It’s probably a good thing I didn’t try putting together some sort of drinking game with my friends for George Bush’s speech tonight. The final tally? He said “freedom” 21 times! Oh yes. We probably would have ran out of alcohol long before the speech was over. Or we would have expired due to alcohol poisoning. Anyway, what various pieces of information did he leave us with? Basically nothing. However, it’s interesting to note his arguments against a timetable or ANY sort of plan to exit Iraq.
Some contend that we should set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. forces. Let me explain why that would be a serious mistake. Setting an artificial timetable would send the wrong message to the Iraqis, who need to know that America will not leave before the job is done. It would send the wrong signal to our troops, who need to know that we are serious about completing the mission they are risking their lives to achieve.
Wait a minute. What has Bush previously said about timetables?
April 1999 – “Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is.”
June 1999 – “I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.”
October 2000 – “I’m going to be judicious as to how to use the military. It needs to be in our vital interest, the mission needs to be clear, and the exit strategy obvious.”
I guess that ultimately doesn’t matter now does it? Of course with all the lies he has told us in the past, I guess it shouldn’t be surprising.
March 6, 2003 – Saddam Hussein has a long history of reckless aggression and terrible crimes. He possesses weapons of terror. He provides funding and training and safe haven to terrorists — terrorists who would willingly use weapons of mass destruction against America and other peace-loving countries. Saddam Hussein and his weapons are a direct threat to this country, to our people, and to all free people.
Identity Theft
Since this is my political rant and raving section for the time being, I have another interesting note. After my post about identity theft in April, I wrote both Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, asking them what they are doing about the horrible rash of identity theft. They both responded to me! Well, at least someone using their individual email addresses responded to me. Regardless, it was quite nice to be able to contact our government officials and get a relevant response from them.
Granted, their responses basically just rehashed previous bills they have proposed in the Senate to make the punishments for identity theft tougher and nothing on what they are doing in the future. There really needs to be something done about how intrinsically linked all our private information is to the internet. It makes it too easy to crack these things and the fines and punishments aren’t obviously deterring people.