Never mind that while he talked about how important a democracy and freedom and American values are, he quickly mentioned that he'd support changing the Constitution to restrict the rights of homosexuals, and then moved on to other, more palletable matters. Yeah - freedom rocks, except for fags.
As for Social Security reform, economics are not my forte, but while Republicans have exagerrated the severity of how bad of shape SS is in, the Democrats are equally ignoring what will inevitably be a problem a few generations from now. So, the Bush platform to fix it now works for me. But, to claim it has less to do with making money in the here and now for already wealthy bankers, brokers, and such, is more disingenuine as alluding to Iraq being responsible for 9/11.
Besides, if we're worried about future generations, why no mention of the enviornment? But I digress.
Good speech and all.
And conveniently, as Bush apologists continue to defend their distrust in the UN during the prewar buildup, this article conveniently hit CNN today:
US Condoned Iraq Oil Smuggling
Documents obtained by CNN reveal the United States knew about, and even condoned, embargo-breaking oil sales by Saddam Hussein's regime, and did so to shore up alliances with Iraq's neighbors.
The oil trade with countries such as Turkey and Jordan appears to have been an open secret inside the U.S. government and the United Nations for years.
The unclassified State Department documents sent to congressional committees with oversight of U.S. foreign policy divulge that the United States deemed such sales to be in the "national interest," even though they generated billions of dollars in unmonitored revenue for Saddam's regime.
The trade also generated a needed source of oil and commerce for Iraq's major trading partners, Turkey and Jordan.
Rep. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, one of five panels probing the oil-for-food program, told CNN the United States was "complicit in undermining" the U.N. sanctions on Iraq.
"How is it that you stand on a moral footing to go after the U.N. when they're responsible for 15 percent maybe of the ill-gotten gains, and we were part and complicit of him getting 85 percent of the money?" Menendez asked.
"The reality is that we were either silent or complicit, and that is fundamentally wrong."
