stop being a propaganda tool, page-20

re: mr jones, stop being a propaganda tool Dennie,

The issue here is about propaganda. In my experience grieving mothers grieve.

Sheehan's activity is nothing less than blatant political grandstanding by a partisan player.

(On the issue of the Iraq venture I'm an unashamed supporter of Bush and what he is seeking to achieve in the ME. I do not accept the claim that his was essentially a war to secure leverage to Iraqi and ME oil. (The US already had that and it has diverse oil supplying nations spanning the globe (Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Nigeria and others as well as the ME oil producers. Iraq has been a very minor player)).

Nor do I accept the claim that Bush (and the administration) lied about WMD.

The overwhelming evidence from Intelligence agencies around the world was that Iraq did possess the weapons. In fact if you check John Kerry's speeches and all those who are wise in hindsight, they too believed that Iraq was awash with WMD.

The US is only doing what it has unselfishly done, at least beginning with WW2 and continuing through the Cold War until now, and that is opposing tyrannical regimes.

More widely Bush has been very perceptive, in identifying much sooner than most, the threat that this new extremism presents to Western civilisation and its values.

Propaganda is a tool of politics (as well as on forums like this) so it is a matter of identifying the BS on all sides and then making a judgement on where the "truth" most likely lies and what is likely to be the best course of action taking all the variables into account. That will also be determined by ones own non-negotiable values

In that context there will be negatives as well as positives with any position one takes, which I suggest should lead to one taking an "on balance" approach.

I would suggest that if Bush's audacious agenda for the ME is not fully achieved it will have an impact on the ME (of which there are already some indicators) for better government and better outcomes for more of the governed. That is why I accept that Iraq, with all its present troubles, is a worthwhile (perhaps even nobly conceived) venture).