White House: Americans must sacrifice for Iraq

[Judi Lynn]

White House: Americans must sacrifice for Iraq
By BILL STRAUB
Scripps Howard News Service
September 15, 2003

WASHINGTON - Stung by the public's waning enthusiasm for the nation's undertaking in Iraq and its high cost to taxpayers, the Bush administration is looking for ways to reinvigorate support.

Led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell, the White House is working vigorously to convince Americans that the state of affairs in Iraq is a necessary episode in the ongoing war on terrorism - a war forced upon the nation by the events of 9/11.

The White House has stopped referring to the hostilities as a war in Iraq. Instead, Scott McClellan, the president's press secretary, and other top aides have taken to calling it the battle of Iraq - joining the fight for Afghanistan in the overall war on terrorism.

"This war is not without sacrifice - no war ever is," Cheney said Friday at a fundraiser for Rep. Richard Burr of North Carolina, who intends to run for the Senate next year. "More than 400 Americans have already given their lives during the war on terror in combat. Surely there will be more casualties. (snip/...)

http://www.knxv.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=BUSH-IRAQ-09-15-03&cat=AN

[alonso_quijano]

1. Everyone must sacrifice...

...except Halliburton and Carlyle.

[Chico Man]

2. Add Bush's ego to that list

Something that will never be sacrificed...

[Betty]

65. and all of bush's rich friends

who paid to have him installed and got the lion's share of the tax cut.

[Robbien]

3. You first Whistle Ass, you first. eom

[snippy]

39. Whistle Ass gave up sweets during the war.

People who know Bush well say the strain of war is palpable. He rarely jokes with staffers these days and occasionally startles them with sarcastic putdowns. He's being hard on himself; he gave up sweets just before the war began. He's frustrated when armchair generals or members of his own team express doubts about U.S. military strategy. At the same time, some of his usual supporters are concerned by his insistence on sticking with the original war plan.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-04-01-bush-cover_x.htm

That breathtaking sacrifice may explain why Whistle Ass was in such a hurry to declare major combat over during the Carrier Costume Party. Or maybe Whistle Ass just likes to play dress up.

[BiggJawn]

57. "...his insistence on sticking with the original war plan."????WTF???

We're done for.

He doesn't have the VISION and FLEXIBILTY to change his plans if they're not woking?

We're fucked. He's operating on the "Throw flowers and screw our boys silly" model that Wolfenstein and Rumsferatu sold him almost a year ago...

There's your "High Crime and Misdemeanor" RIGHT THERE!

Sticking with an un-workable "Stratergey" that's costing 87 gigabucks and 2 American lives a day, and sorry, but I do NOT consider that a "fair price" for what we're getting in return. Screw Halliburton and Zapata and Arbrusto.

And his LIES, too!

I'm sorry, but there ain't enough lipstick in the whole world to put on this pig to get me to kiss it.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

58. Has he given up pretzels..

...and beer?

[PennyLane]

75. I Hope Not!

Pretzels may be our only hope of getting rid of his sorry ass!:toast:

[InkAddict]

69. Keep Waving Yummy Chocolate from those European countries under his nose

bet that personal will-power won't last long!

[wellst0nev0ter]

80. Here's An Idea

Why don't you make every red cent of the $87 billion-plus you asked for conditional on the discovery of the oh-so-elusive weaponsofmassdestruction.

That's right, for every liter of VX gas and for every gram of anthrax, you get a set amount of money, let's say $50 apiece since you claimed there were so many of them in the first place.

How's that, monkeyboy? Ya think it's a fair deal?

[hatrack]

4. Wull bowl me over with a ping-pong ball, Mabel . . . .

I thought all we had to do was hug our children and SHOP SHOP SHOP!!!!

Otherwise, y'know, them terra-ists wuz gonna WIN!!!

[bahrbearian]

17. And carry around little American Flags.

[spotbird]

5. After 9/11 they said it was patriotic to shop.

I'd be happy to do my part if only I had some money.

[cjbuchanan]

15. Wait just a second

First you didn't shop and now you are complaining about the economy. I'm sorry but you are either a terrorist or someone who loves a terrorist.

Please call the FBI right now so they can take you to jail.

Thank you.

[spotbird]

45. Well, I still have a line of credit

which I'll use up if it will keep the G-men away and make me a patriotic American again.

[InkAddict]

70. Go for it

and I'll see you at the giant camp-outs slated to take place at a site near you.

[ninkasi]

6. Then obviously...

we must roll back the part of the massive tax cuts that were given to the wealthy. They don't sacrifice their own lives, or the lives of their children. Why should they be exempt from sacrifice?

[denverbill]

30. Democrats should be HAMMERING that point constantly.

Don't demand a blood sacrifice from others if you won't give one damned cent of your own money.

If it's worth 400 American lives, it's worth paying higher taxes to support.

[benfranklin1776]

35. Precisely right. What gall these thieves have.

They rob the treasury blind and ask us to repay what they have taken . Simply rolling back the portion of the cuts that go to the top one percent of wage earners would provide, in 2004, 85 of the 87 billion dollars Junior has begged for. http://www.cbpp.org/9-11-03bud2.htm So the burden of any sacrifice for this travesty should fall on them.

[el_gato]

7. big mistake

never ask americans to sacrifice

[grytpype]

8. Explain again how Iraq is part of the war on terrorism?

Because all I heard the first time was a BUNCH OF LIES!

[Lorien]

18. Exactly!

I love to see a mainstream reporter ANYWHERE point out this perpetual mega-lie!

[9215]

48. You are not going to believe this

but that palpably bland and boring show Washington Week that comes on just before Moyers on Friday Night has a reporter, forgot which newspaper state repeatedly that Iraq has not been linked to 9/11 as the pResident wants us to believe. It really surprised me.

[Robbien]

73. Whistle Ass bombed the wrong country? Naw, couldn't happen.

I am in an emailing mood. Too bad we couldn't get that reporter's name. He would get good support from me tonight.

[cjbuchanan]

9. I saw Dick talk about this yesterday

He was talking about the 2-year war on terrorism. It seemed to me he was using it as a mathematical excuse. For example, when asked about all the dead Americans in Iraq, he said that only 400 or so soldiers have died over the last two years of the war.

Seems that they want all those days before we got bogged down in Iraq to count as "death free days."

This is yet another shameful moment for this administration.

[calimary]

41. Wonder what cheney feels like his sacrifice should be -

rolling back maybe a buck-95 of his tax cut?

[kskiska]

46. Cheney is on record as saying

that sacrifice is fine as "a personal virtue," but unnecessary.

[realFedUp]

10. No we don't

The Bushitters don't seem to be sacrificing their jobs,
families or salaries, or our countries resources in lives
and money to put their own agenda in place. In fact,
they are benefitting by this mess.

We aren't falling for this sacrifice bullshit.
You'll have to come up with a better line to push this
injustice.

[prolesunited]

11. Americans don't want to sacrifice

for their fellow Americans and they actually think they will convince them to sacrifice for the Iraqis. :silly: :silly:

[Barrett808]

12. "Aides acknowledge that the president's speech was not successful"

If he's no good at the sales pitch, what the hell is he good for?

[PartyPooper]

20. Clearing brush at the 'ranch'...that's all he's good for!

Every other endeavor he tries he f***s up royally! I only wish he'd go back to Crawford and do just that.

[leesa]

61. Very good question...I think his real job might be to twist arms

He was Daddy bush's 'enforcer' on his campaign trail. Kept everyone's lips planted to Daddy's ass.

[MasonJar]

13. Over there

Then let's see Bush, Cheney, Wolfie, Asscraft et al over there. That should take care of the problem. One day and the war would be over. They are so good at sending others to die.

[colorado_ufo]

43. Don't forget Leezy Rice -

she makes me feel so secure.

[w13rd0]

14. Those who wanted this war should foot the bill...

...cuz I sure as hell don't work for Halliburton so I'm not seeing the benefit...

[RC]

16. Horse Pucky!

Let's have an accounting of the money already spent in Iraq FIRST!

How about letting everyone know what was in those missing 28 pages!

How about if the bu$h administration came clean about 9/11/2001!

[grytpype]

19. Someone remind me...

when G Dub was selling this war, did he mention it would cost $250 billion+ and thousands of US casualties over an indefinite length of time?

Because I don't remember him saying that.

[Don_G]

21. Leadership By Example

Is an unamerican concept to the GOP.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

59. Example?

The GOP is the privledged class they don't need to lead by example.

They are clearly God's chosen because they are rich. If you were rich you'd be God's chosen also.

So quit committing sacrilege by picking on the GOP. God's Own Party.

[Sagan]

22. why are we asking our children to sacrifice?

By running huge deficits, that is what we are doing.

Want us to sacrifice? Fine! Repeal the taxcuts. Let's pay for the War on Terrah here and now, not pass the buck to our kids.

[dArKeR]

49. When the Bush twins are put on the front line I'll sacrifice a $100

donation to the Dean campaign.

[symbolman]

23. Sure

Just as soon as BUSH gives a speech in person LIVE in downtown Bagdad and dives into the crowd of thousands of Iraqis to shake hands and kiss babies..

Here's a little tip for you to use..

Bush is a SOCIALIST, he wants to give OUR TAX money to WELFARE MOMS in IRAQ.

Notice the Psyops used here "The Battle of Iraq" (like it's OVER now) - Joining the FIGHT FOR Afghanistan in the OVERALL "war on terror" -- like that was the whole case for attacking Iraq in the first place..

all revisionism..

Winston Smith would be so proud of these monsters.

[Gin]

24. I'm willing to sacrifice this mis-administration......I'm willing to send

all of them to Iraq...for a first hand look at their handywork.
But not to worry folks...you can have the newest and best kevlar vests and bullet proof vehicles. We don't want anything to happen to those royal, gold leaf, asses.

[grytpype]

28. And not in a "security bubble" like Powell.

Let them mingle with the grateful Iraqis they liberated.

I'd give them about 45 seconds before they were ripped limb from limb.

[Nottingham]

25. Its easy to ask for Sacrifice when your a Billionaire

Cheney doesn't know what the word means!

[RobertSeattle]

26. Ask a RW'er: What have you sacrificed during the War on Terror?

In every other major war we've had a war tax - there should be no exception for this one.

[Avalux]

27. Revisionists!

Why should I sacrifice for a war of aggression that had nothing to do with terrorism?? a necessary episode? Bunch of *&%#()$*#)!!!!!!!!

[Malva Zebrina]

29. why do I get the feeling that Bush et al think that their own people

are the enemy?

[dweller]

31. Well, that's because

we are.
A reckoning is coming.

dp

[Media_Lies_Daily]

32. I got your "sacrifice" right here, Mr. Resident Select.

[Solly Mack]

33. Well ,then ,Cheney, YOU make the sacrifice-I've given enough

Fuck you and everyone else that supports the invasion or has ever supported the invasion...fuck you especially to those who support it from the comfort of their homes.

Why don't you make the sacrifice instead of paying lip-service? Bunch of cowardly scum.

[FlemingsGhost]

34. What's left to give?

We've generously "sacrificed" our jobs, health insurance, retirement savings, various constitutional rights and personal freedoms, fair elections and a balanced news media. And with each day, more and more are sacrificing a family member due to illegal and immoral military occupations. Sigh... another greedy, arrogant Bush administration completely out of step with the American people.

The fact that the American people even allowed this debacle of an administration to cultivate so much power is a badge of shame we will all don for many years to come.

[Cocoa]

38. and when you ask them how much we should give

they only answer more more more more.

Courtesy John Fogerty, in a song that seems written and named for Bush.

[Moot]

76. They want our lumber....

The government just put in a huge, HUGE order for lumber to send over to Iraq. It's all ready creating a shortage of lumber here in the states. They are emptying out the Home Depots as we speak. People in the south couldn't find enough lumber to board up their houses for the oncoming hurricane. Soon we will have a nationwide shortage of lumber and the price of the remaining lumber, if you can find any, will sky rocket. So there goes the housing boom and therefore more jobs. That's just one of the many sacrifices the GOP has in store for us.

[Neecy]

36. serfs only need sacrifice

I have yet to see any of the Republican fat-cats 'sacrificing' a damn thing, except two grand a plate to attend the reelection pass-the-plate swings of our Criminal in Chief.

Yet the proles are expected to sacrifice jobs, overtime pay, affordable health insurance, and our sons and daughters so some fatass Halliburton bastard like Cheney can continue to live like a prince. Screw that.

[beanball]

37. A ploy

by the Bush gang,what they are really doing is setting up all of us when the public out cry becomes so loud that those crooks have to act what they will do is sell all of Iraq's oil'after they ship Israel their share of the oil.

[jumptheshadow]

40. Some sacrifice

I wonder if there is one draft age member of the extended Bush family who is actually in harm's way in Iraq.

[grasswire]

42. He has no moral standing...

....to ask Americans to sacrifice, considering the fact that his family trust fund inheritance is enriched through war and that he committed us to war through fraud.

Maybe this is an opening for journos to talk about the Carlyle Group.

[zbdent]

44. Hafta use their canned response to "raising taxes"

set up a fund to have people donate to the war effort.

Tell the rich bastards getting the bulk of the monetary rewards to pony up their end of the bargain.

[BonjourUSA]

47. The bells always ring the same sound.

The bells always ring the same sound.

War on terrorism... Dong dong... Iraq was a threat for us and the rest of world... Dong dong... We have to protect us and the world against the terrorism... Dong dong... Believe us, we're making a good job... Dong dong... We have to pay and even die for Iraq... Dong dong... And we'll be saved... SINK THAT IN YOUR SKULL...

Except a big problem... Where are the terrorists in Iraq ? They're continuing to spend quiet days in Pakistan, Soudan... And perhaps they're coming back in Afghanistan. And their funds continue to move all over the world

[loudnclear]

50. OK, so what are Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Condi, Wolfie, and Perlie

sacrificing? Ronnie would not approve of this statement. Remember when Carter said the same thing and Ronnie belittled him saying that Americans should not have to sacrifice anything? I remember it well. And I remember that the Republicans, led by Ronnie, poohpoohed Carter when he tried to make "human rights" a conorstone for his administration. Ronnie's position---and that of the Republicans---was that we should stay out of other people's business and let the citizens of the country determine hyman rights for themselves....of course, this was at a time when the US was supporting and propping up brutal dictators across the globe.

How soon we forget!

[9215]

51. Dick Cheney before he dicks you!

When Cheney was asked why he avoided the draft during Vietnam he said he had other priorities. Don't have the exact quote.

Now this would be something to shove in the face of this greedy, hypocritical Mo*&^er.

Suggestion: Halliburton should forego profits and "sacrifice" like everybody else along with Bectel and all the other merchants of death profiteering off of Iraq. :grr: :grr:

[9215]

52. Here is a link

By Matthew Engel, The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,777567,00.html>

......Traditionally, the left has always had an inferiority complex about military experience. In Britain, Ted Heath (a wartime artillery colonel) used to patronise Harold Wilson (who spent the war in Whitehall) on the subject. Here in 1996 Bob Dole (badly wounded in the second world war) played the same card against the unheroic Bill Clinton. But as the Bush administration paints itself into an ever-tighter corner with its Iraq rhetoric, it is instructive to note the astonishing extent to which those so anxious to stage the next war managed to be absent from the last one.

The US is now mainly governed by men in their mid-50s, ie the Vietnam generation - except that this lot missed being the Vietnam generation. The enterprisingly original New Hampshire Gazette (www.nhgazette.com <http://www.nhgazette.com>) maintains a "Chickenhawks" database to tell their stories. Most of the allegations fit with facts recorded elsewhere.

......the president, who missed Vietnam by securing a cushy number in the Texas air national guard after (so everyone assumes) his congressman father pulled strings to get him in. It is less well-known that Dick Cheney avoided the draft by getting deferments, first because he was a student, then because he was married. I had other priorities in the 60s than military service, he has said.

[shanti]

53. i've got two words to say to this:

FUCK THAT!!!!! :grr:

[mike_c]

54. we've always been at war with Oceania....

Rat bastards. Let Haliburton, Bechtel, KBR, et al. set the example for sacrifice.

[rocktivity]

55. Led by Dick Cheney and Colin Powell?

Why isn't the Pretzel-Dunce himself leading this? Is he trying to distance himself from the mess he's made, or too busy fund-raising?

...the White House is working vigorously to convince Americans that the state of affairs in Iraq is a necessary episode in the ongoing war on terrorism - a war forced upon the nation by the events of 9/11.
Bush forced the invasion of Iraq because he had to put himself in a position to grab Iraq's oil resources and invade other middle East countries for his rich friends before it was discovered there was niether an iminent threat nor weapons of mass destruction. None of which has anything to do with fighting terrorism. And by the way, there is no connection between Iraq and 9/11.

The administration recently has encountered growing public disillusionment regarding its Iraq policies...
The disillusionment has always been there--what's happened recently is that the mainstream media can't ignore it any longer.

...polls continue to show strong overall support for the initial decision to go to war...51 percent of those questioned approve of the way the president is handling the situation in Iraq, down from 69 percent in May...the number of people voicing disapproval has risen...to 42 percent...Forty-eight percent...feel the administration doesn't have a well thought out plan to establish security and rebuild Iraq.
You call that STRONG support?

Most disturbing...the public opposes the administration's $87 billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan 51 percent to 42 percent.
DISTURBING? Well, I can see where it would disturb any Repubs wanting to hold on to their jobs in 2004!


rocknation

[Rex]

56. THEY DIDN'T "GIVE THEIR LIVES"

They died trying to stay ALIVE. No one gives their lives freely, just so some old corporate ASSHOLES can make money!

God I HATE these people! If they (BFEE) all "gave their lives" tomorrow, I wouldn't shed ONE GOD DAM TEAR!

[Katie]

62. Let Bush&Cheney "Sacrifice" their Salaries..JFK did

I read that JFK never accepted his salary as a congressman,or as President. He donated it to charity. Now Kennedy was a milionaire,& so is bush & cheney. In these times of "War& Sacrifice" why doesnt bush & cheney set the example? They have sacrificed nothing, not their children, not their money, nothing.

[cmd]

60. Let's try conservation first, George

Come on, tell us how we should be cutting back on fuel consumption. Do something smart for a change.

[Mari333]

63. KISS MY ROYAL AMERICAN ASS CHENEY

AND THE REST OF YOUR BFEE BUDDIES CAN KISS IT TOO

[Dude_CalmDown]

64. Sean: "The Whitehouse can shove it."

I swear that's a direct quote.

[Fovea]

66. But Iraq was stupid. Simply unneeded, empire oriented.

It will mean that while we expend effort to keep the situation from becoming another well, Afghanistan, the war will be coming back home in the form of swarms of fatally pissed off Arabs.

The Islamic fundies are not as gullible as the domestic sort, and they probably know about that part of the hundred years war where the British and the French colluded to march their mercenaries off to Spain, where they could kill each other off playing Pedro vs Juan. So the strategy of coaxing the fundamentalists into Iraq where they had no base of operations before only looks smart if you believe that no one but yourself studied history... Is Rumsfeld as dumb as paint?

We know who is going to be sacrificed for what. We know that this was not about Terrorism, WMD, Liberation (gawd what a travesty), or Yellowcake. That leaves Oil, Payback, or Imperialism. You take your pick, but to expose Americans to greater risk for any of the above is a treasonable act, as far as I can tell.

[young_at_heart]

67. Cheney's words give me a MAJOR stomachache

The ease with which he says these atrocious things greatly disturbs me. This man has absolutely NO interest in any peaceful way of life. He sees nothing wrong with his attitude and imposing such horror on all of us and the world.

[Zero Gravitas]

68. Bush* will sacrifice

his so-called "job".

Back to watching the Weather Channel on the couch in the pig farm in Crawford full time. In other words much the same as now, but with less fund raising, and with the important side product that his cronies will have less of a chance to fuck the world up.

[AndyTiedye]

72. I Fear that Our Democracy Has Been Sacrificed

[hunter]

71. As Lord Farquaad said in Shrek...

"Some of you are going to die, but its a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

Do you think the people of Iraq would settle for Bush and Cheney?

Where's your dragon, donkey?

:kick:

[imax2268]

74. so maybe he should

cut back on the Tee times...

[Ganja Ninja]

77. Bush should cut back on the free AF1 flights...

he uses for raising his campaign money.

[Bridget Burke]

78. -Some folks inherit star spangled eyes

-Ooh, they'll send you down to war
-And when you ask them, "How much should we give?"
-Ooh, they only answer More! more, more!

Thank you, John Fogarty.

[opihimoimoi]

79. Pubs take, rarely give

Everyone knows that