U.S. troops put pinch on smuggling of fuel

BBond

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
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Just WTF is going on here? First that liar Wolfowitz (you remember him, the U.S. Likud Party neo-con madman bush appointee who now heads the World Bank) tells America that Iraq will only cost a few billion dollars and that Iraq's oil proceeds will even pay for that!

:roll:

I guess EVERYONE is very well aware of how that panned out.

Now I open up the morning paper OVER THREE YEARS LATER and WE STILL HAVEN'T EVEN STOPPED RAMPANT FUEL SMUGGLING THAT IS FUNDING THE IRAQI INSURGENCY???!

The levels of incompetence and corruption in the bush administration are unsurpassed in U.S. history. But just look at the headline, how the "news" media is selling this blatant incompetence --

"U.S. troops put pinch on smuggling of fuel"

And just look at the way the U.S. military is selling this now three year old failure --

"Our hand has been forced," said Lackey, of the 1st Battalion, 187th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. "We're going to make it harder for them, make it less profitable, and we're even going to make it more dangerous."

"They do everything in their power to keep us occupied," Lackey said. "We've ignored the root of the (insurgency) problem, which is the funding."

WTF???! Our hand has been forced? After they've ingored the root of the problem for THREE LONG YEARS???!

This captain's name is PERFECT, L-A-C-K-E-Y.

After the lies, the bumbling incomptence, and the unbelievable corruption in Iraq ALONE -- not to mention the laundry list of other bush lies, illegal activities, administration fvck ups, and their constant unending stream of outright failures -- America should be in open revolt against this administration. Yet here we are, in an election year, with our "news" media discussing whether or not the republicans -- who have had complete control over congress and the executive branch during this complete fiasco of governance -- will retain control!?

And the America sheeple just keep apathetically grazing along.

How pathetic.

U.S. troops put pinch on smuggling of fuel

Wednesday, May 10, 2006
BY ANTONIO CASTANEDA
Associated Press

BEIJI, Iraq -- U.S. troops in this oil refining center are cracking down on a vast fuel theft and smuggling operation that robs from Iraq's economy and helps finance the insurgency.

The troops are chasing the smugglers and closely monitoring refinery workers. For American soldiers, it means ending a hands-off approach and doing jobs that would normally fall to police.

Capt. Adam Lackey of Trafalgar, Ind., said it was a problem that could no longer be ignored because the illicit money helps buy bombs and bullets that kill and maim soldiers.

"Our hand has been forced," said Lackey, of the 1st Battalion, 187th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. "We're going to make it harder for them, make it less profitable, and we're even going to make it more dangerous."

Before the crackdown began, fuel smuggling from Beiji was so extensive and flagrant that dozens of truck drivers would congregate outside the refinery's gates. In plain sight, they would swap counterfeit export documents or transfer fuel to unauthorized trucks.


In a report last month, the inspector general of the Oil Ministry, Ali al-Alaak, estimated about $4 billion worth of petroleum products were smuggled out of Iraq last year, including gasoline and crude oil siphoned from pipelines. He described oil smuggling as the greatest threat to Iraq's oil-dependent economy.

The Finance Ministry estimates that up to half of the profits from oil smuggling end up in the hands of insurgents.

So much fuel was disappearing that residents of this Sunni Arab city 155 miles north of Baghdad would routinely wait eight hours or more to buy fuel at gas stations within view of the refinery.

Smuggling is lucrative in Iraq because fuel prices are heavily subsidized by the government. A gallon of regular gasoline costs less than 70 cents. Smugglers make a substantial profit by shipping fuel to Syria or Turkey, where prices are much higher.

The Beiji refinery had a prewar production capacity of up to 300,000 barrels per day. Since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, there have been numerous full or partial shutdowns. Now just keeping the refinery running requires police work, diplomacy and public relations skills.

During one patrol, Lackey met with refinery guards to discuss equipment shortages. An hour later he angrily confronted other guards who had allegedly threatened to turn Shi'a engineers over to insurgents.

Minutes later, Lackey pulled into a parking lot filled with dozens of tankers preparing to smuggle away thousands of gallons of gas. Several drivers tried to pull away, leading to a brief chase by U.S. Humvees.

The crackdown is also an attempt to improve the image of the hundreds of U.S. soldiers in the area. Residents accused the Americans, the only effective force, of involvement in the black market. How else, they reasoned, could smugglers operate with such impunity?

The initial weeks of the operation have started to pay off. Lines for fuel are shorter, soldiers said, and about one-fifth of the gas stations in Beiji appear to be operating normally.

Soldiers said civilians have begun pointing out the hiding places of smugglers. By contrast, bystanders rarely provide useful information after roadside bomb attacks on U.S. patrols.

U.S. soldiers say insurgent attacks in Beiji have recently spiked, and some speculate it is a reaction to the crackdown and is also intended to distract the Americans from the anti-smuggling campaign.

"They do everything in their power to keep us occupied," Lackey said. "We've ignored the root of the (insurgency) problem, which is the funding."

 

BBond

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
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Not only can't the bush administration seem to grasp the fact that Iraq's OIL is being used to fund the insurgency that they can't seem to quell (I just have to wonder if this isn't all by design and not simply another example of bush's incompetence), they don't seem to be able to keep our own weapons out of the hands of the insurgency!

HAVE 200,000 AK47S FALLEN INTO THE HANDS OF IRAQ TERRORISTS?

FEARS OVER SECRET U.S. ARMS SHIPMENT

SOME 200,000 guns the US sent to Iraqi security forces may have been smuggled to terrorists, it was feared yesterday.

The 99-tonne cache of AK47s was to have been secretly flown out from a US base in Bosnia. But the four planeloads of arms have vanished.

Orders for the deal to go ahead were given by the US Department of Defense. But the work was contracted out via a complex web of private arms traders.

And the Moldovan airline used to transport the shipment was blasted by the UN in 2003 for smuggling arms to Liberia, human rights group Amnesty has discovered.

It follows a separate probe claiming that thousands of guns meant for Iraq's police and army instead went to al-Qaeda.


Amnesty chief spokesman Mike Blakemore said: "It's unbelievable that no one can account for 200,000 assault rifles. If these weapons have gone missing it's a terrifying prospect." American defence chiefs hired a US firm to take the guns, from the 90s Bosnian war, to Iraq.

But air traffic controllers in Baghdad have no record of the flights, which supposedly took off between July 2004 and July 2005. A coalition forces spokesman confirmed they had not received "any weapons from Bosnia" and added they were "not aware of any purchases for Iraq from Bosnia". Nato and US officials have already voiced fears that Bosnian arms - sold by US, British and Swiss firms - are being passed to insurgents. A Nato spokesman said: "There's no tracking mechanism to ensure they don't fall into the wrong hands. There are concerns that some may have been siphoned off." This year a newspaper claimed two UK firms were involved in a deal in which thousands of guns for Iraqi forces were re-routed to al-Qaeda.

One arms broker's lawyer is said to have admitted that nearly all of a shipment of 1,500 AK-47s went missing. And a US official said £270million of equipment could not be traced.

Meanwhile, Aerocom, the Moldovan air firm at the centre of the 200,000 missing AK47s, was stripped of its licence by its national authorities a day before the first shipment.

Two other companies in the complicated sale claim to have papers proving the guns were delivered in Iraq but refuse to show them.

Amnesty has now called on Britain to clamp down on the arms trade.

Spokeswoman Kate Allen said: "It's out of control and costing hundreds of thousands of lives every year. The UK has a real chance to do something about it when the UN meets in June."

Just simply unbelievable. The current U.S. government, whether through incompetence, corruption, or complicity, is now arming al Qaeda (just as they did during the Reagan administration, BTW).

Is the NSA going to do some illegal spying on the bush admistration now for aiding terrorists?

If they did, it looks as if they'd likely find far more to prosecute than they're finding by illegally spying on American citizens.

WTFU already people. This is beyond unacceptable. This administration is an outrage.
 

HardWarrior

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2004
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The root of the problem in Iraq is our presence there, B. The situation is further complicated by the seething hatred that most Iraqi?s feel for the US after enduring 15-years of our direct, brutal and completely unwarranted interference in their lives.
 

Passions

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2000
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Originally posted by: BBond

WTFU already people. This is beyond unacceptable. This administration is an outrage.

OUTRAGE! Because nothing bad ever happened during Clinton's tenure!!!! EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD BACK THEN!!!
 

HardWarrior

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2004
4,400
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Originally posted by: Passions
Originally posted by: BBond

WTFU already people. This is beyond unacceptable. This administration is an outrage.

OUTRAGE! Because nothing bad ever happened during Clinton's tenure!!!! EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD BACK THEN!!!

Clinton pulled more than his share of BS, but I think we should all be able to agree that Bush has elevated bubbling stupidity to an art form.

 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Originally posted by: Passions
Originally posted by: BBond

WTFU already people. This is beyond unacceptable. This administration is an outrage.

OUTRAGE! Because nothing bad ever happened during Clinton's tenure!!!! EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD BACK THEN!!!


Nothing on the scale of mass illegal wire taps, a misguided and false war, a 50% increase in sovereign debt, a mishandling of all disasters, and international condemnation of foreign policy.

Yet, clinton got impeached for getting a BJ and lying in a farce of a trial.

However, Bush doesn't even get investigated for not upholding the constitution and perhaps lying to the American people and proceeding with a war under false pretenses.

Wake up kool aide drinker.
 

Passions

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2000
6,855
3
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Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Passions
Originally posted by: BBond

WTFU already people. This is beyond unacceptable. This administration is an outrage.

OUTRAGE! Because nothing bad ever happened during Clinton's tenure!!!! EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD BACK THEN!!!


Nothing on the scale of mass illegal wire taps, a misguided and false war, a 50% increase in sovereign debt, a mishandling of all disasters, and international condemnation of foreign policy.

Yet, clinton got impeached for getting a BJ and lying in a farce of a trial.

However, Bush doesn't even get investigated for not upholding the constitution and perhaps lying to the American people and proceeding with a war under false pretenses.

Wake up kool aide drinker.

Those illegal wire taps saved lives and prevented another 9/11. In 5 years, no attack has occured. Wake up backstabber.
 

outriding

Diamond Member
Feb 20, 2002
4,673
4,172
136
Originally posted by: Passions
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Passions
Originally posted by: BBond

WTFU already people. This is beyond unacceptable. This administration is an outrage.

OUTRAGE! Because nothing bad ever happened during Clinton's tenure!!!! EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD BACK THEN!!!


Nothing on the scale of mass illegal wire taps, a misguided and false war, a 50% increase in sovereign debt, a mishandling of all disasters, and international condemnation of foreign policy.

Yet, clinton got impeached for getting a BJ and lying in a farce of a trial.

However, Bush doesn't even get investigated for not upholding the constitution and perhaps lying to the American people and proceeding with a war under false pretenses.

Wake up kool aide drinker.

Those illegal wire taps saved lives and prevented another 9/11. In 5 years, no attack has occured. Wake up backstabber.

I just tried to do a search about arrests that where attributed to legal and illegal wiretapping that were going to commit terrorists attacks on US soil, but came up with nothing. Can you give me a link to such information?

Thanks in advance.
 

outriding

Diamond Member
Feb 20, 2002
4,673
4,172
136
Originally posted by: Passions
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Passions
Originally posted by: BBond

WTFU already people. This is beyond unacceptable. This administration is an outrage.

OUTRAGE! Because nothing bad ever happened during Clinton's tenure!!!! EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD BACK THEN!!!


Nothing on the scale of mass illegal wire taps, a misguided and false war, a 50% increase in sovereign debt, a mishandling of all disasters, and international condemnation of foreign policy.

Yet, clinton got impeached for getting a BJ and lying in a farce of a trial.

However, Bush doesn't even get investigated for not upholding the constitution and perhaps lying to the American people and proceeding with a war under false pretenses.

Wake up kool aide drinker.

Those illegal wire taps saved lives and prevented another 9/11. In 5 years, no attack has occured. Wake up backstabber.

So you admit they are illegal.

That is the first step to recovery
 

HardWarrior

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2004
4,400
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Originally posted by: outriding
I just tried to do a search about arrests that where attributed to legal and illegal wiretapping that were going to commit terrorists attacks on US soil, but came up with nothing. Can you give me a link to such information?

I'd very much like to see that information as well.

 

Passions

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2000
6,855
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Do you honestly think that the FBI/CIA/NSA publishes every investigation they make? Hundreds, if not thousands, of breaks are made without the public ever knowing. Selfish and insolent citizens, where did you learn your manners?
 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Originally posted by: Passions

Those illegal wire taps saved lives and prevented another 9/11. In 5 years, no attack has occured. Wake up backstabber.

Do you have proof that they lead to the arrest and prevention of terrorists?

Do you have proof that they would have *NOT* lead to the arrest and prevention of terrorist activities if they had gone through FISA, which is legal and constitutional?

We do have proof that terrorists have been caught under the auspices of FISA, so why is there no credible evidence that the circumvention of the Constitution and the erosion of our rights lead to the prevention and arrests?

Why would any government circumvent it's ruling document when they have a process in place that has been proven to work?

Could it be because they were not utilizing the program to catch terrorists, but to broaden their powers to completely dominate not just terrorists, but also dissenters among the general population?

Lets say, if 10 years down the road, illegal wire taps were still allowed and the government overstepped it's boundaries, finally leading to an uprising of the people, which are no longer represented by the government. How then, will a Revolution and declaration of independance, such as 1776, happen again? How then, will the grand experiment of a Republic of Self-rule and equality happen?

It will not, because we will have been dominated by the very totalitarian yolk we fought to escape more than 200 years ago. We have freedoms of expression, rights to bear arms, and representitiveness through checks and balances for a reason, and it's not to open ourselves up to terrorist attacks.

It's to guarantee that our government can be checked if it gets out of control and becomes nothing more than a totalitarian regime. THAT is why we have those rights, so that we are never subjugated and we CAN plan against our government if it happens to NOT represent us anymore.

It is topics such as these that tools such as you can never grasp, even when you visit the Jefferson Memorial. Because your simpleton mind could never grasp the fact that the people who are elected are servants and we are their masters, not the other way around.

You could never grasp the idea that the battle against fear is not winnable and that terrorism is not about killing, it is about usurping rights and changing the way of life of the target.

Call me a backstabber all you want, but when you go to the Jefferson, or read the Declaration of Independance, or read any of the biographies or quotes of the people who were obviously your intellectual superior, think then, of your ignorance and blind faith in those who have no true interest to see you succeeed, or supplant them in their absolute power.

You sir, are the blind fool and backstabber of the true meaning of this country.
 

Passions

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2000
6,855
3
0
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Passions

Those illegal wire taps saved lives and prevented another 9/11. In 5 years, no attack has occured. Wake up backstabber.

Do you have proof that they lead to the arrest and prevention of terrorists?

Do you have proof that they would have *NOT* lead to the arrest and prevention of terrorist activities if they had gone through FISA, which is legal and constitutional?

We do have proof that terrorists have been caught under the auspices of FISA, so why is there no credible evidence that the circumvention of the Constitution and the erosion of our rights lead to the prevention and arrests?

Why would any government circumvent it's ruling document when they have a process in place that has been proven to work?

Could it be because they were not utilizing the program to catch terrorists, but to broaden their powers to completely dominate not just terrorists, but also dissenters among the general population?

Lets say, if 10 years down the road, illegal wire taps were still allowed and the government overstepped it's boundaries, finally leading to an uprising of the people, which are no longer represented by the government. How then, will a Revolution and declaration of independance, such as 1776, happen again? How then, will the grand experiment of a Republic of Self-rule and equality happen?

It will not, because we will have been dominated by the very totalitarian yolk we fought to escape more than 200 years ago. We have freedoms of expression, rights to bear arms, and representitiveness through checks and balances for a reason, and it's not to open ourselves up to terrorist attacks.

It's to guarantee that our government can be checked if it gets out of control and becomes nothing more than a totalitarian regime. THAT is why we have those rights, so that we are never subjugated and we CAN plan against our government if it happens to NOT represent us anymore.

It is topics such as these that tools such as you can never grasp, even when you visit the Jefferson Memorial. Because your simpleton mind could never grasp the fact that the people who are elected are servants and we are their masters, not the other way around.

You could never grasp the idea that the battle against fear is not winnable and that terrorism is not about killing, it is about usurping rights and changing the way of life of the target.

Call me a backstabber all you want, but when you go to the Jefferson, or read the Declaration of Independance, or read any of the biographies or quotes of the people who were obviously your intellectual superior, think then, of your ignorance and blind faith in those who have no true interest to see you succeeed, or supplant them in their absolute power.

You sir, are the blind fool and backstabber of the true meaning of this country.


Spew all the garbage you want. Answer me this simple question.

How many terrorist attacks have happened on US soil since 9/11/01?

Enough said.

You criticize and slander our President, yet the answer to the question above fully redeems him 100%.


 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Originally posted by: Passions

Spew all the garbage you want. Answer me this simple question.

How many terrorist attacks have happened on US soil since 9/11/01?

Enough said.

You criticize and slander our President, yet the answer to the question above fully redeems him 100%.


None, but that has no correlation.

House many terrorist attacks happened in the country prior to our meddling in the M-E from Bush Senior or Reagan?

To we then blame prior administrations for the presence of attack due to poor policy inhereited from prior administrations?

I am sure you cannot understand the idea of spurrious correlations. Attributing the lack of an attack to illegal wire tapping, where no proof that a correlation exists (and proof that a negative correlation exists) is stupid.

For example, there is a spurrious correlation of whether the NFC or AFC wins the super bowl and how the stock market performs. If the NFC wins, the stock market goes down, if AFC wins, it goes up.

Mind you, this has been a "predictor" of market outcomes for the last 30 years and has been abnormally accurate.

However, do you seriously think the stock market bases it's cycles on what football does?

Hardly.


The lack of attacks due to illegal wiretaping have no correlation, unless you can provide evidence to the contrary.

Finally, let me ask you. If another attack occurs during this administration, would it then be a failure of Bush's illegal wiretaping, or further evidence that he needs to restrict rights even more and create a bigger police state?

Your answer to that question will tell me quite enough about you.

Hve you ever read the Declaration of Independance, been to any of the DC memorials, and have thought about the quotes and meaning of the founding of this country?



Finally, it is my DUTY and RIGHT as an American to question our government. We owe it to our ancestors to ensure that our government is questions and does NOT become a totalitiarian state. I belong to SAR and have had a generation of family fight in every war for this country. I refuse to blindly swallow what a *MAN* says and defy what the meaning of this country, and the seat of the President stands for.

To belittle that *RIGHT* and *DUTY* by labeling it unpatriotic or anything BUT the utmost in patriotic passion is to subjugate and belittle everything this country stands for.


 

outriding

Diamond Member
Feb 20, 2002
4,673
4,172
136
Originally posted by: Passions
Do you honestly think that the FBI/CIA/NSA publishes every investigation they make? Hundreds, if not thousands, of breaks are made without the public ever knowing. Selfish and insolent citizens, where did you learn your manners?


I get my manners from the United States Constitution


What about FISA? Or was Carter a Al-queda opertive put in place that law so terrorists will be able to roam about the US without being caught?
 

outriding

Diamond Member
Feb 20, 2002
4,673
4,172
136
Originally posted by: Passions


Spew all the garbage you want. Answer me this simple question.

How many terrorist attacks have happened on US soil since 9/11/01?

Enough said.

You criticize and slander our President, yet the answer to the question above fully redeems him 100%.

Correlation != Causation

 

HardWarrior

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2004
4,400
23
81
Originally posted by: Passions
Do you honestly think that the FBI/CIA/NSA publishes every investigation they make? Hundreds, if not thousands, of breaks are made without the public ever knowing. Selfish and insolent citizens, where did you learn your manners?

You're joking with us, right?

 

BBond

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
8,363
0
0
Originally posted by: Passions
Originally posted by: BBond

WTFU already people. This is beyond unacceptable. This administration is an outrage.

OUTRAGE! Because nothing bad ever happened during Clinton's tenure!!!! EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD BACK THEN!!!

WTF does that have to do your boyfriend and/or this thread?

Weren't you warned a little while ago about posting just such BS in threads?
 

BBond

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
8,363
0
0
BTW, things WERE so good back then. Budget surplus. Deficit going DOWN instead of UP. Good jobs could be found, not McDonalds and Walmart. There were QUITE a few fewer ILLEGAL immigrants -- nowhere NEAR the 12 to 25 million estimated since bush opened the borders with his irresponsible speeches about "guest workers" and such.

NO WAR IN IRAQ.

Just to name a few.
 

BBond

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
8,363
0
0
Originally posted by: Passions
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Passions

Those illegal wire taps saved lives and prevented another 9/11. In 5 years, no attack has occured. Wake up backstabber.

Do you have proof that they lead to the arrest and prevention of terrorists?

Do you have proof that they would have *NOT* lead to the arrest and prevention of terrorist activities if they had gone through FISA, which is legal and constitutional?

We do have proof that terrorists have been caught under the auspices of FISA, so why is there no credible evidence that the circumvention of the Constitution and the erosion of our rights lead to the prevention and arrests?

Why would any government circumvent it's ruling document when they have a process in place that has been proven to work?

Could it be because they were not utilizing the program to catch terrorists, but to broaden their powers to completely dominate not just terrorists, but also dissenters among the general population?

Lets say, if 10 years down the road, illegal wire taps were still allowed and the government overstepped it's boundaries, finally leading to an uprising of the people, which are no longer represented by the government. How then, will a Revolution and declaration of independance, such as 1776, happen again? How then, will the grand experiment of a Republic of Self-rule and equality happen?

It will not, because we will have been dominated by the very totalitarian yolk we fought to escape more than 200 years ago. We have freedoms of expression, rights to bear arms, and representitiveness through checks and balances for a reason, and it's not to open ourselves up to terrorist attacks.

It's to guarantee that our government can be checked if it gets out of control and becomes nothing more than a totalitarian regime. THAT is why we have those rights, so that we are never subjugated and we CAN plan against our government if it happens to NOT represent us anymore.

It is topics such as these that tools such as you can never grasp, even when you visit the Jefferson Memorial. Because your simpleton mind could never grasp the fact that the people who are elected are servants and we are their masters, not the other way around.

You could never grasp the idea that the battle against fear is not winnable and that terrorism is not about killing, it is about usurping rights and changing the way of life of the target.

Call me a backstabber all you want, but when you go to the Jefferson, or read the Declaration of Independance, or read any of the biographies or quotes of the people who were obviously your intellectual superior, think then, of your ignorance and blind faith in those who have no true interest to see you succeeed, or supplant them in their absolute power.

You sir, are the blind fool and backstabber of the true meaning of this country.


Spew all the garbage you want. Answer me this simple question.

How many terrorist attacks have happened on US soil since 9/11/01?

Enough said.

You criticize and slander our President, yet the answer to the question above fully redeems him 100%.

Hey, Passions, how many terrorist attacks between 1993 and 2001??? And all the while people like you were criticizing and slandering our PREDISENT!

Hypocrite.

:laugh:

 

Passions

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2000
6,855
3
0
Originally posted by: BBond
Originally posted by: Passions
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Passions

Those illegal wire taps saved lives and prevented another 9/11. In 5 years, no attack has occured. Wake up backstabber.

Do you have proof that they lead to the arrest and prevention of terrorists?

Do you have proof that they would have *NOT* lead to the arrest and prevention of terrorist activities if they had gone through FISA, which is legal and constitutional?

We do have proof that terrorists have been caught under the auspices of FISA, so why is there no credible evidence that the circumvention of the Constitution and the erosion of our rights lead to the prevention and arrests?

Why would any government circumvent it's ruling document when they have a process in place that has been proven to work?

Could it be because they were not utilizing the program to catch terrorists, but to broaden their powers to completely dominate not just terrorists, but also dissenters among the general population?

Lets say, if 10 years down the road, illegal wire taps were still allowed and the government overstepped it's boundaries, finally leading to an uprising of the people, which are no longer represented by the government. How then, will a Revolution and declaration of independance, such as 1776, happen again? How then, will the grand experiment of a Republic of Self-rule and equality happen?

It will not, because we will have been dominated by the very totalitarian yolk we fought to escape more than 200 years ago. We have freedoms of expression, rights to bear arms, and representitiveness through checks and balances for a reason, and it's not to open ourselves up to terrorist attacks.

It's to guarantee that our government can be checked if it gets out of control and becomes nothing more than a totalitarian regime. THAT is why we have those rights, so that we are never subjugated and we CAN plan against our government if it happens to NOT represent us anymore.

It is topics such as these that tools such as you can never grasp, even when you visit the Jefferson Memorial. Because your simpleton mind could never grasp the fact that the people who are elected are servants and we are their masters, not the other way around.

You could never grasp the idea that the battle against fear is not winnable and that terrorism is not about killing, it is about usurping rights and changing the way of life of the target.

Call me a backstabber all you want, but when you go to the Jefferson, or read the Declaration of Independance, or read any of the biographies or quotes of the people who were obviously your intellectual superior, think then, of your ignorance and blind faith in those who have no true interest to see you succeeed, or supplant them in their absolute power.

You sir, are the blind fool and backstabber of the true meaning of this country.


Spew all the garbage you want. Answer me this simple question.

How many terrorist attacks have happened on US soil since 9/11/01?

Enough said.

You criticize and slander our President, yet the answer to the question above fully redeems him 100%.

Hey, Passions, how many terrorist attacks between 1993 and 2001??? And all the while people like you were criticizing and slandering our PREDISENT!

Hypocrite.

:laugh:


Please show a thread where I was slandering the president from 1993 to 2001.

Enough said.

:laugh:
 

BBond

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
8,363
0
0
Originally posted by: Passions


Please show a thread where I was slandering the president from 1993 to 2001.

Enough said.

:laugh:

PEOPLE LIKE YOU

You know, people who still to this day, over five years after the moron-in-chief you worship has been in power turning everything he touches to sh!t, trash talk Clinton.

People LIKE YOU.

:)
 

BBond

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
8,363
0
0
BTW, nice way you bush lovers are ignoring the OP. OVER THREE YEARS and this administration just figured out they have to stop rampant fuel smuggling in Iraq -- a nation with the second or third largest oil reserves on the planet -- a nation that can't reach pre-bush invasion oil production. :roll:

Little wonder you don't want to address THOSE FACTS!

;)
 

imported_Aelius

Golden Member
Apr 25, 2004
1,988
0
0
You don't get it.

They WANT an insurgency.

Why? I can name several hundred billions of reasons why and several dozens of trillions of reasons in fallout as well in various sectors.

The end.
 

HardWarrior

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2004
4,400
23
81
Originally posted by: Passions
Do you honestly think that the FBI/CIA/NSA publishes every investigation they make? Hundreds, if not thousands, of breaks are made without the public ever knowing. Selfish and insolent citizens, where did you learn your manners?

So, after several hours to try to find something, ANYTHING, to back up what you said we're left with a whimper instead of a bang. Note: If the Bush administration could point to specifics to "justify" its illegal BS, it would, over and over. TBH, I think you're role-playing for some weird reason. No one in their right mind could believe a fraction of what you seem too.