The first requirement for defeating a pubic enemy
is to pay attention.
Thundering silence from the right-wing apologists
is most telling.
As this
administration's
excesses unravel,
the behaviors which
have been
revealed make civilized people shudder.
Our nation is at
risk.
Three
plus years ago,
right-wing spinners
scoffed at what were
accurate
predictions of
wiretapping and
torture,
and dismissed well-considered
reservations about
cronyism,
corruption, and the
potential for
diluted liberties.
When these
betrayals were revealed,
self-serving pundits
tried
justification or denial.
Time and history have proven
the case against the hacks and
hucksters
who inhabit
the White House.
They not only cannot govern, they have no interest in governing.
Their agenda is corporate hegemony,
pure and simple.
If the American people and
their
scrap-of-paper "rights"
get in the way, that is
evidently
just too bad.
As freedom slips away, conservatives and
military strategists alike say Bush is
mad.
It becomes ever more
critical that our
Democratic congress find
the spine to remove
these traitors, so
we can restore the
rule of law, avoid
catastrophe,
and heal the nation.
Get Active.
We are losing in Iraq, because we do not know what it is we are
supposed to "win."
It was good when
Powell belatedly
weighed in. It was useful for the
George Herbert Walker Bush Iraq Study Group to weigh in.
Even Senator Gordon
Smith's
belated "conversion" was a useful wake-up
call. But in the midst of these
studies,
assessments, and attempts at revisionism... we need to pay closer attention to the facts
on the
ground. We are "winning" according to the Bush agenda.
But is it
worth the price?
1. Why did we invade Iraq?
a. George hears voices in his head.
b. George's father's friends wanted to control oil resources with military bases in Iraq.
c. The Bush family and their friends want to make money.
2. Why are we occupying Iraq?
a. Because God told George to do it.
b. To enforce no-bid, cost-plus contracts.
c. So the Bush family and their friends (Bin
Laden and Saudi
royalty)
can make money.
3. When and how can we leave?
a. When God tells George it is OK.
b. When we are sure that the no-bid, cost-plus contracts are enforceable, and
that
"privatized"
Iraqi oil rights are secured by transnational cartels.
c. When we are certain that Bush, Cheney, and their ilk
(Bechtel, Halliburton et al...)
have effectively established
dominance and control of Iraqi natural resources.
4.
Are these goals achievable? Hmmm...
a. It depends on what voices George hears next.
b. Unending corporate occupation of Iraq will be expensive, lethal, and counterproductive.
But as long as Americans remain willing to sacrifice ethics and lives for corporate profits...
the short answer is Yes. We can continue to exploit our position.
c. Everything so far is going according to plan:
Long-term bases are under construction, Saudi
Arabia has signed onto the Bush agenda,
and
so far, the American people are willing to sacrifice
fiscal responsibility, national
security, our
reputation, international credibility, and American lives
so that Bush and his
"base" can make money at our expense.
Grim reminders of
where we stand
today....
Timothy Martin
Flanagan
Corporate
Surrender..So the game plan is to replace the "Axis of Evil" (Iran, Iraq, and North Korea)
with governments imposed on those nations and Syria....by a
"Troika of Terror"
(United States, Britain, and Israel)
This is beginning to sound more and more like a
retro-colonial corporate-sponsored
fundamentalist crusade... And a recipe for disaster.
Iraq, before we invaded, was functioning in spite of ten years of
sanctions, had not
invaded her neighbors in ten years, and
posed no threat to the United States.
Iran was marginalized
due to her over-the-top leader, but did not have the capacity
to produce nuclear weapons, thanks
to
engagement by the west and oversight
by inspectors. North Korea was already a nuclear power
with which
we needed to
engage
in serious discussions.
Now, after six years of efforts by the Troika, Iraq is in chaos...
a breeding ground for terror
and a failed state. Iran has become
more powerful, due to our feckless invasion of Iraq.
And North Korea is stronger, has more weapons, and eludes our damaged intelligence
apparatus. And the middle classes in Iraq, Iran, and Korea, have fled from the onslaught
of shock, awe, & fear-mongering... leaving those
nations further at risk-more
vulnerable.
If Bush ignores the American people, his advisors, and the Pentagon, and Blair ignores
the British public, his advisors, and his intelligence services, and Olmert ignores majority
voices of moderation in Israel, we will then be plunged into the devastation of
a conflict
which could easily
become World War Three.
What can prevent such surrender? In the USA, our no-longer silent majority will have
to
bypass the corporate press and
take it to the streets to wake up the halls of congress and
remind the justice system of their constitutional obligations. In Britain, Israel, and across
Europe and the rest of the globe,
grassroots organizers will help people
take control
of
their nations so we can end this mindless corporate push for an un-winnable war.
The most potent enemy we face is not the straw man of Islamic fundamentalism.
Nor
do any nations pose serious military threats to
our country. The enemy we face
is
the
corporate seizure of the
US government. This
undermines democracy and threatens
to
globally disinherit
hard-working, good-hearted citizens.
We cannot allow Bush and
his ilk to continue
to
"surge" more troops into a "Vietnamization"
of Iraq. Such
studious ignorance
can only deliver
surging body counts and disastrous
deficits....
It is time we demand
that our leaders stop the madness.
"Duty, honor, and country" do not mean you turn a blind eye
to the corruption and depravity
of an un-winnable war with no
defined goals. Waiting until you retire to speak the
truth
is a gross
abdication of responsibility unbecoming an officer, a gentleman, or any honest
person of
good faith.
We cannot continue to watch the spiraling disaster of Iraq's
unraveling, deeper divisions in
an uncontainable civil war, and rampant lawlessness in the chaos which is now Iraq.
Responsible military officers must
not wait until retirement
to be truthful with our civilian
leadership and the American
people. The day of reckoning will not wait until Mr. Bush
wakes up. There is a glaring truth beyond the horizon.
The neo-colonialists
have no
intention of turning
back. Regardless of
how many lives and
resources are
wasted.
Seven hours of electricity per day in Baghdad is not
"success." Rudderless response to
events is not leadership. And it is time to stand up to these
pretenders before they
take us the rest of
the way down a path
of no return.
This is not about "winning" or "victory." This is about accountability, democracy, and the rule
of law. We
can re-bid the no-bid, cost-plus contracts which are an affront to the American
and Iraqi
people. We can engage
the Iraqi people and their neighbors in rebuilding their
own nation, by ending the over-reaching corporate ambitions of
"privatizing their oil" and
selling off their natural resources
to the best-connected corporate cartel. The elephant
of corporate hegemony is trampling freedom, democracy,
self-determination, peace, and
security. Not just in Iraq
and America, but around the globe.
Studious
ignorance is not
a solution.
Civic-engagement is the answer.
"The first thing
we have to do is end
this war.
And the right person
to end it is someone
who had the judgment
to oppose it from
the beginning.
There is no military
solution in Iraq,
and there never was.
I will begin to
remove our troops
from Iraq
immediately.
I will remove one or
two brigades a
month, and get all
of our combat troops
out of Iraq within
16 months.
The only troops I will keep in Iraq will perform
the limited missions
of protecting our
diplomats and
carrying out
targeted strikes
on al Qaeda. And I
will launch the
diplomatic and
humanitarian
initiatives
that are so badly
needed. Let there be
no doubt: I will end
this war."
The above is a quote
from Barack Obama's
newest Iraq Speech
Barack, you
contradicted
yourself. This is
not good. I hope you
are capable of
consulting
with others and
revising your
strategy and
policy. Otherwise,
you may not be the
best
choice for the
critical tasks
ahead.
Leaving troops in a
soverign country to
carry out targeted
strikes is not
"ending the war."
This is a Bush-Lite
program
for continuing our
occupation endlessly.
Our occupation and
exploitation of Iraq
is not tenable under
any auspices. We
need to rebid the
closed-bid,
cost plus corporate
war-profiteering
contracts and turn
over security to an
international
coalition comprised
of the winning
bidders who will
provide security for
their investments.
As long as we remain
in Iraq as an
occupying force, the
war will continue
unabated, our
troops will be
targets, and we will
be unable to restore
our reputation
and reestablish our
credibility,
integrity, and
honor.
Wake up and smell
the coffee, Mr.
Obama...
If this remains
your position, that
we must continue to
occupy Iraq....
then you have just
lost my vote... and
my support. It is
my hope that you
might reconsider the
efficacy of
providing support
and cover for the
failed policies of
this
administration. You
have talked the
talk.
Now you must walk
the walk and lead us
OUT of Iraq.
If you hope to
provide a useful
alternative to the
Hillary corporatism,
then you must reject
the use of our
troops as
mercenaries to
support
war-profiteering....out
of hand. End the
war AND end the
occupation.
Then, with an
international
security force
establishing order
in Iraq,
we can restore the
rule of law in
America, extract
reparations from
the war profiteers,
prosecute those who
misled our people
and
subverted the
constitution... and
begin the
difficult process of
rebuilding,
reconciliation, and
healing.
What happened to the
nation that never
tortured?
The nation that
wasn't supposed to
start wars of
choice?
The nation that
respected human
rights and life?
A nation that from
the beginning was
against tyranny?
Where have we gone?
How did we let these
people take us
there?
How did we let them
fool us?
Molly Ivins
"I will
not vote for
or support
any
candidate
for Congress
or President
who
does not
make a
speedy end
to the war
in Iraq, and
preventing
any future
war of
aggression,
a public
position in
his or her
campaign."
