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over for obama?

  • Thread starterzibzob
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handigrl said:
I thought we were. The Republicans are screwing the hell out of the middle class! lol


Sorry you feel that way- it doesnt reflect reality.

Every American pays less as a percent of their income today than 8 yrs ago. The bottom 40% or so fell off the tax roles completely. Those in this group with a child or two not only pay no taxes, they get other peoples money back in the form of earned income and the child tax credit.

As a percent of the total tax liability for the nation, the rich now pay a higher percentage than they did 8 yrs ago. The top 1% pay 40% of the nations total tax liability which is an 11% increase from the late 1990's yet they control only 21% of the wealth. The top 10% pays 70% of the total national tax burden and the top 50% pay 96.4% of the total burden. The top 60% pays 100% of the tax liability and the bottom 40% pays ZERO.

Our jobs are going overseas due to policies supported by BOTH parties combined with the fact that many unions have gone from protecting workers to being greed machines. With the taxes, regulations and unions in the USA, it is near impossible to compete on the world stage.
 
zibzob said:
All this gibber jabber has gotten away from my main point! Sarah Palin is HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Palin is hot and the daughter that isnt pregnant is plain gorgeous
 
I agree james both parties share the blame for selling us out. I see more possibility of reform with McCain/Palin, based on their track record. As a human being I like Obama he seems like descent man and a good father and husband.
But I dig the fact that Sarah Palin went after her people in her OWN party to end corruption. Chicago is well know to be one of the most politically corrupt cities in America.
 
baadger said:
I never debate politics or religion,but anyone who doesn't want at least 4 more years of the same horseshit MUST get out and vote. soon there will not be anyone working except doctors, lawyers and minimum wage earners
I'm not thrilled with the choices but we must have a turnaround:nutpunch:

Many of our problems would occur no matter who was in the whitehouse. Obama is not the answer by any means, he is the one that would make things even worse by pursuing more policies that are feel good in nature but deliver negative results everytime. Raising taxes is bad, more regulation is bad, trade barriers are bad, handing out money without solid expectations of the recipient is bad... The list goes on but this man's policies are bad for the nation in the long run- cpl that with democrat controlled congress and it could be real trouble
 
zibzob said:
I agree james both parties share the blame for selling us out. I see more possibility of reform with McCain/Palin, based on their track record. As a human being I like Obama he seems like descent man and a good father and husband.
But I dig the fact that Sarah Palin went after her people in her OWN party to end corruption. Chicago is well know to be one of the most politically corrupt cities in America.


The thing is that Obama does come across as caring for the little guy but people experienced in policy- or that think rather than feel- understand that his feel good solutions that tug at the heart strings, have been tried repeatedly and never have lasting positive results. "poor" people will be supportive of a man that says he is going to tax the rich- but when us poor people pay no federal taxes and the rich pay the lions share, it becomes clear that this is more class warfare than real world policy. You can go down through every position and invalidate most of them the same way.
I will give him credit when credit is due- it takes some courage to be a democrat and openly state support the death penalty for rapists- the right position but not a popular one on that side among the leaders and activists
 
vtjames742 said:
I did NOT say it was all about natural gas. What I said was it isnt all about oil- in other words oil is PART of the equation NOT the whole thing. How you twist that into a statement about it being all about natural gas is beyond me. The level of reading comprehension is low to say the least.
Amazingly I have a degree in secondary education as well and in that field of study, reading comprehension is pushed hard so if you want, maybe I can tutor you. .

You're talking about MY reading comprehension? Show me where I say you said it's "all about natural gas". Apparently the reading comprehension problem is yours,lol. You have issues apparently and mo amount of education can fix that.


vtjames742 said:
The fact is that the act of approving and beginning the process of drilling will in and of itself force world crude prices down- estimates for this decrease also vary. I'd urge you to learn how commodity speculators work.
.

That's not a fact, thats you surmising what will affect those markets. Cite for me one instance where approving drilling in the US has lowered oil prices. Just one. Don't tell me what you THINK will happen. I give you facts, you give me your assumptions.

I know how commodity speculators work. One of our largest investments is in Exxon and we have been following the commodity markets and cause and effect in them and have been for years.



vtjames742 said:
What you fail to realize with your statistics is that there are varying statistics as to how much oil is at the north slop and outer continental shelf. They are all basically estimates and vary widely.

What you fail to realize is I gave you statistics form a reliable source. YOu give me back generalized bullshit with no source other than you. Doesn't mean shit to a tree. Just because you say it's so , doesn't make it so. Of course they're estimates. But do you think the DOE under the Bush administration is going to give lowball estimates for oil production and undermine his argument for drilling ??? Let me know when you have facts from reliable source, not ones you choose to assume; let me know when you can respond without the personal attacks; let me know when you can debate an issue on it's merits not on your alleged education.

Until then, this time I am really done with you.
 
It's interesting to me and I think a credit to the republican candidates that they can convince people that after 8 years in office and lowering taxes, increasing the size and intrusions of government into our lives, poor regulation practices of lending markets, that people can believe a man that has been in Washington for, I beleive, 26 years is going to be an instrument for change, that lowering taxes further will help the economy and less regulation will help anything.

Calling for a continuation of the failed economic policies of the past 8 years will not improve the economy, I think that's proven. The party that has been in power for the past 8 years now wants us to believe they'll be the instrument to change Washington? Outright poor regulation of credit markets fueled a weak false recovery in the economy for a few years, has now created economic turmoil and now we want even less regulation?

Do I think Obama can fix all that? Nope, I don't. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure anyone can. I think only the will of the American people can fix it, not the politicians per se. There is no easy fix, only throwing out any politician, Republican or Democrat, that does not exercise his power that is vested by the people, for the people.

But I do know that the same politicians that screwed it up for the last 8 years can't be trusted with a task that they so royally screwed up already, sorry. Their words sound great but experience with them has not shown good results. Unfortunately, the Democrats words sound great too, but their candidates have no experience for us to gauge their effectiveness.

I'm back to both candidates suck and I'm voting for me.
 
blkoralslaveboy said:
and the ever growing libertarian movement? what are your views on that..

I don't know much about the growth of the Libertarian movement ( I assume you mean party) and can't really find much in the way of meaningful statistics about it.

I do know many Americans are alienated by the Democrat and Republican parties and their quest to achieve and maintain power at any cost. I think and hope this means gravitation to other parties that more suit their political ideals, whatever they may be.
 
it does you no good to reply to a question with personal attacks! generally a well thought out answer suffices, just thought you might want to ponder that idea.

anyways, you are incorrect to say we import very little oil from the middle east because between Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait we import over 2MILLION barrels of crude oil as well as 2MILLION barrels of petroleum daily. This will obviously affect us a great deal. government website:
Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries

in addition to this we spend 10BILLION/month in Iraq much of which is going into the arms contracts. Every year since 2003 they have had an average annual revenue GROWTH of 23% yearly!! This is VERY good business indeed.

i'm sticking to my guns until one of you gives me of a good reason on why you believe we're really there...

vtjames742 said:
I dont want to get into the WMDs issue as it seems to be above the level of comprehension of many in this forum. However, McCains comments about 100 yrs was clear, he was saying we should stay until we have finished the job. We as a nation have a horrible habit of getting into things then quiting when we are bored of it- leaving hundreds of thousands- even millions- behind to get slaughtered.
Not that it means we dont want to control their oil- though there is little evidence- but we get very little of our oil from the middle east. Of course an understanding of international commodities tells us that regardless of where one gets their oil, the price they pay still depends on the overall world supply and usage so we do have a vested interested in the free flow. I do believe part of our motive was the free flow of oil but certainly do not agree that we went to steal it.
 
Ok chief,
good, well thought out answer. i don't completely agree but heck that's what opinions are for. thanks. ANYONE ELSE?

falcondfw69 said:
Blkoralslaveboy, et all,
Personal opinion: We are there for several reasons. 1. Vice President Cheney suspected that a war would help his oil croneys get rich quick (including himself). 2. Pres. George heard all the talk from the people (the ignorant ones) about "Why didn't George I finish the job?". He took it as an affront to his family honor. 3. These two factors made him easy pickings to faulty intelligence reports that Saddam had WMD's (ever seen a white spy in an arab world? They kinda stick out. Hence, no on the ground, first hand verification.). 4. He got the reports he wanted and ran with them.
Now, those are personal opinions.
If I remember right, there actually were some reports of some warheads found buried with traces of Sarin in them and some trailers found buried with traces of the same. The media, of course, quickly buried the stories. They did not serve the agenda of the media - to make Bush and the US look like fools (like Bush would need any help.).
 
falcondfw69 said:
Blkoralslaveboy, et all,
Personal opinion: We are there for several reasons. 1. Vice President Cheney suspected that a war would help his oil croneys get rich quick (including himself). 2. Pres. George heard all the talk from the people (the ignorant ones) about "Why didn't George I finish the job?". He took it as an affront to his family honor. 3. These two factors made him easy pickings to faulty intelligence reports that Saddam had WMD's (ever seen a white spy in an arab world? They kinda stick out. Hence, no on the ground, first hand verification.). 4. He got the reports he wanted and ran with them.
Now, those are personal opinions.
If I remember right, there actually were some reports of some warheads found buried with traces of Sarin in them and some trailers found buried with traces of the same. The media, of course, quickly buried the stories. They did not serve the agenda of the media - to make Bush and the US look like fools (like Bush would need any help.).

We did find Sarin gas and others--- "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent." according to a report by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a Defense Department intelligence unit.
(this is from back in 06)

From another story:
Both Duelfer and Kay found Iraq had "a clandestine network of laboratories and safe houses with equipment that was suitable to continuing its prohibited chemical- and biological-weapons [BW] programs," the official said. "They found a prison laboratory where we suspect they tested biological weapons on human subjects."

They found equipment for "uranium-enrichment centrifuges" whose only plausible use was as part of a clandestine nuclear-weapons program. In all these cases, "Iraqi scientists had been told before the war not to declare their activities to the U.N. inspectors," the official said.

Among Kay's revelations, which officials tell Insight have been amplified in subsequent inspections in recent weeks:


A prison laboratory complex that may have been used for human testing of BW agents and "that Iraqi officials working to prepare the U.N. inspections were explicitly ordered not to declare to the U.N." Why was Saddam interested in testing biological-warfare agents on humans if he didn't have a biological-weapons program?

"Reference strains" of a wide variety of biological-weapons agents were found beneath the sink in the home of a prominent Iraqi BW scientist. "We thought it was a big deal," a senior administration official said. "But it has been written off [by the press] as a sort of 'starter set.'"

New research on BW-applicable agents, brucella and Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever, and continuing work on ricin and aflatoxin that were not declared to the United Nations.

A line of unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, or drones, "not fully declared at an undeclared production facility and an admission that they had tested one of their declared UAVs out to a range of 500 kilometers [311 miles], 350 kilometers [217 miles] beyond the permissible limit."

"Continuing covert capability to manufacture fuel propellant useful only for prohibited Scud-variant missiles, a capability that was maintained at least until the end of 2001 and that cooperating Iraqi scientists have said they were told to conceal from the U.N."

"Plans and advanced design work for new long-range missiles with ranges up to at least 1,000 kilometers [621 miles] -- well beyond the 150-kilometer-range limit [93 miles] imposed by the U.N. Missiles of a 1,000-kilometer range would have allowed Iraq to threaten targets throughout the Middle East, including Ankara [Turkey], Cairo [Egypt] and Abu Dhabi [United Arab Emirates]."
In addition, through interviews with Iraqi scientists, seized documents and other evidence, the ISG learned the Iraqi government had made "clandestine attempts between late 1999 and 2002 to obtain from North Korea technology related to 1,300-kilometer-range [807 miles] ballistic missiles -- probably the No Dong -- 300-kilometer-range [186 miles] antiship cruise missiles and other prohibited military equipment," Kay reported.


From another story

• Found: 1.77 metric tons of enriched uranium

• Found: 1,500 gallons of chemical weapons

• Found: Roadside bomb loaded with sarin gas

• Found: 1,000 radioactive materials--ideal for radioactive dirty bombs

• Found: 17 chemical warheads--some containing cyclosarin, a nerve agent five times more powerful than sarin


I assume most people know what a paper tiger is? Saddam made the mistake of making himself look more dangerous than he really was. It is his claims to have weapons that drove everyone's belief that he did. The reason most cannot be accounted for is 1. Some were moved 2. Some were buried 3. Much of them only existed on paper- Saddam put himself in a corner and paid the price- how do you prove you have disposed of something you never had? It is his fault and no one elses.
 
blkoralslaveboy said:
it does you no good to reply to a question with personal attacks! generally a well thought out answer suffices, just thought you might want to ponder that idea.

anyways, you are incorrect to say we import very little oil from the middle east because between Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait we import over 2MILLION barrels of crude oil as well as 2MILLION barrels of petroleum daily. This will obviously affect us a great deal. government website:
Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries \


in addition to this we spend 10BILLION/month in Iraq much of which is going into the arms contracts. Every year since 2003 they have had an average annual revenue GROWTH of 23% yearly!! This is VERY good business indeed.

i'm sticking to my guns until one of you gives me of a good reason on why you believe we're really there...


YOu better check the percentage rather than the number of barrels... only 12% of our oil comes dfrom the middle east and only 3% from Iraq and Kuwait combined. The rest of our imported oil comes from places like Canada, Venezuela, Mexico, Nigeria, Algeria, Ecuador, and England. When less than 3% of your supply comes from Iraq it is hard to seriously claim it is a war for oil.
 
RoSquirts said:
You're talking about MY reading comprehension? Show me where I say you said it's "all about natural gas". Apparently the reading comprehension problem is yours,lol. You have issues apparently and mo amount of education can fix that.

From you"
You're the one that stated that drilliing would 'bide us time' and now you're saying it's about natural gas and extraction of oil from shale??

taking what I said out of context as you continue to do


That's not a fact, thats you surmising what will affect those markets. Cite for me one instance where approving drilling in the US has lowered oil prices. Just one. Don't tell me what you THINK will happen. I give you facts, you give me your assumptions.

I know how commodity speculators work. One of our largest investments is in Exxon and we have been following the commodity markets and cause and effect in them and have been for years.

It isnt because I THINK it will happen- those trained in this field know more about it than either of us by a long shot. The thought of a shortage, of a change in government in an oil producing country, a possible hurricane and so forth causes jumps up- peace in a region normally war torn, increased production and the like cause a decrease in price- just because you do not want it to be doesnt mean it isnt.
Having said that, the natural tendency of the remaining producers would be to decrease production and consumers will react by again using more which could easily counteract and gains we make. We do not know the result at this point and WONT until after. BTW- I found two government estimates- one was 200,000 barrels a day for the OCS and ANWR combined and the other was for 800,000 barrels from just ANWR so that goes to show you how much you should rely on statistics even from "reliable sources".
We have tons of natural gas and since it is found in the same well as oil, we might as well be extracting both.



What you fail to realize is I gave you statistics form a reliable source. YOu give me back generalized bullshit with no source other than you. Doesn't mean shit to a tree. Just because you say it's so , doesn't make it so. Of course they're estimates. But do you think the DOE under the Bush administration is going to give lowball estimates for oil production and undermine his argument for drilling ??? Let me know when you have facts from reliable source, not ones you choose to assume; let me know when you can respond without the personal attacks; let me know when you can debate an issue on it's merits not on your alleged education.

Until then, this time I am really done with you.

Once again you fail to understand that I am not adament that we are about to save the world- what I am trying to get across to you is that you (nor any of us) have enough answers to have any reason to be so darn sure of our positions. We can throw statistics back and forth all day but they mean nothing- and no, the government is not a great source of many statistics. Based on statistics there are oil wells in Saudi Arabia that were supposed to be dry by now but have no end in sight- just as an example. People need to be able to admit that the experts aren't even positive of their estimates so how can the average person be so sure.

Solving our problems will take teamwork not this constant bitterness and partisanship. People cannot have a conversation without puffing up their chest and screaming "my statistics are better than yours". Put that crap aside for someone who is into that sort of thing.
We have options including clean coal and oil from coal, natural gas, hydrogen (who knows where that is going), wind, solar, geo thermal, and much more- working together in a rational manner, we can make major advancements but as long as some prefer to make it such a divisive issue then progress will be slow. THe people turning this into an anti oil, green crusade are undermining their own goals by turning off the vast majority of the population. Together we can achieve anything- this unwarranted division undermines that ability
 
vtjames742 said:
People cannot have a conversation without puffing up their chest and screaming "my statistics are better than yours". Put that crap aside for someone who is into that sort of thing.

The statistics I offered on potential are estimates ,I certainly don't expect them to be right on the mark, of course. That's just common sense. But, no matter how you slice and dice the statistics for for potential drilling, iin the end drilling will have little impact on US fuel prices and certainly no impact in the short term.
I'm not saying I'm against more domestic drilling. Because I'm not. The presentation of it as a cure for our energy problems IS what I'm against. Do not read that as saying you are presenting it as a cure, I'm referring to people that matter, candidates and office holders. Once again , the tactic of diverting people from real issues is occuring(on both sides of the aisle), the debate has become about drilling, not about how to really solve our energy problem. This is my problem with the whole drilling debate.


vtjames742 said:
THe people turning this into an anti oil, green crusade are undermining their own goals by turning off the vast majority of the population. Together we can achieve anything- this unwarranted division undermines that ability

In actuality the most vitriolic statements and the focus on the drilling issue has come from drilling proponents. They made this an issue and have been for years. This is not a recent development but something oil lobbies, the administration and republican pundits have been pushing for for years. The recent rise in gas prices gave them an opportunity to play into Amercan's anger over fuel prices and they've done so to a remarkably successful extent.

Compartmentalizing people like me that oppose the thinking that drilling will solve our problems (or even buy us time) reflects a tactic that unfortunately has become prevalent in politics. Don't discuss the issues, paint disagreement with a broad brush by assigning labels to that disagreement such as 'anti-oil green crusade'. I'm hardly part of an anti-oil green crusade if I own 300k of Exxon stock.

I have to add that I'm disappointed with both candidates on this issue. I feel neither of them is offering anything that will help us resolve our energy problems other than rhetoric to massage the masses and further polarization of America's will.
 
RoSquirts said:
The statistics I offered on potential are estimates ,I certainly don't expect them to be right on the mark, of course. That's just common sense. But, no matter how you slice and dice the statistics for for potential drilling, iin the end drilling will have little impact on US fuel prices and certainly no impact in the short term.
I'm not saying I'm against more domestic drilling. Because I'm not. The presentation of it as a cure for our energy problems IS what I'm against. Do not read that as saying you are presenting it as a cure, I'm referring to people that matter, candidates and office holders. Once again , the tactic of diverting people from real issues is occuring(on both sides of the aisle), the debate has become about drilling, not about how to really solve our energy problem. This is my problem with the whole drilling debate.

My only argument would be that I am not aware of a national candidate that says drilling is the entire solution. I know one that has said it is part of the solution but that everything needs to be looked at as a whole. There is another one that started the campaign until rather recently) that has opposed drilling and other forms fossil fuel development.




In actuality the most vitriolic statements and the focus on the drilling issue has come from drilling proponents. They made this an issue and have been for years. This is not a recent development but something oil lobbies, the administration and republican pundits have been pushing for for years. The recent rise in gas prices gave them an opportunity to play into Amercan's anger over fuel prices and they've done so to a remarkably successful extent.

Compartmentalizing people like me that oppose the thinking that drilling will solve our problems (or even buy us time) reflects a tactic that unfortunately has become prevalent in politics. Don't discuss the issues, paint disagreement with a broad brush by assigning labels to that disagreement such as 'anti-oil green crusade'. I'm hardly part of an anti-oil green crusade if I own 300k of Exxon stock.

I have to add that I'm disappointed with both candidates on this issue. I feel neither of them is offering anything that will help us resolve our energy problems other than rhetoric to massage the masses and further polarization of America's will.


If we would have drilled a decade ago we would have seen results by now- small or large enough to matter is an unanswerable question. If we incorporate oil from Shale and oil from coal the impact would be greater. However the answer is still a comprehensive plan that looks at all sources
 
vtjames742 said:
Both Duelfer and Kay found Iraq had "a clandestine network of laboratories and safe houses with equipment that was suitable to continuing its prohibited chemical- and biological-weapons [BW] programs," the official said. "They found a prison laboratory where we suspect they tested biological weapons on human subjects."

Although that headline from Duelfer's report is accurate. The details in the report reveal a bit more, such as 'ISG has no evidence that IIS Directorate of Criminology (M16) scientists were producing CW or BW agents in these laboratories.' and 'Exploitations of IIS laboratories, safe houses, and disposal sites revealed no evidence of CW-related research
or production". The report does say "The IIS program included the use of human subjects for testing purposes." But hardly makes the leap that they tested BW's on humans since there is no evidence of BW's being produced in the first place. (I love when the press quotes unnamed officials that merely paraphrase public info with their own slant.)
(https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/iraq_wmd_2004/Comp_Report_Key_Findings.pdf)


vtjames742 said:
They found equipment for "uranium-enrichment centrifuges" whose only plausible use was as part of a clandestine nuclear-weapons program. In all these cases, "Iraqi scientists had been told before the war not to declare their activities to the U.N. inspectors," the official said.

From the Iraq Survey Group's conclusions in their final report on WMD's -
"Iraq did not possess a nuclear device, nor had it tried to reconstitute a capability to produce nuclear weapons after 1991."
"Post-1991, Iraq had neither rebuilt any capability to convert uranium ore into a form suitable for enrichment nor reestablished other chemical processes related to handling fissile material for a weapons program."
"Available evidence leads ISG to judge that Iraq’s development of gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment essentially ended in 1991."
"It does not appear that Iraq took steps to advance its pre-1991 work in nuclear weapons design and development."

The ISG's conclusions on Iraq's nuclear weapons' development is here - Iraq Survey Group Final Report

vtjames742 said:
New research on BW-applicable agents, brucella and Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever, and continuing work on ricin and aflatoxin that were not declared to the United Nations.
From the ISG report- "Despite evidence of Iraq’s intent to develop more dangerous biological agents after Desert Storm, ISG uncovered no indications that biological agents were researched for BW purposes post-1991, even though Iraq maintained—and in some cases improved—research capabilities that could have easily been applied to BW agents."

The entire text of ISG's conclusions on BW development is here - Iraq Survey Group Final Report

From the same report and page- "Dr. Rihab supported inclusion of brucella in Iraq’s BW program and actively supported pre-Desert Storm research to that end. That initiative, however, appears to have ended in the wake of the first Gulf war."
"ISG has investigated, but has found no information to suggest that BW-related research into the contagious agent acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHCV) occurred after the alleged cessation of the Iraqi viral BW program in early 1991"
"The evidence surrounding Iraq’s investigation of ricin for BW purposes is unclear, and thus ISG can offer no definitive conclusion. It is clear that Baghdad had weaponized ricin in at least a limited fashion prior to the first Gulf war. There is at least some evidence of post-war IIS involvement in ricin research and possible human testing, but ISG developed no definitive information with which to confirm reports of post-war production."
The report does not state a conclusion for aflatoxin individually but it's overall BW conclusion that no research into BW's is the overriding factor.


vtjames742 said:
A line of unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, or drones, "not fully declared at an undeclared production facility and an admission that they had tested one of their declared UAVs out to a range of 500 kilometers [311 miles], 350 kilometers [217 miles] beyond the permissible limit." .

"Evidence available to ISG concerning the UAV programs active at the onset of OIF indicates these systems were intended for reconnaissance and electronic warfare. However, this evidence does not rule out the future possibility of adapting these UAVs for CBW delivery if the Iraqi Regime had made a strategic decision to do so. " Iraq Survey Group Final Report

vtjames742 said:
"Continuing covert capability to manufacture fuel propellant useful only for prohibited Scud-variant missiles, a capability that was maintained at least until the end of 2001 and that cooperating Iraqi scientists have said they were told to conceal from the U.N."

"Plans and advanced design work for new long-range missiles with ranges up to at least 1,000 kilometers [621 miles] -- well beyond the 150-kilometer-range limit [93 miles] imposed by the U.N. Missiles of a 1,000-kilometer range would have allowed Iraq to threaten targets throughout the Middle East, including Ankara [Turkey], Cairo [Egypt] and Abu Dhabi [United Arab Emirates]."
In addition, through interviews with Iraqi scientists, seized documents and other evidence, the ISG learned the Iraqi government had made "clandestine attempts between late 1999 and 2002 to obtain from North Korea technology related to 1,300-kilometer-range [807 miles] ballistic missiles -- probably the No Dong -- 300-kilometer-range [186 miles] antiship cruise missiles and other prohibited military equipment," Kay reported. .

This is mostly correct. That being said, their procurement effrots with North Korea never resulted in delivery and their research never resulted in actual production. It still was a violation of UN sanctions.

vtjames742 said:
• Found: 1.77 metric tons of enriched uranium .

I have to assume this is in reference to “Low-Enriched” uranium dioxide (2.6% 235U) 1,767 kg that was purchased in 1982 from Italy and under IAEA safeguards.

vtjames742 said:
•• Found: 1,500 gallons of chemical weapons .

From the ISG report again - "While a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered, ISG judges that Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991." Iraq Survey Group Final Report

vtjames742 said:
• Found: Roadside bomb loaded with sarin gas .
"ISG assesses that Iraq and Coalition Forces will
continue to discover small numbers of degraded
chemical weapons, which the former Regime mislaid
or improperly destroyed prior to 1991."
"Polish Forces recovered 41 Sakr-18 rockets in June
and July 2004. Of the rockets tested one contained
residual sarin, five contained petroleum and a pesticide,
and the remainders were empty. ISG believes
that the Iraqis who provided the rockets added the
pesticide because we have no previous reporting
indicating that Iraq weaponized pesticides."
http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/DuelferRpt/Addendums.pdf

vtjames742 said:
• Found: 1,000 radioactive materials--ideal for radioactive dirty bombs .

I can find no mention of this in official governemnt reports

vtjames742 said:
• Found: 17 chemical warheads--some containing cyclosarin, a nerve agent five times more powerful than sarin .

There are numerous isaolated findings of remaining chemical munitions in Iraq, detailed here - Iraq Survey Group Final Report
However, the key finding of the ISG still stands - "While a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered, ISG judges that Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991."


vtjames742 said:
I assume most people know what a paper tiger is? Saddam made the mistake of making himself look more dangerous than he really was. It is his claims to have weapons that drove everyone's belief that he did. The reason most cannot be accounted for is 1. Some were moved 2. Some were buried 3. Much of them only existed on paper- Saddam put himself in a corner and paid the price- how do you prove you have disposed of something you never had? It is his fault and no one elses.

Although there is no evidence of either movement or burial, your assessment of Saddam being a paper tiger is certainly accurate. His veiled threats of possessing WMD's ultimately led to easily protraying him as a threat. Whether it was used by certain politicians as an excuse for invasion or a sincere desire to eliminate that potential threat will probably have to be left up to history and probably not important to America's need to move forward.
 
you are completely right in terms of percentage 12% is a minority. and it is my fault, which i openly admit, that i misread what you originally said...thinking you said we get very little oil from the middle east; in actuality you said "very little of our oil" which has a different meaning. however, i'm not certain i'd call 12% "very little" considering the highly sensitive nature of supply and demand in the energy sector, but that is not the issue here.

in the end, i do not think we went there "to steal" the oil. i think we went there because a group of people WITHIN our camp wanted to profit off of the oil, perhaps over estimating their own ability to achieve this without any questioning from the public. as i had shown earlier 56 % of the global oil reserve is still in the middle east! this is going to be the place where it is easiest to extract oil simply because statistically there is a lot of it. HENCE THIS IS THE EQUIVALENT OF A GOLD RUSH IN THE MODERN SENSE FOR THOSE THAT HAVE THE MEANS, THE INFORMATION, THE CAPITAL, AND THE TOOLS! the only thing they lack is security and safety.

as of 1994, amidst the ongoing debate of whether or not it was proper for the first administration to not overthrow Saddam Hussein to begin with, Dick Cheney, one of the prime architects of operation Desert Shield stated that overthrowing Saddam would end in a veritable "quagmire". This is intelligence that was available as of early 1991, a full 12 years before the redeployment process. you'll find a good clip of cheney's 1994 interview here:
YouTube - 1994 Clip of a C-SPAN Interview with Dick Cheney

i sincerely believe in the early 1990's cheney was a man that did what he thought was right in the political eye. he cut military spending every year, he looked out for us relations overseas, he was an integral figure during the reduction of the military size after the Soviet collapse. i'm not certain this made him very popular with the the armament industry.
(btw Saddam was probably more likely after the Kuwaiti ports than their oil fields, considering his own port surrounding Um Qasr was narrow and limited export capacity a good amount).

the question then becomes when did he change? obvious answer: haliburton.
-1991 dick cheney whilst sec. of defence for gb I awards $8.55Million research to haliburton subsidiary, Brown and Root to study use of private military in combat zones.
-1991 Haliburton crews extinguish and fix 320 oil wells in the aftermath of the desert storm campaign, again work awarded by dick cheney.
--1995 with his political experience and impressive Rolodex card of very important names and numbers, cheney heads haliburton for the next 5 years.
---1998 under dick cheney's leadership hailiburton merges with dresser industries, once run by george bush's grandfather, and also employed george bush, sr, dick's old boss and good friend. the merger cost haliburton $7.7BILLION, a price which a year later was reported to have been inflated by 80 percent due to asbestos law suits. :wtf:

Needless to say his balls were on the friar for that. this also became one of many oncoming shady scenarios between his company and finance. however, the big money like i said was where the gold rush was and in this case it was all that oil in the middle east. i realize it was not just for the sake of US imports but for the sake of a few powerful people to have a stake in that money.
Now, looking at a chart showing the history of crude oil cost (/barrel) notice how our occupation of the middle east, and thereby the control of these people of that gigantic oil reserve, directly coincides with the Asian growth as well as the week dollar! September 11th as an incident has no effect on oil production versus demand other than it's panic value, and our necessary subsequent invasion of Afghanistan.

http://www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/oilprice1970.gif

obviously this is an opinion. but i sincerely believe that anyone with ties to companies that contract with the government should not be allowed to have a high office. the post 1980 generation of leaders are more sophisticated and less fearful of public outrage at out right abuse of power no matter what the cost financial, lives, and what not. and before anyone here accuses me, i love the United States with all my heart but i fear for her at what might be ahead. like i said before, certainty is the mind's greatest disease my friend.



vtjames742 said:
YOu better check the percentage rather than the number of barrels... only 12% of our oil comes dfrom the middle east and only 3% from Iraq and Kuwait combined. The rest of our imported oil comes from places like Canada, Venezuela, Mexico, Nigeria, Algeria, Ecuador, and England. When less than 3% of your supply comes from Iraq it is hard to seriously claim it is a war for oil.
 
Well researched topics...

blkoralslaveboy said:
you are completely right in terms of percentage 12% is a minority. and it is my fault, which i openly admit, that i misread what you originally said...thinking you said we get very little oil from the middle east; in actuality you said "very little of our oil" which has a different meaning. however, i'm not certain i'd call 12% "very little" considering the highly sensitive nature of supply and demand in the energy sector, but that is not the issue here.

in the end, i do not think we went there "to steal" the oil. i think we went there because a group of people WITHIN our camp wanted to profit off of the oil, perhaps over estimating their own ability to achieve this without any questioning from the public. as i had shown earlier 56 % of the global oil reserve is still in the middle east! this is going to be the place where it is easiest to extract oil simply because statistically there is a lot of it. HENCE THIS IS THE EQUIVALENT OF A GOLD RUSH IN THE MODERN SENSE FOR THOSE THAT HAVE THE MEANS, THE INFORMATION, THE CAPITAL, AND THE TOOLS! the only thing they lack is security and safety.

as of 1994, amidst the ongoing debate of whether or not it was proper for the first administration to not overthrow Saddam Hussein to begin with, Dick Cheney, one of the prime architects of operation Desert Shield stated that overthrowing Saddam would end in a veritable "quagmire". This is intelligence that was available as of early 1991, a full 12 years before the redeployment process. you'll find a good clip of cheney's 1994 interview here:
YouTube - 1994 Clip of a C-SPAN Interview with Dick Cheney

i sincerely believe in the early 1990's cheney was a man that did what he thought was right in the political eye. he cut military spending every year, he looked out for us relations overseas, he was an integral figure during the reduction of the military size after the Soviet collapse. i'm not certain this made him very popular with the the armament industry.
(btw Saddam was probably more likely after the Kuwaiti ports than their oil fields, considering his own port surrounding Um Qasr was narrow and limited export capacity a good amount).

the question then becomes when did he change? obvious answer: haliburton.
-1991 dick cheney whilst sec. of defence for gb I awards $8.55Million research to haliburton subsidiary, Brown and Root to study use of private military in combat zones.
-1991 Haliburton crews extinguish and fix 320 oil wells in the aftermath of the desert storm campaign, again work awarded by dick cheney.
--1995 with his political experience and impressive Rolodex card of very important names and numbers, cheney heads haliburton for the next 5 years.
---1998 under dick cheney's leadership hailiburton merges with dresser industries, once run by george bush's grandfather, and also employed george bush, sr, dick's old boss and good friend. the merger cost haliburton $7.7BILLION, a price which a year later was reported to have been inflated by 80 percent due to asbestos law suits. :wtf:

Needless to say his balls were on the friar for that. this also became one of many oncoming shady scenarios between his company and finance. however, the big money like i said was where the gold rush was and in this case it was all that oil in the middle east. i realize it was not just for the sake of US imports but for the sake of a few powerful people to have a stake in that money.
Now, looking at a chart showing the history of crude oil cost (/barrel) notice how our occupation of the middle east, and thereby the control of these people of that gigantic oil reserve, directly coincides with the Asian growth as well as the week dollar! September 11th as an incident has no effect on oil production versus demand other than it's panic value, and our necessary subsequent invasion of Afghanistan.

http://www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/oilprice1970.gif

obviously this is an opinion. but i sincerely believe that anyone with ties to companies that contract with the government should not be allowed to have a high office. the post 1980 generation of leaders are more sophisticated and less fearful of public outrage at out right abuse of power no matter what the cost financial, lives, and what not. and before anyone here accuses me, i love the United States with all my heart but i fear for her at what might be ahead. like i said before, certainty is the mind's greatest disease my friend.

blkoralslaveboy, you did good on some topics...and researched well. :clap:

Being a former Marine, I went to war in 1990-91...and wished we had stopped Saddam Hussein - quagmire or no. Right now, uncertainty is an equal disease...if certainty is the mind's greatest.
 
I really enjoy all the history revisionists and dead enders who will never give up. The facts are that the gas and other stuff was left overs from Papa Bushes gulf war!
Baby Bush (the Stupid Bush) did what Papa Bush knew was the wrong thing to do. He removed the only thing stopping Iran from going into Saudi Oil Fields. That was to eliminate Sadam.
Those that come up with the "we removed the evil guy" bullshit should look around the world and respond why are we not addressing those evil guys?
The Saudis told Baby Bush not go into Iraq! They knew what the end result would be.
Sadam was no threat to the US, real or imagined! We went into another country without provocation, wasted thousands of our own finest and brightest, spent on credit billions, and depleated our own military stockpiles, and harmed our world wide military effectiveness based upon the ignorant Neo-Con lead duplicity of a Simple minded President.
I laugh everytime I hear the current debate about the Surge working. The so-called surge was actually the mistake. The so-called surge was nothing more than what Generals and others had wanted as far as actual troop numbers at the beginning of the Invasion of Iraq. Baby Bush at the advising of Rumsfeld (War on the Cheap), and the Neo-Con advisors rejected any thoughts of having appropriate troop levels going in. So the so-called Surge was an admission of the 2nd mistake (First mistake was invading in the first place).
An accurate analogy would be someone breaks into your house. You are able to hold them off. They yell, so a group of other rush into your house and successfully subdue you and your family. I guess that the fact that they were part of a "so-called Surge makes the breaking into your house ok. I want to be in court when that defense is used. lol
 
Will & Eve said:
And the web is FULL of conspiracy minded sites which state things as fact while selectively framing events to support the conclusion they want you to read.

Moral: Don't believe everything you read on-line.


Ain't that the truth,lol!
 
oh conspiracy websites eh?:
Dresser: The Halliburton Cast-Off That Could
Halliburton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Halliburton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Halliburton in the 21st Century - Halliburton
Dresser Industries - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Asbestos Lawsuits: Bell v. Dresser Industries Incorporated
Thomas H. Cruikshank - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lehman Brothers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dick Cheney - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dick Cheney - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please, oh please GROW UP and STOP with this blind loyalty gig for your republican party. I'm not blindly loyal to the democratic party! I realize Obama might not be ready to lead the free world..but i'm openly admitting that i think he'd do a better job than a continuation of the last 8 years' policies. I thought Clinton got off too easy back when he lied under oath about the Monika scandal, that he should have paid dearly for bombing a pharmaceutical plant in sudan based on faulty intelligence. You would NEVER admit to wrong doings by those who share your political ideology....sad!







Will & Eve said:
That's not research, that's glorified copy and paste.

And the web is FULL of conspiracy minded sites which state things as fact while selectively framing events to support the conclusion they want you to read.

Moral: Don't believe everything you read on-line.
 
what is up with this thread doesn't anyone agree on anything? everyone is bitter like they bust a bloody load or something... anyways, its all good.
 
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