Neonuts....now and then. Nothing you don't already know I'm sure:

[jmcon007]

I wish all Americans would sit back and thoughtfully read the below articles. (Salon.com)

At the beginning of the Iraq war then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and conservative Democratic Senator Robert Byrd said essentially the same thing: that our success depends on catching bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders. They also called for consultation between the Congress and the White House.

Suddenly top Republicans in and out of Congress went berserk. See: Democrats Criticize Pentagon Budget, Anti-Terror War, Washington Post, 02/28/02: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14019-2002Feb27.html

"Disgusting!" spat then-House Majority Whip, now Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay has since castigated Howard Dean, a leading Democratic Presidential candidate for daring to disagree with an unelected presidential candidate, AWOL Bush. He's "giving aid and comfort to our enemies!" accused Rep. Tom Davis of VA. "How dare Senator Daschle criticize President Bush while we are fighting our war on terrorism," screamed Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott.

Since Daschle lamented Bush's utter failure and half-hearted efforts to disarm Saddam without bloodshed, the Republicans brought out their sharp knives again.

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. In a "Red Alert" press bulletin: "How dare Senator Daschle criticize President Bush while we are fighting our war on terrorism, especially when we have troops in the field?" Lott appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" program: saying "any sign that we are losing that unity, or crack in that support, will be, I think, used against us overseas." See: http://www.msnbc.com/news/718722.asp

Rep. Tom Davis, R-VA.: Daschle's "divisive comments have the effect of giving aid and comfort to our enemies by allowing them to exploit divisions in our country." See: Quieting the homefront, by Bryan Keefer: Salon Magazine, 03/01/02. http://www.salon.com/politics/col/spinsanity/2002/03/01/lott/index.html

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Attorney General John Ashcroft attacked Bush critics' loyalty: "Your tactics only aid terrorists -- for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies and pause to America's friends. They encourage people of good will to remain silent in the face of evil." See: Closing Down Debate: Ashcroft's Attack on Dissent, by Bryan Keefer: Spinsanity, December 10, 2001, http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20011210.html

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Saletan noted a profound GOP flip flop. Not long ago, top Republicans considered attacking a President a duty, not a crime. Slate reporter William Saletan wrote an amazingly prescient column on May 7, 1999 called: "Yankee Go Home." Saletan observed that during past wars, Republicans claimed opponents of US military actions were "sabotaging American morale and aiding the enemy."

Saletan noted a profound GOP flip flop as President Clinton intervened in Kosovo: "Republicans aren't bashing the anti-war movement. They're leading it." How the times, they are a changing. See: Yankee Go Home, by William Saletan: Slate Magazine, 03/07/99 http://slate.msn.com/default.aspx?id=27730

Saletan identified "three of the top five Republicans in Congress -- then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, Senate Majority Whip Don Nickles of Oklahoma, and then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas -- went on television to discuss the war." He summarized the Republicans' attacks on Clinton policies as follows:

1. The atrocities are America's fault. Nickles: "The administration's campaign has been a disaster. escalated a guerrilla warfare into a real war, and the real losers are … innocent civilians." DeLay also blamed his Commander in Chief: "Clinton's bombing campaign has caused all of these problems to explode."

2. The failure of diplomacy to avert the war is America's fault. Lott said "I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning … I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area." Nickles besmirched not only American, but also our allies blaming the conflict on NATO's peace proposal which he called "a very arrogant agreement caused this thing to escalate."

3. Congress should not support the war. Lott and Nickles openly undermined the military when they voted against the NATO air campaign, along with 70 percent of Republicans in the Senate GOP. They led dissent and Nickles even ridiculed "NATO's objectives ludicrous." DeLay supported legislation to overrule the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ordering the military "to remove U.S. Armed Forces."

4. We can't win. DeLay gave aid and comfort to war criminal Milosevic who he praised as "stronger in Kosovo now than he was before the bombing...." As this leading Republican continued, he sounded like Milosevic's press secretary: "The Serbian people are rallying around him like never before. He's much stronger with his allies, Russians and others."

DeLay criticized his wartime leader, President Clinton, claiming he "has no plan for the end recognizes that Milosevic will still be in power." DeLay further undermined Clinton: "The bombing was a mistake.... his president ought to show some leadership and admit it, and come to some sort of negotiated end."

5. Don't believe U.S. propaganda. Nickles said, "This war is not going well…. I heard Secretary Cohen say, 'Well, Milosevic miscalculated how, you know, steadfast we would be in the bombing campaign.' But frankly ... we grossly miscalculated what Milosevic's response would be." DeLay spun: "It is not helpful for the president's spin machine to be out there right now saying that Milosevic is weakening nothing has changed."

6. Give peace a chance. DeLay called Clinton's refusal to meet with indicted war criminal Milosevic a "disappointing leadership," and added, "The president ought to open up negotiations and come to some sort of diplomatic end." Lott told Clinton to "give peace a chance."

7. We have no choice but to compromise. Lott said unless the "bombing stopped get Milosevic to pull back his troops" we faced "a quagmire ... a long, protracted, bloody war." DeLay said Clinton "only has two choices, occupy Yugoslavia and take Milosevic out negotiate some sort of diplomatic end, diplomatic agreement in order to end this failed policy."

8. We're eager to compromise. Nickles demanded "a compromise." Lott endorsed Milosevic's position: "Surely there's wiggle room … I think something can be worked out."

9. We'll back off first. Nickles: "Secretary Cohen says, 'Well, Mr. Milosevic has to do all these things, then we'll stop the bombing.' , I strongly believe we need ... a stopping of the bombing...." Added Lott: "Let's see if we can't find a way to get the bombing stopped...." DeLay, referencing Reagan's blunder that killed to 240 marines: "When Ronald Reagan saw that he had made a mistake putting our soldiers in Lebanon. admitted the mistake, and he withdrew from Lebanon."