[Am-info] OT looking back

[Gene Gaines]

If politics wastes your time, please ignore and delete.

I have learned several things from AM-INFO this week, from
the political emails.  Knowledge is important, not to
sway or ridicule others, but merely to add to our own
ability of evaluate the issues in this election.

(1) Astounding statement:
 "It is not knowable how long that [Iraq] conflict would
 last. It could last, you know, six days, six weeks.  I
 doubt six months." - Rumsfeld, February 7, 2003

(2) Interesting quote:
 "Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally
 exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have
 destroyed the precedent of international response to
 aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the
 invasion route, the United States could conceivably
 still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile
 land."
 - George H.W. Bush (Bush senior) and Brent Scowcroft
 in their 1998 book, A World Transformed.

(3) Interesting photo:
www.ncc-tu.org/xxElection04/bush_yale_rugby_69_yearbook.gif
Photograph of George Bush "on the fair playing field" while a
student at Yale. This photograph is from his college yearbook
(actually, the 1969 Yale yearbook the year after he graduated.)
This says a lot to me about Mr. Bush, Yale University, or
perhaps both.

About the photo: While rugby is a contact sport, every player
knows that tackling above the shoulders is a foul. So is leaving
your feet during a tackle. Either of these is serious enough
that the other team is immediately awarded a penalty kick, often
directly resulting in points for the other team.

So even without throwing a punch, he would appear to be already
well outside fair play.

Then add what appears to be a punch. Grasping an opponent by the
back of the head and punching him in the face is beyond the pale
-- and will typically result in a player being immediately sent
off the field.

(4) Kill count.
Does anyone know how many people George W. Bush has been
responsible for killing, that is, were killing that were within
his power to stop with the stroke of a pen?

Does anyone remember how many people Texas put to death when he
was governor?  Remember his statement that all of these people
were beyond a doubt guilty, even when provided evidence that
a decent investigation might prove the person totally innocent,
or the person has received an unfair trial (evidence suppressed,
incompetent lawyer, etc.)?

Add to this the number of military deaths ongoing in Iraq and
Afghanistan.

Now we hear that more than 100,000 Iraqis are estimated to have
died since the Mr. Bush did his theatrics on the aircraft
carrier and declared "we have won".

Sorry, the number of deaths really really bother me.

Gene Gaines
gene.gaines@gainesgroup.com
Sterling, Virginia