Tracy,

My 'first time' comments came from an interview I saw Saturday on TV with a war historian. Not sure which TV station I saw it on. I'm quite certain, and I should have been clearer on the matter, that he was talking specifically about bombing and not individual troop combat. Also, he may have forgotten the War with Granada and the War with Panama or may have had reasons for excluding them. In any case they were not mentioned and *I* had forgotten about them.

Of course I accept your assertion that you know in a specific case because you were there. Presence always trumps!

As regards swallowing foreign media propaganda, I guess that's possible, though my media sources are limited to 1 Canadian channel, 2 Canadian newspapers, 5 U.S. channels and one U.S. cable channel.
The day I heard that President Bush had proclaimed a new policy that included preemption I got worried. It grew to fever pitch when I recently came across the 1998 letter and saw that many of the signatories were now occupying powerful positions in the Administration.
I do, after all, live in a foreign country and one that shares over 5,000 miles of border. It might not be hard for some Administration official to conclude that such a border consitiutes a "threat" to U.S. security. Especially if some U.S. official wanted to "make" it so by making some demand that we deemed unreasonable and we dared to say so. All of a sudden we would be a rogue in the eyes of that Administration, and rogues are (now) attackable.

aside: I heard Saturday that CIA and possibly Delta Force operatives were now in Iraq with the mission of eliminating leadership people. I earnestly hope that they succeed in getting the big ones and that this war can end right there and then!


>Hi Jim,
>
>You are definitely adament in your opinions however wrong they are. This is NOT the first time that the U.S. (or any other country) has ever had civlian welfare incorporated into its battle planning. I can speak from personal experience, can you? I give you MY WORD that I know this to be true. If you cannot take my word, so be it. Continue on with your fallacies. As to the rest of your post, it is obvious swayed by international media and that is a shame (not that you feel that way) but that media in the world has so much power over the people's thinking today. That is a great tragedy, but a truth nonetheless. While the U.S. may win the war (it remains to be seen) it will certainly lose the battle (media battle and battle over public opinion) that is which can only lead to more tragedy down the road.