*sigh* I just got this e-mail from my republican Dad

*sigh* I wish my Dad could see beyond this bullshit.

*DID YOU KNOW THIS?*

Did you know that 47 countries have re-established
their embassies in
Iraq?

Did you know that the Iraqi government employs 1.2
million Iraqi
people?

Did you know that 3100 schools have been renovated,
364 schools are
under rehabilitation, 263 schools are now under
construction and 38
new
schools have been built in Iraq?

Did you know that Iraq higher educational structure
consists of 20
Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4
research centers?

Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the
United States in
January 2004 for the re-established Fulbright
program?

Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational?
They have 5- 100-foot
patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a naval
infantry regiment.

Did you know that Iraq Air Force consists of three
operation
squadrons,
9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft
which operate day
and
night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4
bell jet rangers?

Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit
and a Commando
Battalion?

Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over
55,000 fully
trained
and equipped police officers?

Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in
Iraq that produce
over
3500 new officers each 8 weeks?

Did you know there are more than 1100 building
projects going on in
Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics,
15 hospitals, 83
railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water
facilities and 69
electrical facilities.

Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the
age of 5 have
received
the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?

Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were
enrolled in primary
school by mid October?

Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone
subscribers in Iraq
and
phone use has gone up 158%?

Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that
consist of 75
radio
stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?

Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened
in June of 2004?

Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi
presidential election had
a
recent televised debate recently?

OF COURSE WE DIDN'T KNOW!

WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW? OUR MEDIA WOULDN'T TELL US!

Because a Bush- hating media and Democratic Party
would rather see the
world blow up than lose their power.

Instead of *shouting* these accomplishments from
every rooftop, they
would rather show photos of what a few perverted
malcontent soldiers
have done in prisons in many cases never disclosing
the circumstances
surrounding the events.

Instead of showing our love for our country, we get
photos of flag
burning incidents at Abu Ghraib and people throwing
snowballs at
presidential motorcades.

_The lack of accentuating the positive in Iraq
serves only one
purpose.
It undermines the worlds perception of the United
States and our
soldiers._

__

I AM ASHAMED OF MY FELLOW AMERICANS WHO WOULD RATHER
SEE TERRORISM
SUCCEED THAN A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT.

---- This is verifiable on the Department of Defense
website. Pass it
on!

that the western media can't show most of this because they will be shot by insurgents if they leave the green zone?

Seriously. That is as far as they can go. They're under lockdown at their hotel. If you can find ONE report filed from another location, then it's probably over a year old. The reporters have been under lockdown for months now. Notice the same flowing palm trees, the same minarets, the same backdrop on EVERY report? It is the view across the hotel compound.

that this is a steaming pile of rightwing propaganda bullshit?

for the $200-300 billion we've thrown the Iraqis' way, most of which has been siphoned off, missing and unaccounted for.

and un-American that so many have layed down and allowed themselves to be brain-washed and propaganidized like sheep. As if the Department of Defense would tell the WHOLE story.

I actually looked this up at snopes, the story has been in circulation since 2003, it's been undetermined. Some of the claims are factually half-truths. It's such a shame.

I am very fortunate that my 81 year old mother is a left leaning liberal and loathes GWB.

Because a Bush- hating media and Democratic Party
would rather see the
world blow up than lose their power.

Judging by the odd line breaks, this is obviously a c&p job from the e-mail. I wonder which freep wrote his opinions for him. I wonder if your dad would be able to offer any substantiating evidence for these numbers, or do they only add up if you're wearing Bush colored glasses?

I'm sure I would have had to put up with shit like this as well.

the time or inclination to fact check if it is indeed there. Regardless, I saw much of these same line items touted as advancements in an email hoax that circulated at least 18 months ago. Perhaps your father would be better off reading the website that was started by Iraq Invasion veterans. If I can find it again I'll post it. Very eye opening!

My father and I try to stay clear from politics and religious discussions, he knows how I feel about it. However, it is difficult to keep getting the bullshit in my in box, I e-mailed him back with the snopes link.

I think he thinks that by sending me this bullshit that I am going to change my liberal ways..... ugggg.

the gentleman who gave me the link in the first place. As soon as I hear from him I'll post it.

I would really appreciate it! And thank you for not calling my father a prick or a motherfucker. He's actually a decent man, he's just misguided poltically. :)

vile names. Other than my husband, sister, mother and father the extended family are all conservative Christian Bush blatherers. I don't know what I would do if they were any closer related to me.

My dad would get all fired up from listening to conservative talk radio, then before he calmed down he'd fire off an email to me. I had to finally just stop responding to them. I vowed to myself not to respond in any way, because it only made the situation worse. I was tempted to, believe me. Some of the most outrageously ignorant claims about Kerry--but if I would respond, I just got him madder and he would start calling me names and questioning my sanity. But I got past it by realizing that it was the brainwashing that was making him be that way, plus his ignorance of facts and distrust of the people who report the truth.

It's better now, and when I see him we just don't talk politics. If he says anything at all, I just change the subject. (by the way, he's in his seventies,and I'm in my fifties.)

Did you know Bush lied about the Niger document and probably knew it was a lie.
Did you know tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been robbed of their culture of life?
Did you know Bush failed to err on the side of life in regards to Iraq?

http://vitw.org/archives/174


snopes.com has some info on this too.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/combatend.asp


Basically, much of this cannot be proven is typical Right wing propaganda.

1. What happened to the original reason for invading Iraq...where are the WMDs?

2. If Iraq is doing so well, why are Americans still dying there?

to how things were before we destroyed their country?

DUers with Pub Parentals

That would be great... we could have tips on how to survive holidays with out throwing shit at each other! :P

went to visit them and we were at breakfast in a very crowded restaurant. My dad started (for some reason) in on the topic of Syria gaining nukes. Well you can see where this went. I had been biting my tongue for two days every time my dad made a political comment, as we have an agreement not to discuss politics, but I finally lost it. It started out calm enough, but when my mom blurted out that Kerry bought his medals, I completely lost it. I almost walked out of the restaurant. Their method of auguring is so frustrating too- all they do is repeat talking points, with no rhyme or reason. They just blurt things out that are irrelevant and untrue. I finally just said, "we are not going to have this conversation here" because I was tired of all the people in the restaurant staring at us. We didn't talk much the rest of the day and still haven't spoken much. I've been emailing them when I need to discuss something with them. They are so brainwashed by listening to right wing radio that they can't even think for themselves anymore! I've always respected my parents, regardless of their political beliefs but I'm afraid I just don't anymore. I never push my point of view on them, all I ask them to do is just research the stuff they hear but they refuse to do so. They just take Rush's word as gospel. They are good little bush-bots, that's for sure.

At least it's nice to know I'm not alone.

have what to do with American pride?

Did we build these? No.

I bet evil old bad guy Saddam deserves more credit
than Bush if these numbers are true.

Give me a break these "research centers" were used by
the Bush gang to lie us into this war. With unfounded
bio weapons hysteria promoted by the NY Times.

20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers

Whatever.

I AM so proud OF MY FELLOW AMERICANS WHO WOULD RATHER
SEE democracy
SUCCEED THAN A terroristic PRESIDENT.

Yet no pictures exist.
Challenge your GOP dad to find one photo of a renovated school in Iraq.
I've seen only one film clip of a school "renovated" by the Bechtel corporation.
The school was closed because it was too dangerous to walk there. The playground was filled with garbage, the interior was empty and the outside had a sloppy coat of paint.
Is that what the GOP counts as "renovated"?

... But the question remains: is it worth it?

Is it worth the lives of over 1,500 American men and women to create a stock exchange in Baghdad? And yet the "left wing" media will never show us a flag-draped coffin on the TV.

Would the over 100,000 Iraqi civilians who have died since March of 2003 feel like their deaths were a worthwhile sacrifice for more cell phones and a few Fulbright scholarships? And yet the U.S. hasn't even bothered to count the number of women and children who have died from our munitions.

Is it worth billions and billions of dollars of our money to build more than 11,000 buildings in Iraq? Seems to me that we could use the money to build "364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities" right here at home.

I am all in favor of giving the U.S. and Bush credit for anything good that happens in Iraq and the Middle East. But they must also take responsibility for the bad things that have happened, especially when they might have been avoided by a little more planning and a lot less arrogance.

Americans deserve to know the FULL cost of the war. The good and the bad. Then we can have a public discussion and make an informed decision. Until then, it is our patriotic duty to oppose an unjust, unpopular, and unreasonable war being perpetrated in our name.

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Because someone is related doesn't excuse their fucking ignorance. No one get's a pass because they are in the same fucking family. That sounds very Bush-esque.

I'm confident more people will see things my way. Calling a stranger's dad a prick when you don't know any of the parties involved is totally uncalled for. Some good people are Republicans too. And I know I wouldn't appreciate it if someone I didn't know talked about my family that way, even if they "deserved" it.

...then we'll talk. As long as they go along with the destruction of my country, the description stands.

And the leader of "Colorado Republicans for Kerry" who I met this summer. That's two.

Oh, and if you can't make ONE post without using the word "fuck" or a derivative, I seriously question your level of sophistication.

And if you'll notice the OP has asked for an apology. I hope you'll give one.

If you are friends with Fuckface supporters, you have some serious soul searching to do.

Who's the extremist now, me or you?

And I'm proud to say those on the other side don't argue politics with me anymore because they can't defend their hero.

And no, they don't bruise my ears, but you're seriously tarnishing a perfectly good swear word. I'd tell you what I really think but I don't wanna get my posts deleted for making a personal attack.

Oh, and the original poster is still waiting for an apology.

Extremism like you've expressed doesn't separate you very much from Freepers.

While I don't appreciate getting stupid e-mails and talking about how glorious Bush is, he's still my father. I still love him.

I would like to educate him, instead of calling him a stupid prick. NOt every single aspect in my life involves politics, I actually have a life.

Now, I would appreciate an apology for calling my Father ( a person you have never met ) a useless dumb mothterfucker.

Until he changes his ways and decides not to support Fuckface and his ravaging of the Constitution, the poor, Iraq, national resources, and his own party, the description stands.

Every Repuke is someones's dad or son or daughter or sister. That earns them jack shit for respect and certainly not a pass for their support of the fascists.

Okay... that's fine. You are really looking like an insensitive tool here, but I suppose that's your purpose. No wonder people think the Democratic party is full of a bunch of loons.

simply, stunningly amazing.

Learn something from it.

I want to debunk it and send it back to him but I just don't have the energy anymore.

For my brothers the war on terrorism justifies everything. Unfortunately, they are too overworked and drunk on koolaid to question anything about Bush of GOP.

it. Send him a simple message saying no more. It works really well.

cell phone or electricity???

They can't face reality so they find a small island to stand on and say "look at me"! Sorry, I've got better things to do - have a nice life - and stay away from my children...

news here in America????

"Mission Accomplished"

This is the single most dishonest agency in the Executive Branch next to the White House Press Office.

Your Dad needs a healthy dose of rational skepticism, ASAP.

Yeah.... things are great.... let's bring the troops home! I LOVE IT!

Did you know that 47 countries have re-established
their embassies in
Iraq?
Are they functioning? It is easy to claim this on paper, but not too many countries can do much over there yet so this is a dubious statement at best.

Did you know that the Iraqi government employs 1.2
million Iraqi
people?
And all of these have to hide the idea that they work for the government for fear of being killed by insurgents. They can not even be protected by the government for whom they work.

Did you know that 3100 schools have been renovated,
364 schools are
under rehabilitation, 263 schools are now under
construction and 38
new
schools have been built in Iraq?

Once again, two years after our occupation and the school system still isn't functioning. So we've helped to rebuild schools and remove Saddam from the curriculum, but can it really be stated that kids get up and walk to school in safe environment? Are the teachers well prepared?

Did you know that Iraq higher educational structure
consists of 20
Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4
research centers?

Iraq was always known for its culture and higher education opportunities before the occupation.

Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the
United States in
January 2004 for the re-established Fulbright
program?

Congratulations to these students.

Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational?
They have 5- 100-foot
patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a naval
infantry regiment.

And this means what? Does this stop the insurgency?

Did you know that Iraq Air Force consists of three
operation
squadrons,
9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft
which operate day
and
night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4
bell jet rangers?

Interesting. Are these pilots Iraqi? I do not believe this statement. The Iraqi Air Force is not doing anything. It is the US Air Force controlling everything. There is not independent Iraqi Air Force. How incredulous is this statement? Don't ask.

Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit
and a Commando
Battalion?

No, has it done anything?

Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over
55,000 fully
trained
and equipped police officers?

BS, the Iraqi Police Service can not function independently and they are not fully equipped. The soldiers are not even fully equipped.

Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in
Iraq that produce
over
3500 new officers each 8 weeks?

And they are still suffering huge losses at the hands of the insurgents that they are supposed to control.

Did you know there are more than 1100 building
projects going on in
Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics,
15 hospitals, 83
railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water
facilities and 69
electrical facilities.

Ehmmmm. Electricity still is not stable. Hospitals are overwhelmed, understaffed and do not have supplies, machinery and medicines to meet the demand. Oil facilities are still vulneralbe and not producing the income that the "well thought out" occupation envisioned. Water is not pure in many areas. And there seems to be a discrepancy in the numbers on the schools. A project to me would be some sort of building going on so if I reference the previous "Did you know?" about schools, there should be 665 projects underway. However this says 364 schools under "rehabilitation." So which is it? I think the liar that put this together didn't do enough research. :eyes:

Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the
age of 5 have
received
the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?

Wonderful. Who gave them to them?

Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were
enrolled in primary
school by mid October?

So. Do they actually attend school?

Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone
subscribers in Iraq
and
phone use has gone up 158%?

Are all of these subscribers Iraqi? And since telephones were not used that much by most because of fear from Saddam, to say that it went up 158% is a play on numbers. Nothing to something can appear to be huge number. Let's see some before and after nubers.

Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that
consist of 75
radio
stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?

Okay, so what?

Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened
in June of 2004?

Okay and what is it trading? Is there a treasury department in Iraq. Is there a free market? No, most still has to be bought on the black market. What rubbish!

Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi
presidential election had
a
recent televised debate recently?

BS, most wouldn't even name themselves they were so scared.

OF COURSE WE DIDN'T KNOW!

WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW? OUR MEDIA WOULDN'T TELL US!

Because a Bush- hating media and Democratic Party
would rather see the
world blow up than lose their power.

Instead of *shouting* these accomplishments from
every rooftop, they
would rather show photos of what a few perverted
malcontent soldiers
have done in prisons in many cases never disclosing
the circumstances
surrounding the events.

Instead of showing our love for our country, we get
photos of flag
burning incidents at Abu Ghraib and people throwing
snowballs at
presidential motorcades.

_The lack of accentuating the positive in Iraq
serves only one
purpose.
It undermines the worlds perception of the United
States and our
soldiers._

__

I AM ASHAMED OF MY FELLOW AMERICANS WHO WOULD RATHER
SEE TERRORISM
SUCCEED THAN A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT.

Wow, how ignorant you are. Does the Kool-Aid taste good. Most of what really is happening can be verified by others from all over the world. You see only what you want to see because you are blinded by your own ignorance.

---- This is verifiable on the Department of Defense
website. Pass it
on!

I wouldn't believe anything verified by the DoD. This place has proven to a bastion for liars and warmongers.

Edit: Send this to your dad.

I am almost afraid to send it! I am gonna think about this for a minute... oh hell.... Click: SEND! Thank you!

;)

"Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi
presidential election had
a
recent televised debate recently?"

Did you know that there has been no Iraqi presidential election?

...WHICH of those facts legitimizes an illegal invasion of a sovereign country, and which of them justifies the murder of 100,000 civilians and 1500 US troops. I'm having trouble finding it.


It's like saying "I murdered 30 customers and staff at a McDonald's franchise that had a real a-hole for an owner, but now I own it and have hired all-new staff and they're just crankin' out the burgers now, profits have never been higher and jobs have been created! See how wrong you were to criticize me for that little initial bloodbath?"

What I find irritating about this particular situation is that I think my Father really believes this shit. I mean... I really think he believes in it, he knows my party affiliation, but he sends the e-mail anyway, KNOWING that I don't agree with it. I guess he thinks that if he sends this crap enough that I'll somehow "see the light" or whatever....

a girl programmer's eyewitness account to the mess in Iraq.

riverbendblog.blogspot.com

Someone who just doesnt think this is all hunky dory.