousands of our soldiers lost their lives, and tens of thousands of Saddam's dissidents and insurgents lost their lives!" <---they are all career soldiers - who cares?

Someone else might say, "But cosmic retard, innocent Iraqi citizens were killed during the bombing and were just considered collateral damage! Bush is bad!" <---Yet, you fail to realize Saddam killed nearly 1,000,000 people in the region before he was deposed. A little collateral damage is nothing compared to Saddam's Blood-Bathist Regime.

But still - gruesome, grizzly crimes happen every day that you're unaware of. There is probably the golden nugget "cause" every activist dreams of unearthing. There are atrocities occurring every day which slip by the radar undetected. What's worse is the ones people know about and yet their interest is only piqued if it satisfies their political agenda.

The very people who accuse Bush of ignoring the Sudanese and Nigerian genocide are also ignoring it. They only mention it because its more ammo against Bush. They have no desire to save the Sudanese and Nigerians from ruthless Islamo-facist slaughter. It's just a cute argument against Bush.

Should I care about things that I don't know about? I know that sounds strange. But think about it. If events transpire without your knowledge, it's like a "tree falling in the woods." It might as well never have happened. I would venture to say there are countless genocidal crimes you'll never know about. They've been separated from you by time and space. The Battle of Carthage was far worse than anything Bush did, but the ethics are never discussed, nor is the carnage. This is because it was long ago and far away.

Should someone make a poster board sign and demonstrate for the ravaged Carthaginians, and someone needs to answer, and pay for these crimes against humanity? As daft as it sounds, there must be an assumed statute of limitations. How many years must pass before a genocidal atrocity is just another page in a history book (provided it was recorded)?

Since I'm separated by both time and space from the suffering Carthaginians, perhaps it isn't for me to worry about. Why should I care about the poor Carthaginians? Why aren't you concerned?

To be quite honest, I don't have the energy to busy myself with foreign affairs. Maybe if I were a career solider, I would feel more inclined to go kick some Sudanese butt. But I'm just a computer programmer.

I care because in my job I work for both left leaning and right leaning groups. When I photograph, I have to bite my tongue (sometimes hard)as the nuts on both sides go on and on an on and on. I CAN'T respond. So I have all this pent up AAGGGGHHHHH stuck inside of me I've been wanting to vent for some time.

I think it's important on so many levels. A government not being watched and criticized is a government to do carte blanch whatever they want. And, despite what you write, you've chimed in with some great comments in this thread. So, obviously, if we look at your actions and not your words (something I'm forced to do in my job), you do care.

I actually am an ancient history buff. I have trips planned to Athens and Egypt this coming year. I think it's human nature to want to know where we've been and use that knowledge to predict the future. When we see past mistakes being repeated, an alarm sounds deep within.

Peace!
M

I think just about everything that could be said has been about this subject.

What would interesting to read is what are we, you, me going to do as individuals to help change things?

The people in power aren't going to "rock the boat", and need I remind you it was all of us that put them there, whether you want to admit it or not. We either did it by our actions or non-actions, as it were. Swallow hard on that one.