"asadi" wrote

In any event, I was highly supportive of C. Powell, and admired the way he
chose not to run for president...saying bluntly that he would not put his
family through the trivial and anal "exposé's" of the press. Yet, this
man - whose scruples I admired - seems to have lost them (scruples) while
serving in the Bush administration. Or do you think that he 'served' and
did his 'duty' regardless of the morals of his superiors?



Powell and McCain are two people that I have admired in the past, but, both
of them have proven to ME that they are more loyal to their Party than to
their Country.

History has shown that it is far too easy to sway the masses by waving the
Bible ( or similar, religion dependant, text ) and the flag. History has
also shown that a willingness to wave them does not represent true faith or
patriotic beliefs. Often the opposite is the case and many of mankind's
great villains attained power riding on false shows of patriotism and
religious 'faith.'

Since day one, I have believed that the Iraq war was conceived as a
political tool. Remember back and we will recall that pre-9-11 Bush had
terrible ratings and it was much discussed whether he would be to do
anything, at all, in office. Then 9-11, and I'll never forget him getting
one of his little smirks as he spoke, "I knew at that moment, we were at
war." ... he loved the idea.

His rating shot sky high, and he clearly enjoyed being a war president.
Bush is fence post dumb but even he could see that "war is good for ME."
( Hell it worked briefly for daddyBush too, didn't it? )

Afganistan was justified, imho, and it's mission should have actually been
finished. But when the ratings started to dwindle because the mission
wasn't going well ( where is Bin Laden, btw ? ) we were all told "time for a
new war." Out came the flags and the bibles and soon the gullible and
the fearful were goosestepping off to the mid-term elections to give Bush
the support he needed to start ruining many things in this country and
around the world.

IMHO, both Powell and McCain knew that Iraq was mainly a political tool to
get those ratings back up and were willing to sacrifice some young men and
women to keep their own power in the Party, rather than stand up for the
truth and be counted.

I was not a huge fan of Kerry, but I DO believe that his Viet Nam history
showed he was a true patriot, i.e. a person willing to sacrifice for his
nations's good. BOTH his tour of duty and his fight against the war later,
after he realized that that war was wrong for this nation, were acts of TRUE
patriotism ..... not just acts of flag waving to goosestepping fools.
Murtha, as a traditional "hawk" expressing the fact that things have changed
and we need to do what's right, not just wave flags and bibles while
sacrificing our children is showing similar patriotism.

And it won't surprise me at all if the BushGang does crank up their waving
furor and smear campaigns. They don't show much inclination to try new
things and practically speaking honesty is not a tactic they have much
experience using. But they know how to lie and flag/Bible wave with
history's best.