Costa Rica wants Iraq reference removed (US says 'not possible')

[TomInTib]

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - Costa Rica wants its name erased from the list of countries supporting the invasion of Iraq. But the United States says that's not possible.

The Costa Rican government initially supported the invasion, but public sentiment was never strong and polls show now that most Costa Ricans oppose the war.

Opponents of the fighting took the name issue to the country's Supreme Court, which ruled the references to support should be removed.

While the U.S. government removed the Central American nation from the list of the so-called "coalition of the willing" in 2004, it still appears in archive documents and on related Internet Web sites that haven't been updated.

more:
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/14880907.htm

[Redstone]

1. Costa Rica doesn't even have an ARMY! How could they have been

in the "Coalition?"

Redstone

[TomInTib]

3. Hell if I know.

I am just reporting the facts, sir.

[Redstone]

5. Maybe it's because they don't have an army that they can't get out,

because bushyboy and them are saying "You and whose army are going to get us to take you off the list?"

Stranger things have happened. I owe you a PM or two.

Redstone

[librarycard]

43. No army but excellent medical care and educational services

The US has different priorities.

[Jara sang]

2. How does Poland feel about this? n/t

[Marr]

6. Holy shit! I forgot about Poland!

[DRoseDARs]

4. The Costa Rican govt initially supported; can't erase history, just update

While yes, remove it from any current lists, too fucking bad for them that its name is in archived records. Tough shit, you supported this mess now deal with it.

[Redstone]

7. Don't get ugly with Costa Rica, OK? They're having a tough time finding

finding their way, post-Arias, but are managing.

Still one of only two countries in the Americas with no Army (the other is Belize).

At least they're trying. May I also mention that they're the only country in that part of the world with a real democracy, minimal governmental corruption, and a real middle class?

Redstone

[Swamp Rat]

8. Oscar Arias is the current president of Costa Rica

He was years ago and was recently re-elected.

[Redstone]

34. Oops. I'm not paying attention again. Thanks for the update.

Redstone

[joeunderdog]

37. Gov corruption?--they JAILED 2 corrupt presidents! gotta love it.

Ticos HATE bush. they are the nicest people you would meet and they have a great sense of people. They have no contempt for anyone, until you get them to let their guard down about the Chimp.

What I wanna know is, how can we jail our corrupt pResident?

[TomInTib]

9. Is it Costa Rica's fault that they belived the lies and succumbed

to the pressure?

Sure, there is the accountability issue, but shouldn't they be able to opt out rectroactively? Considering they opted in based on a totally corrupt premise.

[DRoseDARs]

10. Should the US "opt-out" of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings?

What about Dresden? The westward push across the continent, brutalizing the native populations as we went?

Dear history book writers,
We feel bad and just want to forget we were ever involved in bad things that happened in the past at the behest of previous governments. Please remove any and all references from the history books.

'Kay, thanks.
xoxoxox,

the USA


***********
Error, does not compute.
***********

[TomInTib]

11. Uhh, those were actions, not endorsements.

Big difference.

If I say I want to kill my neighbor?

If I kill my neighbor?

Any difference?

Just wondering.

[Orangepeel]

12. If you tell people that you think your neighbor should be killed...

should you later deny that you said it? You can of course, but you'd be lying and anyone you told would be correct to call you on it.

It doesn't seem to be a question of saying or doing. It seems to be a question of saying you said or saying you didn't say.

:shrug:

[TomInTib]

14. Should one party not be able to retract statements based on a lie

by another party?

Just as our Congress should have the same 'out'.

[DRoseDARs]

17. But the CR govt wants ALL references to its involvement "retracted."

This isn't saving face, this is an attempt to pretend it never happened. Costa Rica's endorsement as you call it most certainly WAS an action, perhaps not in a strict physical sense of troops on the ground, but verbal support and probably material/finacial support. There are no take-backs in real history, only updates and revisions. So they want of the Bush Administration's "Coalition of the Willing" mailing list and related "free trial" spam offers, fine they can do that as I've already indicated, but Costa Rica's government wants more than that and that's where the problem lies.

[TomInTib]

19. OK, you go your way and I'll go mine..

google 'Dominical','Costa Rica', and see where I am going.

And I live in Tiburon,CA, one of the coolest places in the US. And I am leaving.

Costa Rica will be riding high while the good ol' USA will be swirling down the toilet.

And I spent 39 months in combat ('69-72) for this fucking cesspool.

[imouttahere]

30. I agree about the cesspool (I've left the U.S. myself) but....

if I lived in Tiburon, I don't think I would EVER leave!!!! That IS the coolest place in the U.S.!!!

[TomInTib]

40. Cool it is, imouttahere.

I treasure this place every day.

Not selling, just wandering down the road a ways.

I will come back when these bastards are out of office.

[Redstone]

35. 39 fucking months? I didn't even make it for 39 DAYS before they

got me. You were either a hell of a lot smarter or a hell of a lot more careful than I was.

Probably both...

Redstone

[Orangepeel]

18. one should be able to change one's mind

but not to change history.

I'm all in favor of everyone who supported the invasion taking back their statements. But I'm not in favor of scrubbing documents to make it look like they never did, even if they later find out that their support was based on a lie. People in that situation should loudly proclaim the reasons why they are no longer supporting it.

[TomInTib]

20. I agree. But do you think that CR will have any forum for the rebuttal?

I don't.

[Orangepeel]

22. Venezuela gets plenty of American press

when Chavez criticizes bush. If the Costa Rican government feels duped based on a lie, let their president or US ambassador call up the Washington Post or NYT and call Bush a liar. Hell, call O'Reilly. He'd probably rant about it on air.

[TomInTib]

24. Problem is, no oil in Costa Rica. Just bananas and beaches.

And I will be soon enjoying both.

[catmother]

39. are you moving there? i had considered it.

[DRoseDARs]

21. That's my point: It isn't just The List they want out of...

...they want history scrubbed too.

[TomInTib]

23. Our gov scrubs history on a daily basis. Why shouldn't theirs?

Why shouldn't our Congressmen be allowed to claim "Oops, I believed that lie, too" and have that disclaimer inserted into the record?

This has been the biggest Lie in history.

[niceypoo]

26. We've pissed off all the big countries.....

now we make enemies of the little ones

[spag68]

13. Costa Rica

Please oh please let our screwed up gov. leave Costa Rica alone. I'm thinking of retiring there.

[TomInTib]

15. We are..

buying tracts in Dominical, CR.

[Swamp Rat]

16. Me too

:hi:

It's on my list. ;)

[niceypoo]

27. We go there almost every year

Bush you moran, don't fuck it up for us please......

[joeunderdog]

38. Me too, but he is f-ing it up.

Global warming killed 1/3 of the wildlife in a forest down there last winter. The fruit didn't bear on the trees and the wildlife couldn't cope. The rainy season lasted a month longer than before and it devestated Corcovado national park.

No such thing as Global Warming up here though.

[The Brethren]

25. How diplomatic of the State Dept.

sort of reminds me of the not so well known new-story in the Bush-land media about the "back door draft." --> "You signed up and now you want out? Not a chance, you're staying on for another 4yrs, maybe more."

On behalf of Costa Rica -- as Americans when the war stared, we were told that the majority of us supported it...believeing the chimp's lies of course, and look at us now.

[Buns_of_Fire]

28. "Good luck," says the preznit

We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave...

(Cue guitar duet with "Magic Fingers" boosh and "Hi, I'm Not Dead Yet" Cheney...)

[banjoterror]

29. I'm not sure...

but I'm pretty sure I remember reading that a lot of the nations in the "coalition" were coerced into supporting the war with threats of cuts in aid, and a fear of being in the same hemisphere and on the bad side of a clearly sociopathic rogue state. While it is partly fair enough to say that CR put their name on the list (or some corrupt and fearful head of state or another did) and there's no retracting history. I'm pretty sure, however, that the war in Iraq right now is more MY responsibility as a citizen of the nation doing the occupying and invading than it is at all CR's fault.

[dipsydoodle]

32. I'm equally sure your'e right

and that coercion was involved with threats of cuts in both aid and trade.


ps. Well whoopee doo - a banjo player no less. I've got 100 or so !

[Jeffersons Ghost]

31. LOL!!! great find Tom... a new name - "COALITION OF THE UNWILLING."

[Gidney N Cloyd]

33. Oh, c'mon. The Bushies can scrub stuff like this in their sleep.

Pick up the white courtesy phone, Poppy!

[The Brethren]

42. the bushies

rewrite history all the time...when it's in their favor.

[NJ Democrats]

36. How can you support w/o an Army?

[catmother]

41. we were considering moving there. i was getting the "tico times"

one of the english language newspapers and i read about it a few weeks ago.

also pacheco (the former president) said that bush "treated him like a dog". they had some damage from hurricanes and asked for help and apparently didn't get it from the US. said bush didn't know how to treat his latin american friends. apparently they were left without an ambassador for 2 years. it's true -- they don't have an army -- it was probably just moral support and then realized that they were wrong or maybe because they weren't treated right.

but please don't get down on costa rica. they are having enough trouble with americans, canadians and europeans buying up all their land, driving up prices to high for costa ricans to buy. it's also created a lot of crime. i've been told that if you live in these communities you need bars on your windows, and barbed wire. the crime problem is one of the main reasons we decided not to make the move.

[dogday]

44. They are Freaking Embarrassed

to be associated with the shrub's lie of a war... Can't say as I blame them :shrug: