[B5JMS] And So It Begins...

[b5jms-admin at cs.columbia.edu]

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From: Robert Perkins <rob_perkins at hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 04:25:32 GMT
Lines: 39

On Sat, 29 Mar 2003 20:00:28 -0500, Jim Royal <jimroyal at canada.com>
wrote:

>In article <qkjb8v8ini1bsv2747i4nuva03n3o8gh4q at 4ax.com>, Robert Perkins
><rob_perkins at hotmail.com> wrote:

>Actually, not true. Effecting regime change in Iraq has been a high
>priority for the Bush administration from the day he entered office.
>The current policy of preemptive defense -- specifically relating to
>iraq -- was written by Dick Cheny and Paul Wolfowitz twelve years ago.

I'm keen to read those documents, mostly in order to see if your
summary has any correlation to them. Where are they?

>Afganistan in now in the hands of opium-selling warlords. True, the
>religious opression is gone,

That's a good first step. I don't think anyone is under the illusion
that it can all get done this year. 

>as Washington
>is spending much much much more money in bribing its allies than it is
>in preventing the return of chaos in Afghanistan.

AFAIK we still have troops deployed there. 

>Not at all. The US has virtually no allies in this invasion. 

Also not true, though by the "old" way of doing things our allies in
this sort of look like we've restarted the Warsaw Pact with us in
Russia's place. 

>The only
>cooperation it is getting from its traditional allies has been bought.

Bought? With what? And which "traditional allies" would these be?

Rob


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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 31 Mar 2003 08:35:47 GMT
Lines: 32

>>Not at all. The US has virtually no allies in this invasion. 
>
>Also not true, though by the "old" way of doing things our allies in
>this sort of look like we've restarted the Warsaw Pact with us in
>Russia's place. 

The humorous thing is that the actual numbers present quite another picture to
this so-called "coalition."  One recent published report, which had access to
the final figures, noted that only 0.00842% of the troops are from countries
other than US and Britain.

Here's the breakdown other than US and Britain:Albania, is sending a
contingency of 70 troops. Poland, 200 troops and Romania is sending 278.
Australia promises 2000 troops. And that's the whole contingent of "coalition
of the willing" troops.

So what about these other countries who keep being cited?  How many troops are
they contributing?  According to the History News Network, the figures are:
Spain,  0 troops; Turkey, 0; Italy, 0; Denmark, 0; and Bulgaria, 0. 

Puts the matter in kind of a different light, doesn't it?

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
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