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... is that it gets recycled ad infinitum. This is not new--it has been circulating for at least fifteen months and maybe longer.
Most people would not know, for example, to what January the email refers (likely January, 2004).
It's a wonderful example of how to play with numbers. Detroit's murder rate went up dramatically in 2004, largely due to multiple murders involving drug deals. "Combat-related" deaths of troops only includes the number the military cites as directly related to combat. Vehicle deaths, suicides, disease, etc., aren't counted--but they all occurred because the soldiers were in that environment. It also ignores the wounded, and, it ignores Iraqi civilian deaths due to violence which would not have occurred had the US not invaded the country.
And that's just the first statement in this.
There's so much misinformation in this, it's hard to know where to start. But, take the last statement. It's meant to be a kind of summing-up of how well things are going under Bush.
Liberated two countries: Bush attacked two countries. Neither can be described as "liberated," even four years later. Both are still occupied by US troops. Warlords control most of Afghanistan, and the puppet government of Afghanistan is restricted to Kabul and is under constant heavy security guard. Iraq is much worse.
Crushed the Taliban: Recent events suggest otherwise. What Bush actually did was disperse the Taliban, particularly into hiding places in western Pakistan.
Crippled al-Qaeda: Given recent events, including attacks on civilians in two major cities in roughly the last year, and the dramatic rise in terrorist attacks world-wide, I'd say they've been dispersed, not crippled, as well, to largely negative effect.
Put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran and North Korea: That's a really interesting take on what's actually been happening. Libya had no real nuclear weapons program. Inspectors said the lab equipment used for weapons research was "second-hand" junk, and all else found was what might be found in any reasonably well-equipped standard laboratory. And, Bush had little to do with that. Qaddafi voluntarily opened the program to IAEA (not US) inspection in the hope of getting US sanctions lifted, so that American and European firms could come in and repair his aging oilfield equipment.
Iran had inspectors in to view their nuclear program well before Bush was elected. As well, Bush did not put the inspectors there--the UN did. Bush, in the meantime, was trying to ruin the reputation of the IAEA and its director (with the assistance of one John Bolton) because they were disagreeing with Bush on the status of Iraq's nuclear weapons program.
North Korea agreed to allow in inspectors early in the first Clinton administration. North Korea threw out the inspectors when Bush reneged on the terms of the agreement Clinton had made with the North Koreans.
Captured a terrorist who killed 300,000 of his own people: No one knows for sure how many of his people Hussein is personally responsible for killing, but the number is likely much lower, and that from reasonably authoritative sources, such as Amnesty International. Second, calling Hussein a terrorist implies that he was actively engaged in terrorism, for which there has been no evidence. Whatever Hussein's other sins and stupidities and arrogations, these two charges are very much in dispute. Let's not forget, either, that for many years, Hussein was our brute. The US enabled some of what he did, and even encouraged him in other acts.
It's unfortunate that people read this, form a quick opinion and it then becomes part of the popular mythology. And, thanks to the internet and email, it is resurrected repeatedly, as if it were new and newsworthy, when, in truth, it's not even close to factual and is not at all current. Caveat lector.
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