And how long has this war been going on? Seems like a long time :/

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I think the war in Afghanistan started in 01 and Iraq started in 03 or 04. Then the rest doesn't matter :/

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I'll break it down for you: Afganistan: 2002 Iraq: 2003 Lybia: 2011 Drone attacks over the last few years in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and probably more that weren't as publicized.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I thought Bush launched an attack about a month after 9/11? It was late 2001, but I think the war in Afghanistan started in 2001

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You're right, for some reason I thought that it started in early 2002. I just looked it up and it was in October of 01 like you said,

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yeah, because logically speaking no American (Texan) would be attacked and then not do something irrational like start a war as quickly as possible... that way you get more sympathy, however if you wait a couple of month (to evaluate and assess your options) then the other countries will doubt how sincere you really are for your reason for starting the war.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yeah but damn, that was still fast! I mean he had to get an international coalition going, convince congress in all those speeches, and mobilize the military... He must have mourned for like 5 minutes after and then gotten to work

by Anonymous 12 years ago

If that... from what I understand 9/11 was only an excuse, a catalyst if you will, the war was inevitable. Besides, with the over inflated sense of pride in America, you'd only have to say, look at what they did, in order to get a whole group behind you, just trying to kill some Muslims. Also if I remember correctly the Republicans were the dominant party during Bush's early years and well... they're just the worst.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

They've gotten even worse since then, if anything. But to be fair, when the wars started he prominently and publicly said several times that there is a difference between normal everyday Muslims and the extremists we're fighting. It's one of the items on my short list of things I respect him for.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Well he does have someone writing his speeches for him... I really dislike that guy, he's fucked the world up so bad. Did you know that in, I think it's England that had headlines that read, “HOW CAN 59054087 PEOPLE BE SO DUMB?" when Bush got reelected? But anyways 3 years after he's gone, we still can't fix the problems he has caused. http://www.slate.com/id/2109242/

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Although 9/11 was a tough situation to handle any way you slice it, President Gore would have done much better and probably wouldn't have turned a $300 billion surplus into a $1 trillion defecit. You know, since he actually won the election and all...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Oh yeah I totally agree. 9/11 was terrible and I mean (I hate to say this), but had the Republicans not had an already set up agenda, then EVEN they could have made a better decision. I think they were expecting a good result, but they were using bad means. But yes, I agree that Gore (or anyone with half a brain) would have handled it better.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

And people today say that Obama has been president for long enough that he shouldn't still blame Bush. It takes much longer to price something back together after it's been smashed than it took to smash it in the first place. Bush had 8 years to fuck it up, and Obama entered office facing the biggest set of problems since FDR's first term. It's tough to admit that half the country is pretty fucking stupid, but it's true.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

@1347234 (Take2): You guys know that the President has advisers, right? People to give him advice, people who are experts in whatever field they're advising in? It's not like Bush said, "Hey! Let's go to war tomorrow!" and everyone else was just like, "Well, fuck, he's the president, I'll go make the call!" There was definitely thought put into these decisions. And to the point of Bush in particular not taking time to "mourn," that's not the president's job. He can't cry for a month about something that happened and THEN take action. Oh, and Bush won the election. Which is why he became president. I'm not even a Republican or a Bush fan, but this whole string of comments required someone to reply.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Oh really? It doesn't work like that? Thanks for explaining, I was sure that's how it worked. Besides EVERYONE knows the reason he attacked Iraq (after lying about WMDs) is because his father was attacked during his presidency and that it was personal. And for your edification, I'm not just attacking Bush, I'm attacking the whole republican party. Also I said that he should spend that time (a time out after an attack) to come up with a solid plan, not irrationally start a war. Yes he did, but it's because there are too many stupid Americans out there, you can't really argue that, because well just look around you.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You don't think that they should have deliberated for just a teensy bit more than a month before committing thousands of men and women and hundreds of billions of dollars to a vague "war on terror" centered on the opposite side of the world? Think about it. The attacks happen, no one has any idea what's going on. Is mere weeks really enough to determine who's behind them, consider all the pros and cons of a war, draw up battle plans, and get an international coalition? That seems rather rushed. More thought should have been put into it. History shows that Afganistan is uncontrollable, the "graveyard of empires". And obviously he has advisors, but as President and commander in cheif the final call was his.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I'm not saying whether there should or shouldn't have been more time between the attack and the war, because I'm 18 and haven't spent years in the political field like the people who make the decisions have, so I can't say whether that's true or not. There are tons of pros and cons on both sides. What I was reacting to was the comment that he must've taken five minutes to mourn and then gotten to work. Because as president, that's exactly what you should do.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I think when they said Bush didn't win the election they meant that he had not won the popular election but still became president because of the electoral college. That has only happened a handful of times in our history. The majority of people in this country wanted Al Gore.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I understood that, I was just saying that he did, in fact, win the election, because he had the most electoral votes and that's how our elections work.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I love how you mention Texas. We're good people I swear. Also, we're not as stupid as Bush.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I'm sorry, I do realize that. But the souther you go in the U.S. it seems the more "Power in Pride" bumper stickers that I see. And the more they support what we're doing in the Middle east.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Exactly. But Texans love Texas. Don't fuck with our state haha.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Not Libya

by Anonymous 12 years ago

That's just agressively placed kinetic action

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I live in America and I still get confused.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

AMERICA IS A FUCKING CONTINENT, WHAT YOU'RE REFERRING TO IS THE UNITED STATES

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Well Billy, I see your 2nd grade teacher forgot to go over this. That big landmass on the western side of the world is actually divided into two continents, North America and South America. The U.S.A. is colloquially known as America and it's citizens as Americans, because no other country on Earth has the word AMERICA in it's name. Now run along and drink some apple juice or play in traffic or whatever.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

My good sir, you "Americans" are always referring to the colonization of "America" by the famous Christopher Columbus. What you forget often is that Columbus landed in the middle of the Bahamas. The entire western landmass (as it is one single landmass, connected in its entirety) was the "new world," the Americas. By your definition, Latin Americans and South Americans also have the right to call themselves Americans, and even more so as Latin American describes origin and ethnicity and not state or region. And you said it yourself, the United States is COLLOQUIALLY known as America, and having America as part the nation's name doesn't mean anything - otherwise, Venezuela could call itself Bolivia. "United States OF America" means that the United States are part of the continent that is called America. And I hope next time you want to refute an argument, you use actual logic and facts, instead of resorting to direct offenses to disguise your insecurity. Cheers.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Well somebody's still a little upset about the Revolutionary War...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It's only "America" to people from USA and few others. I mentioned "I'm staying in America" at the time to an Argentinian friend of mine, and he was all "Well yeah, so am I, but what country?" (in Spanish of course). Most countries call it the U.S. America is one big continent.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I seriously fucking doubt that Obama isn't aware of which countries we're at war with.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Since when is America in war with Israel...? Should I be worried?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Actually, the US has not declared war on any of those countries. Look it up. Technically one could argue that we're not at war at all, though our actions speak otherwise.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yep, the last declared war was actually WWII.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

The United States loves Israel.

by Anonymous 12 years ago