McCain leadin both Hillary and Obama in National poll

[Don_Joy's Prince 0]

Patriotism is not being blind to common sense and actual intelligence in how we carry out our foreign policy- that coincidentally has the potential to drain your kids' future tax rebates and refunds by 1000%.

You don't like Bush's foreign policy. I do and support it 100%. He fukced up by not putting enough troops in Iraq to start with but other than that I think he has done a great job. I want that job to continue. I want to confront those that want to do us harm. Not turn tail and hide like the dems do. So the money spent for defense is money well spent IMO. I know you don't agree but thats life.

I know, life sucks. It has for hundreds of thousands of Iraqi innocents and 4,000 US troops.

However, given that there are people willing to support foreign policy that is not only controversial but extremely lacking in any credibility... then perhaps these people should be the ones footing the bill. Then we can consider that as a tax cut for the rest of us that do not support illegal wars.

Any takers?

Illegal war? Your liberal side is showing. That was a war we needed and was authorized by reps and dems alike. If you have a problem with it talk to the dems that voted for it and continue to vote to fund it. I for one am glad we did it.

LOL, Gary, LOL:

Here.

Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors recently turned up 16 of them -- despite Iraq's recent declaration denying their existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the remaining 29,984 of these prohibited munitions. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb. The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.

The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary; he is deceiving. From intelligence sources we know, for instance, that thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding documents and materials from the U.N. inspectors, sanitizing inspection sites and monitoring the inspectors themselves. Iraqi officials accompany the inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses.

Iraq is blocking U-2 surveillance flights requested by the United Nations. Iraqi intelligence officers are posing as the scientists inspectors are supposed to interview. Real scientists have been coached by Iraqi officials on what to say. Intelligence sources indicate that Saddam Hussein has ordered that scientists who cooperate with U.N. inspectors in disarming Iraq will be killed, along with their families.

Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction. But why? The only possible explanation, the only possible use he could have for those weapons, is to dominate, intimidate, or attack.

With nuclear arms or a full arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, Saddam Hussein could resume his ambitions of conquest in the Middle East and create deadly havoc in that region. And this Congress and the America people must recognize another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own.

Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained. But chemical agents, lethal viruses and shadowy terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known. We will do everything in our power to make sure that that day never comes. (Applause.)

Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option. (Applause.)

The dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole villages -- leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind, or disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions are obtained -- by torturing children while their parents are made to watch. International human rights groups have catalogued other methods used in the torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning. (Applause.)

And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country -- your enemy is ruling your country. (Applause.) And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of your liberation. (Applause.)

The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. America will not accept a serious and mounting threat to our country, and our friends and our allies. The United States will ask the U.N. Security Council to convene on February the 5th to consider the facts of Iraq's ongoing defiance of the world. Secretary of State Powell will present information and intelligence about Iraqi's legal -- Iraq's illegal weapons programs, its attempt to hide those weapons from inspectors, and its links to terrorist groups.

We will consult. But let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him. (Applause.)

Tonight I have a message for the men and women who will keep the peace, members of the American Armed Forces: Many of you are assembling in or near the Middle East, and some crucial hours may lay ahead. In those hours, the success of our cause will depend on you. Your training has prepared you. Your honor will guide you. You believe in America, and America believes in you. (Applause.)

Sending Americans into battle is the most profound decision a President can make. The technologies of war have changed; the risks and suffering of war have not. For the brave Americans who bear the risk, no victory is free from sorrow. This nation fights reluctantly, because we know the cost and we dread the days of mourning that always come.

We seek peace. We strive for peace. And sometimes peace must be defended. A future lived at the mercy of terrible threats is no peace at all. If war is forced upon us, we will fight in a just cause and by just means -- sparing, in every way we can, the innocent. And if war is forced upon us, we will fight with the full force and might of the United States military -- and we will prevail. (Applause.)

And as we and our coalition partners are doing in Afghanistan, we will bring to the Iraqi people food and medicines and supplies -- and freedom. (Applause.)

Many challenges, abroad and at home, have arrived in a single season. In two years, America has gone from a sense of invulnerability to an awareness of peril; from bitter division in small matters to calm unity in great causes. And we go forward with confidence, because this call of history has come to the right country.

Americans are a resolute people who have risen to every test of our time. Adversity has revealed the character of our country, to the world and to ourselves. America is a strong nation, and honorable in the use of our strength. We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for the liberty of strangers.

Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity. (Applause.)

We Americans have faith in ourselves, but not in ourselves alone. We do not know -- we do not claim to know all the ways of Providence, yet we can trust in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life, and all of history.

May He guide us now. And may God continue to bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

Great speech. Thank you for posting it. This was a right and just war. I am so glad we had a strong leader when we needed it. I only hope McCain is able to continue the good fight.

I disagree with you, so I will invoice you for the cost of the war that I will end up paying. I don't see any benefit so why should I pay for it?

That might actually be a good idea, those who support our country going to war can do so by paying a war tax. That way the government can pay for a war without putting the cost on the country, and those who support it will be more likely to hold the government accountable for its spending (or realize that true financial cost of their delusions).

Of course, those who pay the tax would get a part of the spoils of war, if there is any.

Well I don't see any reason to pay for all these piece of $h!t social programs. So why should I have to pay for them if I don't support them. It can work both ways. And these are not mandated in the Constitution like providing for the national defense.

[Dan J 277]

Patriotism is not being blind to common sense and actual intelligence in how we carry out our foreign policy- that coincidentally has the potential to drain your kids' future tax rebates and refunds by 1000%.

You don't like Bush's foreign policy. I do and support it 100%. He fukced up by not putting enough troops in Iraq to start with but other than that I think he has done a great job. I want that job to continue. I want to confront those that want to do us harm. Not turn tail and hide like the dems do. So the money spent for defense is money well spent IMO. I know you don't agree but thats life.

I know, life sucks. It has for hundreds of thousands of Iraqi innocents and 4,000 US troops.

However, given that there are people willing to support foreign policy that is not only controversial but extremely lacking in any credibility... then perhaps these people should be the ones footing the bill. Then we can consider that as a tax cut for the rest of us that do not support illegal wars.

Any takers?

Illegal war? Your liberal side is showing. That was a war we needed and was authorized by reps and dems alike. If you have a problem with it talk to the dems that voted for it and continue to vote to fund it. I for one am glad we did it.

LOL, Gary, LOL:

Here.

Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors recently turned up 16 of them -- despite Iraq's recent declaration denying their existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the remaining 29,984 of these prohibited munitions. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb. The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.

The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary; he is deceiving. From intelligence sources we know, for instance, that thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding documents and materials from the U.N. inspectors, sanitizing inspection sites and monitoring the inspectors themselves. Iraqi officials accompany the inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses.

Iraq is blocking U-2 surveillance flights requested by the United Nations. Iraqi intelligence officers are posing as the scientists inspectors are supposed to interview. Real scientists have been coached by Iraqi officials on what to say. Intelligence sources indicate that Saddam Hussein has ordered that scientists who cooperate with U.N. inspectors in disarming Iraq will be killed, along with their families.

Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction. But why? The only possible explanation, the only possible use he could have for those weapons, is to dominate, intimidate, or attack.

With nuclear arms or a full arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, Saddam Hussein could resume his ambitions of conquest in the Middle East and create deadly havoc in that region. And this Congress and the America people must recognize another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own.

Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained. But chemical agents, lethal viruses and shadowy terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known. We will do everything in our power to make sure that that day never comes. (Applause.)

Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option. (Applause.)

The dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole villages -- leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind, or disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions are obtained -- by torturing children while their parents are made to watch. International human rights groups have catalogued other methods used in the torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning. (Applause.)

And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country -- your enemy is ruling your country. (Applause.) And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of your liberation. (Applause.)

The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. America will not accept a serious and mounting threat to our country, and our friends and our allies. The United States will ask the U.N. Security Council to convene on February the 5th to consider the facts of Iraq's ongoing defiance of the world. Secretary of State Powell will present information and intelligence about Iraqi's legal -- Iraq's illegal weapons programs, its attempt to hide those weapons from inspectors, and its links to terrorist groups.

We will consult. But let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him. (Applause.)

Tonight I have a message for the men and women who will keep the peace, members of the American Armed Forces: Many of you are assembling in or near the Middle East, and some crucial hours may lay ahead. In those hours, the success of our cause will depend on you. Your training has prepared you. Your honor will guide you. You believe in America, and America believes in you. (Applause.)

Sending Americans into battle is the most profound decision a President can make. The technologies of war have changed; the risks and suffering of war have not. For the brave Americans who bear the risk, no victory is free from sorrow. This nation fights reluctantly, because we know the cost and we dread the days of mourning that always come.

We seek peace. We strive for peace. And sometimes peace must be defended. A future lived at the mercy of terrible threats is no peace at all. If war is forced upon us, we will fight in a just cause and by just means -- sparing, in every way we can, the innocent. And if war is forced upon us, we will fight with the full force and might of the United States military -- and we will prevail. (Applause.)

And as we and our coalition partners are doing in Afghanistan, we will bring to the Iraqi people food and medicines and supplies -- and freedom. (Applause.)

Many challenges, abroad and at home, have arrived in a single season. In two years, America has gone from a sense of invulnerability to an awareness of peril; from bitter division in small matters to calm unity in great causes. And we go forward with confidence, because this call of history has come to the right country.

Americans are a resolute people who have risen to every test of our time. Adversity has revealed the character of our country, to the world and to ourselves. America is a strong nation, and honorable in the use of our strength. We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for the liberty of strangers.

Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity. (Applause.)

We Americans have faith in ourselves, but not in ourselves alone. We do not know -- we do not claim to know all the ways of Providence, yet we can trust in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life, and all of history.

May He guide us now. And may God continue to bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

Great speech. Thank you for posting it. This was a right and just war. I am so glad we had a strong leader when we needed it. I only hope McCain is able to continue the good fight.

I disagree with you, so I will invoice you for the cost of the war that I will end up paying. I don't see any benefit so why should I pay for it?

That might actually be a good idea, those who support our country going to war can do so by paying a war tax. That way the government can pay for a war without putting the cost on the country, and those who support it will be more likely to hold the government accountable for its spending (or realize that true financial cost of their delusions).

Of course, those who pay the tax would get a part of the spoils of war, if there is any.

Well I don't see any reason to pay for all these piece of $h!t social programs. So why should I have to pay for them if I don't support them. It can work both ways. And these are not mandated in the Constitution like providing for the national defense.

One of them is actually benefiting the American people, and its not the war. Unless you can show me what we have actually gained out of this, that couldnt have been gained out of much cheaper means. Afterall, there is no factual proof, that Saddam himself was much more than a paper tiger.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

McCain is the winner! Hillary and Barrack are spendin more of our money in their back and forth than I can afford. I think I might quit my job so I can get some.

[Don_Joy's Prince 0]

This post is getting way to big I am not going to quote it.

After 9/11 it would have been irresponsible to leave an unpredictable ba$tard like Saddam in power.

What about all the money we were spending on the no-fly zone and to contain him. The Dem's were starting to ask for us to stop that too before 9/11.

We were responsible for Iraq after the gulf war, as was the whole of the UN. But as it turned out the all our allies went behind our backs and cut sweetheart deals for oil while starving the Iraqi people. Oil for food program was the biggest scam in world history. All of this was untenable and it was deteriorating right in front of us.

War was the only answer after we spent 17 months groveling at the UN with corrupt back stabbers. The only thing we should have done is different is go in with 250,000 troops instead of 130,000. But we could not because after Bill Clinton we didn't have enough to use.

To say this war was illegal is a complete lie and disingenuous. And is completely irresponsible to betray your country in a time war.

We need to build an army that can field 250,000 troops again. Because we are going to need them in the near future. Without them our future is bleak.

[Dan J 277]

This post is getting way to big I am not going to quote it.

After 9/11 it would have been irresponsible to leave an unpredictable ba$tard like Saddam in power.

Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 unless your connecting him to it simply because he is Arab and not friendly to the US.

What about all the money we were spending on the no-fly zone and to contain him. The Dem's were starting to ask for us to stop that too before 9/11.

Contain him from doing what exactly? Hurting your feelings?

We were responsible for Iraq after the gulf war, as was the whole of the UN. But as it turned out the all our allies went behind our backs and cut sweetheart deals for oil while starving the Iraqi people. Oil for food program was the biggest scam in world history. All of this was untenable and it was deteriorating right in front of us.

So we go in and make the situation much worse, good plan.

War was the only answer after we spent 17 months groveling at the UN with corrupt back stabbers. The only thing we should have done is different is go in with 250,000 troops instead of 130,000. But we could not because after Bill Clinton we didn't have enough to use.

Or maybe it was the guy who fired his advisor when he said it could only done with 400,000 troops. Who also said this whole thing would only cost $50 billion.

To say this war was illegal is a complete lie and disingenuous. And is completely irresponsible to betray your country in a time war.

Last I checked, this is a Demoracy that protects freedom of speech. Its quite patriotic to take advantage of those freedoms. In fact is nessessary in maintaining a democracy.

We need to build an army that can field 250,000 troops again. Because we are going to need them in the near future. Without them our future is bleak.

Good luck with that...

[Don_Joy's Prince 0]

I think your are childish in your views and naive.

You must not have lived enough yet to really know what had happened before and how it lead to where we are now.

Dangerous views you spout. It betrays your homeland.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Say buh-bye to the White House, my Republican friends...I'm willing to wager on that.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I think your are childish in your views and naive.

You must not have lived enough yet to really know what had happened before and how it lead to where we are now.

Dangerous views you spout. It betrays your homeland.

Oh STFU. It does no such f*cking thing.

[GaryC 7]

Say buh-bye to the White House, my Republican friends...I'm willing to wager on that.

Really? I will put a $100 bet on it. You game?

[HAL 9000 96]

As much as I'd like to support Bush's foreign policy (I honestly don't care if the war was legal

or illegal - if it's good for the US, I support it), it's just too damn expensive.

We simply cannot afford to fight this war any longer. The 500 billion dollars spent in Iraq so far

could have built a lot of schools, hospitals, bridges and highways here in the US.

We could have built a real Israel-style 2000-mile wall to keep the illegals and terrorists out

once and for all.

We could have done a lot of things with half a trillion dollars.

I understand the idea of creating a Jihadi paradise in the Middle East to prevent those nutjobs

from attacking us here, but 500 billion dollars is really too much to keep that idea going.

There must be a cheaper and more effective solution.

Illegal from the point of view that we all got lied to big time, but don't let a lie fool you . Let the fools fool the lie if anything.

The money tag issue IS a big concern at this time. Death and destruction rarely hits anyone's gray matter unless it hits close to home.

Patriotism is not being blind to common sense and actual intelligence in how we carry out our foreign policy- that coincidentally has the potential to drain your kids' future tax rebates and refunds by 1000%.

You don't like Bush's foreign policy. I do and support it 100%. He fukced up by not putting enough troops in Iraq to start with but other than that I think he has done a great job. I want that job to continue. I want to confront those that want to do us harm. Not turn tail and hide like the dems do. So the money spent for defense is money well spent IMO. I know you don't agree but thats life.

I know, life sucks. It has for hundreds of thousands of Iraqi innocents and 4,000 US troops.

However, given that there are people willing to support foreign policy that is not only controversial but extremely lacking in any credibility... then perhaps these people should be the ones footing the bill. Then we can consider that as a tax cut for the rest of us that do not support illegal wars.

Any takers?

Illegal war? Your liberal side is showing. That was a war we needed and was authorized by reps and dems alike. If you have a problem with it talk to the dems that voted for it and continue to vote to fund it. I for one am glad we did it.

LOL, Gary, LOL:

Here.

Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors recently turned up 16 of them -- despite Iraq's recent declaration denying their existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the remaining 29,984 of these prohibited munitions. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb. The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.

The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary; he is deceiving. From intelligence sources we know, for instance, that thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding documents and materials from the U.N. inspectors, sanitizing inspection sites and monitoring the inspectors themselves. Iraqi officials accompany the inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses.

Iraq is blocking U-2 surveillance flights requested by the United Nations. Iraqi intelligence officers are posing as the scientists inspectors are supposed to interview. Real scientists have been coached by Iraqi officials on what to say. Intelligence sources indicate that Saddam Hussein has ordered that scientists who cooperate with U.N. inspectors in disarming Iraq will be killed, along with their families.

Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction. But why? The only possible explanation, the only possible use he could have for those weapons, is to dominate, intimidate, or attack.

With nuclear arms or a full arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, Saddam Hussein could resume his ambitions of conquest in the Middle East and create deadly havoc in that region. And this Congress and the America people must recognize another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own.

Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained. But chemical agents, lethal viruses and shadowy terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known. We will do everything in our power to make sure that that day never comes. (Applause.)

Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option. (Applause.)

The dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole villages -- leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind, or disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions are obtained -- by torturing children while their parents are made to watch. International human rights groups have catalogued other methods used in the torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning. (Applause.)

And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country -- your enemy is ruling your country. (Applause.) And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of your liberation. (Applause.)

The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. America will not accept a serious and mounting threat to our country, and our friends and our allies. The United States will ask the U.N. Security Council to convene on February the 5th to consider the facts of Iraq's ongoing defiance of the world. Secretary of State Powell will present information and intelligence about Iraqi's legal -- Iraq's illegal weapons programs, its attempt to hide those weapons from inspectors, and its links to terrorist groups.

We will consult. But let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him. (Applause.)

Tonight I have a message for the men and women who will keep the peace, members of the American Armed Forces: Many of you are assembling in or near the Middle East, and some crucial hours may lay ahead. In those hours, the success of our cause will depend on you. Your training has prepared you. Your honor will guide you. You believe in America, and America believes in you. (Applause.)

Sending Americans into battle is the most profound decision a President can make. The technologies of war have changed; the risks and suffering of war have not. For the brave Americans who bear the risk, no victory is free from sorrow. This nation fights reluctantly, because we know the cost and we dread the days of mourning that always come.

We seek peace. We strive for peace. And sometimes peace must be defended. A future lived at the mercy of terrible threats is no peace at all. If war is forced upon us, we will fight in a just cause and by just means -- sparing, in every way we can, the innocent. And if war is forced upon us, we will fight with the full force and might of the United States military -- and we will prevail. (Applause.)

And as we and our coalition partners are doing in Afghanistan, we will bring to the Iraqi people food and medicines and supplies -- and freedom. (Applause.)

Many challenges, abroad and at home, have arrived in a single season. In two years, America has gone from a sense of invulnerability to an awareness of peril; from bitter division in small matters to calm unity in great causes. And we go forward with confidence, because this call of history has come to the right country.

Americans are a resolute people who have risen to every test of our time. Adversity has revealed the character of our country, to the world and to ourselves. America is a strong nation, and honorable in the use of our strength. We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for the liberty of strangers.

Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity. (Applause.)

We Americans have faith in ourselves, but not in ourselves alone. We do not know -- we do not claim to know all the ways of Providence, yet we can trust in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life, and all of history.

May He guide us now. And may God continue to bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

Great speech. Thank you for posting it. This was a right and just war. I am so glad we had a strong leader when we needed it. I only hope McCain is able to continue the good fight.

I disagree with you, so I will invoice you for the cost of the war that I will end up paying. I don't see any benefit so why should I pay for it?

That might actually be a good idea, those who support our country going to war can do so by paying a war tax. That way the goverment can pay for a war without putting the cost on the country, and those who support it will be more likely to hold the goverment accountable for its spending (or realize that true finacial cost of thier dulusions).

Of course, those who pay the tax would get a part of the spoils of war, if there is any.

Great Idea. Let the 100% supporters fund the wars they seem to think are justified. That way when the shiat hits the fan we don't have to say "we told you so."

[HAL 9000 96]

Patriotism is not being blind to common sense and actual intelligence in how we carry out our foreign policy- that coincidentally has the potential to drain your kids' future tax rebates and refunds by 1000%.

You don't like Bush's foreign policy. I do and support it 100%. He fukced up by not putting enough troops in Iraq to start with but other than that I think he has done a great job. I want that job to continue. I want to confront those that want to do us harm. Not turn tail and hide like the dems do. So the money spent for defense is money well spent IMO. I know you don't agree but thats life.

I know, life sucks. It has for hundreds of thousands of Iraqi innocents and 4,000 US troops.

However, given that there are people willing to support foreign policy that is not only controversial but extremely lacking in any credibility... then perhaps these people should be the ones footing the bill. Then we can consider that as a tax cut for the rest of us that do not support illegal wars.

Any takers?

Illegal war? Your liberal side is showing. That was a war we needed and was authorized by reps and dems alike. If you have a problem with it talk to the dems that voted for it and continue to vote to fund it. I for one am glad we did it.

LOL, Gary, LOL:

Here.

Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors recently turned up 16 of them -- despite Iraq's recent declaration denying their existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the remaining 29,984 of these prohibited munitions. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb. The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.

The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary; he is deceiving. From intelligence sources we know, for instance, that thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding documents and materials from the U.N. inspectors, sanitizing inspection sites and monitoring the inspectors themselves. Iraqi officials accompany the inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses.

Iraq is blocking U-2 surveillance flights requested by the United Nations. Iraqi intelligence officers are posing as the scientists inspectors are supposed to interview. Real scientists have been coached by Iraqi officials on what to say. Intelligence sources indicate that Saddam Hussein has ordered that scientists who cooperate with U.N. inspectors in disarming Iraq will be killed, along with their families.

Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction. But why? The only possible explanation, the only possible use he could have for those weapons, is to dominate, intimidate, or attack.

With nuclear arms or a full arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, Saddam Hussein could resume his ambitions of conquest in the Middle East and create deadly havoc in that region. And this Congress and the America people must recognize another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own.

Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained. But chemical agents, lethal viruses and shadowy terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known. We will do everything in our power to make sure that that day never comes. (Applause.)

Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option. (Applause.)

The dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole villages -- leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind, or disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions are obtained -- by torturing children while their parents are made to watch. International human rights groups have catalogued other methods used in the torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning. (Applause.)

And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country -- your enemy is ruling your country. (Applause.) And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of your liberation. (Applause.)

The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. America will not accept a serious and mounting threat to our country, and our friends and our allies. The United States will ask the U.N. Security Council to convene on February the 5th to consider the facts of Iraq's ongoing defiance of the world. Secretary of State Powell will present information and intelligence about Iraqi's legal -- Iraq's illegal weapons programs, its attempt to hide those weapons from inspectors, and its links to terrorist groups.

We will consult. But let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him. (Applause.)

Tonight I have a message for the men and women who will keep the peace, members of the American Armed Forces: Many of you are assembling in or near the Middle East, and some crucial hours may lay ahead. In those hours, the success of our cause will depend on you. Your training has prepared you. Your honor will guide you. You believe in America, and America believes in you. (Applause.)

Sending Americans into battle is the most profound decision a President can make. The technologies of war have changed; the risks and suffering of war have not. For the brave Americans who bear the risk, no victory is free from sorrow. This nation fights reluctantly, because we know the cost and we dread the days of mourning that always come.

We seek peace. We strive for peace. And sometimes peace must be defended. A future lived at the mercy of terrible threats is no peace at all. If war is forced upon us, we will fight in a just cause and by just means -- sparing, in every way we can, the innocent. And if war is forced upon us, we will fight with the full force and might of the United States military -- and we will prevail. (Applause.)

And as we and our coalition partners are doing in Afghanistan, we will bring to the Iraqi people food and medicines and supplies -- and freedom. (Applause.)

Many challenges, abroad and at home, have arrived in a single season. In two years, America has gone from a sense of invulnerability to an awareness of peril; from bitter division in small matters to calm unity in great causes. And we go forward with confidence, because this call of history has come to the right country.

Americans are a resolute people who have risen to every test of our time. Adversity has revealed the character of our country, to the world and to ourselves. America is a strong nation, and honorable in the use of our strength. We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for the liberty of strangers.

Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity. (Applause.)

We Americans have faith in ourselves, but not in ourselves alone. We do not know -- we do not claim to know all the ways of Providence, yet we can trust in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life, and all of history.

May He guide us now. And may God continue to bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

Great speech. Thank you for posting it. This was a right and just war. I am so glad we had a strong leader when we needed it. I only hope McCain is able to continue the good fight.

I disagree with you, so I will invoice you for the cost of the war that I will end up paying. I don't see any benefit so why should I pay for it?

That might actually be a good idea, those who support our country going to war can do so by paying a war tax. That way the government can pay for a war without putting the cost on the country, and those who support it will be more likely to hold the government accountable for its spending (or realize that true financial cost of their delusions).

Of course, those who pay the tax would get a part of the spoils of war, if there is any.

Well I don't see any reason to pay for all these piece of $h!t social programs. So why should I have to pay for them if I don't support them. It can work both ways. And these are not mandated in the Constitution like providing for the national defense.

Well now we have a compromise. When you need those $h!t social programs or when yo'mamma need it don't come biatching here.

National defense is stretching it really out there. When you can find the WMDs in Iraq with GPS-encoded coordinates of US targets, let us know.

This post is getting way to big I am not going to quote it.

After 9/11 it would have been irresponsible to leave an unpredictable ba$tard like Saddam in power.

What about all the money we were spending on the no-fly zone and to contain him. The Dem's were starting to ask for us to stop that too before 9/11.

We were responsible for Iraq after the gulf war, as was the whole of the UN. But as it turned out the all our allies went behind our backs and cut sweetheart deals for oil while starving the Iraqi people. Oil for food program was the biggest scam in world history. All of this was untenable and it was deteriorating right in front of us.

War was the only answer after we spent 17 months groveling at the UN with corrupt back stabbers. The only thing we should have done is different is go in with 250,000 troops instead of 130,000. But we could not because after Bill Clinton we didn't have enough to use.

To say this war was illegal is a complete lie and disingenuous. And is completely irresponsible to betray your country in a time war.

We need to build an army that can field 250,000 troops again. Because we are going to need them in the near future. Without them our future is bleak.

Then on top of funding it you should enlist to spearhead the GI Joe mission.

The 9-11 fear mongering will only get you laughs here at liberal VJ. LOL.

[HAL 9000 96]

I think your are childish in your views and naive.

You must not have lived enough yet to really know what had happened before and how it lead to where we are now.

Dangerous views you spout. It betrays your homeland.

Ahh... either with us or against us... now that's grown up!

Say buh-bye to the White House, my Republican friends...I'm willing to wager on that.

Really? I will put a $100 bet on it. You game?

Come to Chicago come Nov. Buy you a couple of beers if Americans are crazy enough to vote for another Bush.

[GaryC 7]

Great Idea. Let the 100% supporters fund the wars they seem to think are justified. That way when the shiat hits the fan we don't have to say "we told you so."

Well now we have a compromise. When you need those $h!t social programs or when yo'mamma need it don't come biatching here.

National defense is stretching it really out there. When you can find the WMDs in Iraq with GPS-encoded coordinates of US targets, let us know.

Then on top of funding it you should enlist to spearhead the GI Joe mission.

The 9-11 fear mongering will only get you laughs here at liberal VJ. LOL.

Thank you maviwaro, your showing that this is nothing but politics for you. So much for reason and logic. Your no different than the rest of us. Welcome to the VJ political club.

[HAL 9000 96]

Great Idea. Let the 100% supporters fund the wars they seem to think are justified. That way when the shiat hits the fan we don't have to say "we told you so."

Well now we have a compromise. When you need those $h!t social programs or when yo'mamma need it don't come biatching here.

National defense is stretching it really out there. When you can find the WMDs in Iraq with GPS-encoded coordinates of US targets, let us know.

Then on top of funding it you should enlist to spearhead the GI Joe mission.

The 9-11 fear mongering will only get you laughs here at liberal VJ. LOL.

Thank you maviwaro, your showing that this is nothing but politics for you. So much for reason and logic. Your no different than the rest of us. Welcome to the VJ political club.

Life is politics, Gary. How some decide to carry that life around is up to all of us. If you want something, you pay for it. That's *common sense*... Where is the anti-logic in being willing to pay for what we need as a society yet not willing to pay for what is illegitimately obligated on all? Get real my friend. And yes... you are very correct- I am not different that any of you here. I am human.

[GaryC 7]

Great Idea. Let the 100% supporters fund the wars they seem to think are justified. That way when the shiat hits the fan we don't have to say "we told you so."

Well now we have a compromise. When you need those $h!t social programs or when yo'mamma need it don't come biatching here.

National defense is stretching it really out there. When you can find the WMDs in Iraq with GPS-encoded coordinates of US targets, let us know.

Then on top of funding it you should enlist to spearhead the GI Joe mission.

The 9-11 fear mongering will only get you laughs here at liberal VJ. LOL.

Thank you maviwaro, your showing that this is nothing but politics for you. So much for reason and logic. Your no different than the rest of us. Welcome to the VJ political club.

Life is politics, Gary. How some decide to carry that life around is up to all of us. If you want something, you pay for it. That's *common sense*... Where is the anti-logic in being willing to pay for what we need as a society yet not willing to pay for what is illegitimately obligated on all? Get real my friend. And yes... you are very correct- I am not different that any of you here. I am human.

I couldn't have said it better myself. I am willing to pay for the war but unwilling to pay for all the social engineering your side wants. Is what I want any less valid than yours? It's the other side of the same coin.