People still make fun of Bush all the time (just like they always have). I have no problem with that.
As far as I can tell, the justification for the Iraq war was to prevent future terrorist actions against the U.S. regardless of whether the Iraqi government had anything to do with the WTC attack. If you take the approach that Iraq had to be implicitly involved with the WTC attack in order for the war to be justified, then it's fairly clear that you will never be satisfied with the reasoning. On the other hand, if you take the approach that Saddam and company had the intent to initiate
future attacks against the U.S., then a case can be made for that. I don't agree with the way we "sold" the war to the rest of the world. However, that doesn't mean that it was totally unjustified.
The "War on Terror" isn't about just "getting even" with the people that were involved in the WTC attack. It's about making sure that sort of thing doesn't happen again. I certainly don't have all the facts, so I'm not arguing specifics. And this issue is most definately not black and white, so it is hard to be
totally supportative of the U.S./Bush,
but at the same time not
every event that happens or decision that's made is bad. My philosophy is a bit different than some of you guys I guess.
"Freedom Fries" and all the rest of that was stupid. I thought so at the time and still think so. I'm not a big fan of France, but some things get a bit to "out there" for me. Since you brought up WWII - didn't the U.S. get harrassed for not doing anything in that war initially. I'm sure the French didn't appreciate that, just like we didn't appreciate their recent actions. Anyway, I don't personally know anyone that went around calling French Fries "Freedom Fries" - the whole thing was blown out of porportion, IMO.
Don't get the wrong idea when I post this stuff. I'm just having a calm discussion. I don't think there's a clear-cut correct answer to any of it and Costa saying that he has a split opinion about it illustrates the point.
I dont personally see why people are celebrating his capture actually.
The threat of Saddam coming back and resuming his "activities" would've always existed if he was not captured or confimed dead. It seems like the Iraqi people were nervous about doing anything that would displease Saddam because the threat still remained. They're happy because they don't have to worry about that any longer. Some Americans are happy for 3 reason: 1) because it make life better for the Iraqis 2) potentially makes life easier/safer for our troops 3) and for the people that think Saddam had something to do with the WTC attack, it's the next best thing to getting Bin Laden.