Comments on: On Kennedy, Andropov, and KAL 007 http://catholicexchange.com/2009/09/04/121613/ Catholic News, Catholic Articles, Catholic Apologetics, Catholic Content, Catholic Information Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:46:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 By: plowshare http://catholicexchange.com/2009/09/04/121613/comment-page-1/#comment-42823 plowshare Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:58:32 +0000 http://catholicexchange.com/2009/09/04/121613/#comment-42823 I forgot all about this exchange for two weeks, starting before seeing jpckmo's "rebuttal", which is a shame, because he's probably decided I'm not going to answer him and won't be checking here any more. I would like to know just where these refugees are that he is talking about, and why they aren't in Iraq. I doubt that many Iraqis are nostalgic about Saddam. I'd be very surprised if more than 5% of the Kurds and 10% of the Shiites in Iraq think they were better off under Saddam. Anyway, my original point is that jpckmo seized on a flimsy excuse to attack Bush, by taking a misjudgment by Kennedy about the good will of the leader of the Soviet Union (and about his own Presidents, Carter and Reagan) and simply asserting that it is "similar" in an unspecified way to what is, on the face of it, a totally dissimilar misjudgment by Bush. I forgot all about this exchange for two weeks, starting before seeing jpckmo’s “rebuttal”, which is a shame, because he’s probably decided I’m not going to answer him and won’t be checking here any more.

I would like to know just where these refugees are that he is talking about, and why they aren’t in Iraq. I doubt that many Iraqis are nostalgic about Saddam. I’d be very surprised if more than 5% of the Kurds and 10% of the Shiites in Iraq think they were better off under Saddam.

Anyway, my original point is that jpckmo seized on a flimsy excuse to attack Bush, by taking a misjudgment by Kennedy about the good will of the leader of the Soviet Union (and about his own Presidents, Carter and Reagan) and simply asserting that it is “similar” in an unspecified way to what is, on the face of it, a totally dissimilar misjudgment by Bush.

]]> By: jpckcmo http://catholicexchange.com/2009/09/04/121613/comment-page-1/#comment-42432 jpckcmo Sun, 06 Sep 2009 01:22:40 +0000 http://catholicexchange.com/2009/09/04/121613/#comment-42432 I work with Iraqi refugees, and they all, Shiite and Sunni, speak nostalgically of the good old days when Saddam was in charge. Their conversation frequently starts with "Before 2003 . . . ." We did them no favors by invading their country. The two misjudgments can certainly can and should be compared. I work with Iraqi refugees, and they all, Shiite and Sunni, speak nostalgically of the good old days when Saddam was in charge. Their conversation frequently starts with “Before 2003 . . . .” We did them no favors by invading their country. The two misjudgments can certainly can and should be compared.

]]> By: plowshare http://catholicexchange.com/2009/09/04/121613/comment-page-1/#comment-42427 plowshare Sat, 05 Sep 2009 18:15:38 +0000 http://catholicexchange.com/2009/09/04/121613/#comment-42427 Come off it, jpckcmo. The two misjudgments have no similarity to each other, except for the bald fact of both being misjudgments. And the only misjudgment on Bush's part that can be demonstrated was to resume hostilities after a truce of 10 years under unfavorable circumstances. He committed us to a second military campaign while the Afghan one was still a major one, and he did it without the backing of most other countries, in contrast to his father, who began the first Gulf war only after being assured of UN consent to the operation. The casualties of this second Iraq campaign, and the cost of maintaining troops there, have to be weighed against the atrocities the Saddam Hussein regime perpetrated before you can count them as evidence of Bush's having committed any other misjudgment than the one I've named just now. Come off it, jpckcmo. The two misjudgments have no similarity to each other, except for the bald fact of both being misjudgments. And the only misjudgment on Bush’s part that can be demonstrated was to resume hostilities after a truce of 10 years under unfavorable circumstances. He committed us to a second military campaign while the Afghan one was still a major one, and he did it without the backing of most other countries, in contrast to his father, who began the first Gulf war only after being assured of UN consent to the operation.

The casualties of this second Iraq campaign, and the cost of maintaining troops there, have to be weighed against the atrocities the Saddam Hussein regime perpetrated before you can count them as evidence of Bush’s having committed any other misjudgment than the one I’ve named just now.

]]> By: jpckcmo http://catholicexchange.com/2009/09/04/121613/comment-page-1/#comment-42412 jpckcmo Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:55:27 +0000 http://catholicexchange.com/2009/09/04/121613/#comment-42412 Similar to the tragic misjudgment that George W. Bush displayed when he initiated a war with a country who had not threatened us and killed over 4,000 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis, and then bungled that war so badly that we are still there and probably will be for years to come. Similar to the tragic misjudgment that George W. Bush displayed when he initiated a war with a country who had not threatened us and killed over 4,000 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis, and then bungled that war so badly that we are still there and probably will be for years to come.

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