- "I said the same thing a year before we ever invaded
Iraq. It was true then and it is true now." E-mailed to RePortersNoteBook
on Sept. 6, 2004 by General James J. David
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- James J. David is a retired Brigadier General and a graduate
of the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College, and the National
Security Course, National Defense University, Washington DC. He served
nearly 3 years of Army active duty in and around the Middle East from 1967-1969.
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- By General James J. David February 22, 2002
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- U.S. President George W. Bush last month accused Baghdad,
along with Iran and North Korea, of making up an "axis of evil"
bent on backing international terrorism and developing weapons of mass
destruction. It seems that Senator Joseph Lieberman has convinced the President
that Bagdad is a threat to the United States and launching a military attack
seems to be the only alternative. Other close advisors such as Deputy Secretary
of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and the Defense Chairman of the Advisory Board,
Richard Perle, are also calling for the bombing of Iraq as the only sure
method of destroying this threat.
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- When Joseph Lieberman says that it's necessary to attack
Iraq because Iraq is a threat to the United States, does he really think
that smart Americans believe this? Does he really think that Iraq would
attack the United States? Senator Lieberman must take you and me for a
fool. Let me tell you why this is utter nonsense. No one can launch an
intercontinental ballistic missile without the United States instantly
knowing its exact location. Therefore, any small country that launches
a missile in our direction will know that it is committing national suicide.
The warheads on just one of our submarines could cause these small countries
literally to cease to exist. How long did it take the United States to
defeat Iraq in the Gulf War? The last time I looked it was 38 seconds,
and that was with conventional warfare, not nuclear, which the United States
has more of than all nations combined times 1000.
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- If Iraq hit the United States with one or two missles,
despite the loss of life, would strategically be nothing more than a pinprick.
It would be like poking a sleeping bear. All you would do is make the bear
mad. Therefore, it is extremely unlikely that Iraq or Iran, or for that
matter North Korea would trade national suicide for inflicting minimal
damage on the United States. And building a force of ICBMs large enough
to be real threat is beyond the economic capabilities of those three countries.
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- So why did Senator Joseph Lieberman convince President
Bush to focus on Iraq as a threat? I'll tell you why. It's not the United
States that Senator Lieberman is concerned about. We know that Iraq is
not a threat to the United States. Iraq is a threat to Israel. Senator
Lieberman and other pro-Israelis in Washington don't want anyone else in
the Middle East to own Nuclear weapons except Israel. It's Israel, not
the United States, that Lieberman is concerned about. And he is willing
to risk American lives and American money to insure that Israel is the
super power in the Middle East. Isn't it odd that while Lieberman is pushing
for a bombing of Iraq, it's the Israelis who are inflicting most of the
casualties in the Middle East with its current bombing campaign. In just
the last 2 days the Israelis have killed 29 Palestinians, and most of them
are innocent civilians including children. Iraq hasn't killed anyone since
the Gulf War, and that's been 11 years ago. In just the last 17 months
the Israelis have killed over 900 Palestinians and have demolished more
than 300 homes causing more than 1500 children to become homeless. And
the Israelis have been doing this with F-16 fighter jets, M1A1 Abram tanks,
155mm howitzers, Chaparral and Sidewinder missiles, and Apache and Cobra
attack helicopters all supplied by the good 'ole United States.
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- When President Bush talks about the threat of countries
with weapons of mass destruction, he always adds ``and our allies.'' Iraq
and Iran are not a threat to the United States or to Europe. They are a
threat to Israel. North Korea is not a threat to the United States, but
the Israelis greatly fear that North Korea will sell missiles to Iran and
Iraq. So when Senator Lieberman says that Iraq is a threat to the United
States, he really means that Iraq is a threat to Israel. His loyalty isn't
so much with the United States; its more with Israel, and that's not right.
And you know what? I'll bet most of the people, including President Bush
already understands that, but are too scared to challenge him. After all,
to challenge or criticize Israel is political suicide. Too many politicians
have learned the hard way in that criticizing Israel is like turning the
lights off to one's political career. And in the meantime, partly to justify
this boondoggle, the United States is embarking on a reckless foreign policy
that is more likely to produce war than peace. We should be talking to
the Iraqis, the Iranians and the North Koreans rather than making reckless
statements on global television that amount to a declaration of war. It
can prove to be a deadly mistake to start believing your own deceptions
and propaganda.
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- We are not the Big Daddy Boss of the world, and just
because others disagree with our policies or decline to jump when we tell
them to jump doesn't mean they are our enemies. And that's why the United
States is and will be so vulnerable for more attacks on its own soil. They
will be vulnerable and they will be targeted, unless America wakes up.
It's time for all of us to know the truth and act accordingly.
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- "The West won the world not by the superiority of
its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying
organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never
do." -- Samuel P. Huntington
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- http://www.mediamonitors.net/jamesjdavid8.html
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