>Respectfully is obviously not your way.

Obviously, but that's because respect is earned....not given.  The French,
Germans and Russians have lined their pockets selling Saddam their wares and
making him into the problem that he is.  I would argue that their
underhanded, financial motives for opposing war (they're going to lose their
best customer...) are eminently more plausible than the looney idea that the
US somehow wants the Iraqi oil reserves.  Do you really think that the rest
of the world would sit around and watch the US help itself to Iraq's oil?
In spite of the fact that we will likely spend hundreds of billions of
dollars of our own money and the blood of our most precious sons and
daughters in this endeavor, we are not after their oil.   We don't have any
problem *buying* oil, as I stated earlier.  In my view the oil argument is
more likely placed on the shoulders of the French, Germans and Russians.  Do
you think that Saddam pays in euros, marks, francs or rubles?  I think not.
The truth is that it will be America that rebuilds Iraq, provides
humanitarian aid, technology and infrastructure to make Iraq into a free and
prosperous state that can proudly join the international community and stop
supporting terrorists and threatening its neighbors.  The whining Europeans
will sit on the sidelines and throw a few nickels into the pot, so as not to
seem completely insensitive.

Why does America continue to pour billions of dollars into endeavors like
this all over the world?  Why, when we get the shaft every time from
whining, whoossie diplomats and talking heads?  I'll tell you why.  Because
the American people are good and kind and generous.  There is not a country
on the globe that has not benefited from that kindness and generosity and
there have been many, many occasions that we could have left the lot of you
to swing in the wind.

Herein lies the truth....listen up.   The American way of life;  freedom,
pluralism, secularism and democracy is the future of the world.  Our form of
government is the most brilliant and fair system ever devised and it is
destined to form what will be in the future, a world government in which
each and every state has equal representation and equal say and equal access
to the resources of our planet.  Only then will peace be achievable.  The
Saddam Hussein's, Kim Jong Il's and Usama bin Laden's of the world know this
and they are railing against it with every ounce of strength they have.
They know it will be the end of their power to lord over the masses,
brutalize, intimidate and force their religion on others.  President Bush is
absolutely right when he states that the UN risks marginalizing itself by
failing to stand behind its words.  The demise of the UN may please some but
it would set us back decades and perhaps centuries in achieving what we
must.

It is noble to pray for peace and we all must.  However, some of us are
going to have to go out and give our lives for it.  The American soldiers
who *volunteer* to do this deserve more respect than any of us who sit
comfortably behind our computers and pontificate.

Cary

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