My Friend Retired From L-3

[NativeTexan]

I have a very long time friend who, in the last few years, retired from the defense contractor, L-3, here in my hometown in Texas.

I saw him recently at, of all places, a funeral. Someone who had known of a recent trip of his, started asking him about Iraq. I hadn't seen him in a long while, so I pointed out that the last time I had seen him, he had retired.

He said that they had asked him, because of his expertise (and believe me, he can't tell you), he was asked to go to Iraq to help work on and set up some project that he had developed in his years with the company. Of course, I asked him what in the world that could be...and of course, he said he couldn't tell me.

BUT, it was his next statement that was shocking, because it was first hand, but not surprising, because I know this administration. He said, "I can't tell you what I was doing, but I will tell you that no one is planning on being out of there for many years to come".

He went on to say, "the American people would be completely shocked if they realized what was being built, set-up and operated 'in country' right now". This is a former Navy engineer who served in Vietnam! And the use of the phrase, "in country", sent chills up my spine.

He outwardly showed no approval or disapproval of the goings-on over there, but his words said a complete oratory to me.

Made me wonder if it was an Iraqi "project" or an IRANIAN one......

When you realize that even if we brought home every single American soldier from Iraq, there would STILL be over 150,000 "Blackwater" mercenaries, on the American dime, still over there, stirring up trouble that would most likely cause us as much, if not more, pain as 9/11!

Something has GOT to change and change QUICKLY, or God help us all..............

[1932]

1. I wonder if there's a correlation between the amount of money a candidate gets and their

lack of committment to ending the occupation.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. This doesn't surprise me, not one little bit...

The stuff I've read here made me think that the current administration had been planning all along, and most likely for years now, to occupy Iraq indefinitely...

Look at the size of the American Embassy, for example....monstrous. Like a fortress...

And permanent bases right next to all the major oil fields?

Oh yeah...

Yes, something must change quickly!

Start with a brand new Dem Administration, and go from there to clean up this horrifying godawful mess.

[DURHAM D]

6. I wish someone would conduct a poll that matters.

Question: Would you prefer to keep a limited military presence in Iraq?
or
Have only a bicycle for transportation?

[DemBones DemBones]

8. Ignoring the oil we get from Venezuela?

And the way we treat Hugo Chavez?

[NativeTexan]

10. I want to wait until a non-oil person is in office before......

....I form any solid conclusions of Hugo Chavez. Only then will I feel like I MIGHT be getting some kind of honest evaluation.

[NativeTexan]

9. If EVERYBODY was on bicycles.......

.....I'd vote for the bikes!

[brokensymmetry]

3. Thanks for the report....

Truth be told, I concluded some time ago that we aren't going
to leave Iraq anytime soon. I don't care who we elect, or what
we say, or what we do.

Iraq is the central linchpin of the Middle East. The Middle East
is the great basin of oil in the world. And without that oil, the
U.S. - as well as the global economy - grind to a halt. By the way,
due to the dependence of agriculture on oil, you can figure that
every calorie we consumed used 10 calories of oil. What happens if
the oil supply is interrupted? (You don't want to go there).

Remember Nixon? He spoke of ending our dependence on foreign oil.
So did Jimmy Carter. So did Ford. And so it goes - we use more.

No blood for oil? Ha! (that's a bitter laugh). We'll sacrifice
a million 18 year old draftees before we consider bringing back
the railroads.

No, we aren't leaving Iraq.

[illinoisprogressive]

4. knowing the administrations secrecy I don't think any candidate knows

they are up to something really evil and that may be why Bush gave his blessing to Clinton. bill and daddy are tight and so, bush would only trust someone like Hillary with the secrets.

[illinoisprogressive]

5. You know, this thing has been bugging me and I wonder if I am being just

suspicious or what.
The Clinton's and the bush's are tight. bill and daddy are bestest friends. Bush jr. wants Hillary to take over.
We have had these two families have a stranglehold on power forever. Bush managed to steal the election from Gore and Clinton and Gore were not friendly at the end. Now it is looking like it will be passed back.
With the middle east and these two slimey families.... I just wonder if we even have a say.
Alot of people feel the polls are not right. They are being tampered with and it seems they have this back and forth with the Clintons and bush's on things.
This is just forming and I am probably wrong but, these days, nothing surprises me. I am wondering if the whole country is being played.

[DemBones DemBones]

7. I don't think we have a say.

They let us vote so we think we do.

I never thought we had much of a say but now I think we have none.

We've always told ourselves a lot of lies about our country and we're still doing it.