Iraq on a scheduled format. This will be in July 2006, and will follow until all troops are pulled out by August, 2006. Job well done. We are the victors! Congratulations.

~It will make half of my life a whole lot easier!!!

You may find he is a bit tongue in cheek.

The pun was simply irresistible

Dr. Gonso is alway with the negativity. Can't you see that times are right for a pull out now?
I wouldn't hesitate to say that the Dr. Gonso's negativity alone has cost us to stay in an Iraq an extra 18 months. In fact, General Peter Pace, chairman of the Chief Joints of Staff said recently, "that things are going very, very well." Don't worry about Iraq. Everything is very cool. In the next six months we will be pumping oil out there like crazy and the price will drop down to about $1.00 a gallon. I am going to the river and then to Lake Arrowhead where I plan on racing around and submerging every waterskier I see. If Dr. Gonso and Xoinging lover would like to come with me, let me know.

~Thanks for the heads up.... and I guess my dreams were starting before my sleep kicked in last night.

(*Was just hoping I missed something as I was away from DC for 4 says.... you never know*) .... I'll sleep two days straight if that is ever announced. (*OK just wishful thinking *)

Maybe we will get a plan together soon... With the war funding being discussed, maybe the game plan will start emerging.  kisses ~Tori

~ I don't make policy, I don't believe I have the ability to influence people... but I do vote, and I am an American.

I support bringing peace and freedom to the Iraqi People.... Some people have questioned how and why I would continue to support the troops in Iraq. I can't remember a week in Atlanta that I wasn't questioned as to how I could support the effort to bring freedom and peace to the Iraqi people.

I agree with a statement that was made by a group representing the forces in Iraq and the thoughts of those who have been there..... (*I have been on the ground in the Middle East, I have witnessed the gratitude and appreciation of a society that has been relieved of the suppression imposed by a dictator that America had a hand in putting in power*) because of my experience....  

I believe in helping to establish five basic freedoms in Iraq:
* the freedom to have a roof over your head
*the freedom  to have food on the table
*the freedom  to be free from a knock on the door at night, be dragged away never to be heard from again,
*the freedom to succeed or fail on your own merits and,
*the freedom to offer your children a better life than you yourself had

I believe that by establishing these freedoms, America will be a safer and more secure. We know that walls cannot be built high enough around America to keep the terrorists out. We know that at America’s airports you cannot take your shoes off often enough to be protected from those that wish us ill.

I believe that by helping the Iraqi people become as invested in their own lives as we are in America, there will be a turn from violence directed outwardly and an increased personal investment in their own futures in their own countries.

Like our serving brothers and sisters who are still in Iraq, I know without a shadow of a doubt that what America and the coalition are doing is right, just, and will succeed. I am proud to be a part of it. I am proud to be a citizen of a country that cares for the Global stabalization enough to try to make an impact.

Terrorism is not an issue that can be accepted in our society and when there is a fertile region capable of supporting the growth of terrorism our lives will be threatened.

I understand that there are many Americans who have not taken the time or invested the effort in understanding how the stabilization of a country is of any advantage to our Freedom or lifestyle.... but, if the bottom line is fighting terrorism abroad as opposed to the playgrounds, hospitals and public area of America I will always be in favor of fighting it abroad.

So, when someone voices the need to pull our troops out of Iraq and leave Iraq in a state of disarray, I am always reminded of the smile on my God sons face, the sound of his laughter and the excitement in his voice as he plays
t-ball.... and the fact that I know he can go to school, go to the ball park and enjoy playing in his yard without the fear of violence. Anything that helps to keep him safe has my vote...
Thanks for reading my thoughts.... kisses ~Tori

or even if they are internally consistent.  

My question would be whether such a gift is possible, or if these aren't things that people have to get for themselves - Saddam didn't fall out of the sky, he was a product of Iraqi society and history, and we're more than a little naive if we think we've cleaned any of that up - our presence has of course drawn lots of foreign attention, but any moron see that Saddam's departure would make it a 4 way fight among the Kurds, Shiites, Sunnis and Iranians - granted, Dubya is not just any moron...

The 2nd question I would have is, how much oil - or whatever - does it take to be worthwhile for us to be in the middle of that particular scorpions' nest?   Commodities have fairly predictable prices; wars do not.   Any decent accountant can manage a business; even wars can be managed by a good general.   But the course of history cannot be managed.

I retain some hope that we can leave that place better than we found it, at an acceptable price.   But as I am not a person who likes to gamble with other people's lives, I have never found any cause for optimism.

Tori's freedoms seem to be a melange of FDR's four Freedoms in WWII and the basic American Dream.

but I also need to be free from paying other people's mortgages.

Politicians would probably be regarded as more honest if they were quicker to admit their limited ability to do all that much about economics directly.   Granted, they have the ability to screw an economy right up; but their best plan to make an economy work seems to be to let people do what they want, as long as it doesn't involve permitting monopolies or govt subsidies.