C.J. Hurlbert – 12/1/04

This page was last updated on December 4, 2004.

The same thought process; C.J. Hurlbert; Beaver County Times; December 1, 2004.

As of December 4, 2004, several letters from December 1^st – including this one – published in the Times print edition had not been published on the Times web site. Since I was unable to cut-and-paste the letter, I apologize up front for any transcription errors.

This is Mr. Hurlbert’s fourth anti-Bush letter since August 31^st; his first since the election.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I was reading some of the letters to the editor, and I’m very glad that I’m not the only one who thinks the release of the ‘video’ was wrong. It shows a Marine killing the injured Iraqis. The reason? Because the Marine thought the Iraqis had a bomb or weapon. This is war, right? His buddies’ lives depend on him. They aren’t playing at war.”

[RWC] “Injured Iraqis?” Mr. Hurlbert makes them sound harmless. These were murdering terrorists who were killing and attempting to kill Iraqis and coalition troops. Mr. Hurlbert also uses the plural, Iraqis. In the incident under review, the Marine shot only one terrorist.

As you read the rest of his letter, I suspect you will come to understand Mr. Hurlbert believes nothing he wrote in the first paragraph.

“Remember, this is the ‘Bush War,’ the one that had to be executed immediately because of weapons of mass destruction.”

[RWC] What is Mr. Hurlbert’s definition of “immediately?” Saddam Hussein had been violating U.N. resolutions since 1991 and the run up to the current Iraq war took over 12 months.

“Here is a thought to ponder, and I sincerely hope that this sticks in the minds of anyone reading this: Because President Bush went to war on grounds of WMD and could not wait for more allies (buddies) to join him, he attacked Iraq in a big hurry and killed many innocent men, women and children, not to mention our brave and proud soldiers. No WMDs were found. But Bush said that was OK because ‘they might have had them.’”

[RWC] Again Mr. Hurlbert claims 11+ years is “a big hurry.”

How many more allies would have satisfied Mr. Hurlbert? I believe we all know that no number of allies would have made Mr. Hurlbert happy.

Regarding why we went to war with Iraq, Mr. Hurlbert needs to read the Iraq War Resolution. We went to war for a lot more than WMD.

Mr. Hurlbert wants us to believe President Bush and his warmongering cohorts <g> were the only people who believed Iraq was a threat. We all know that is a lie. Even the U.N. Security Council unanimously agreed Iraq was a threat, though the Security Council chose to do nothing about the perceived threat. Would it have been better to have a more correct assessment of Iraq’s capabilities? Sure, but we need to remember our intelligence services have a habit of underestimating the capabilities of our enemies. Remember Iran, Libya, North Korea, et cetera? If we had not underestimated al-Qaida in the 1990s, perhaps the World Trade Center would still be standing and nearly 3,000 more Americans would be alive.

“Isn’t Bush in the same mindset as this proud and brave Marine? Now if that Marine is being punished for his snap judgment, shouldn’t the president have to pay for his snap mistake? And don’t give me the stuff about he was misinformed.”

[RWC] I find Mr. Hurlbert’s exploitation of the Marine offensive. In my opinion, Mr. Hurlbert cares nothing about the plight of the Marine. From what has been reported so far, the Marine acted responsibly.

Further, the two situations have no similarities other than a man had to make a life-and-death decision.

The translation of “don’t give me the stuff about he [President Bush] was misinformed” is “don’t let facts get in the way of my rant.”

“It’s time to bring back that old saying, ‘The buck stops here.” That would be the president. This president made a lot of promises, and we should hold him to them, not just the ones he made to corporate America.”

[RWC] What promises did President Bush make and not keep? What promises did President Bush make to “corporate America?”