Posted on May 26, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/52290/
* 3,300 American troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead.
* Rumsfeld said the Iraq attack would cost $50 billion. The tab so far exceeds $500 billion.
* Almost two million Iraqis have fled the country and only 30% of kids can go to school.
On Easter Morning, George W. made another of his periodic shows of Standing With The Troops. He attended church services in the chapel at Fort Hood in Kileen, Texas, after which he offered to the assembled media this pious little announcement: "I had a chance to reflect on the great sacrifice that our military and their families are making. I prayed for their safety. I prayed for their strength and comfort. And I pray for peace."
He prayed for our troops' safety? How clueless is he?
George, you have the troops stuck in another country's vicious civil war. They're under attack from every direction by every faction, every hour of every day, hit by car bombs, roadside bombs, chlorine bombs, IEDs, suicide bombs, rocket fire, mortar rounds, snipers, and assassins. There is no safety in Iraq.
He prayed for peace?
George, YOU made this war. Don't put it on God! The ONLY reason that America is in Iraq is because you, "Buckshot" Cheney, Rummy, and the rest rode us into an invasion and occupation on a pack of lies.
God didn't do this, YOU did. Praying won't get it done. God helps those who help themselves. You have peace in your own hands.
Yet the war goes on
Only three days after George the Pious told us about his prayers for safety, strength, comfort, and peace, his Pentagon chief, Robert Gates, announced that all active-duty soldiers already in Iraq or going there will have their tours of duty extended from 12 months to 15. "Our forces are stretched," Gates admitted, but he said that this added burden is "necessary" in order to carry out Bush's latest war strategy, his "surge" scheme. The extension order affects 100,000 soldiers. Plus their families. Bear in mind that many of these families have already gone through two or three tours in Iraq.
Back at Fort Hood, where Bush prayed, families were angry. "A year is so long apart you hardly know your husband," said Nichol Spencer. "Now they're making it longer?"
Theresa White said, "To a civilian, three months is 12 weeks. To an army wife, three months is the straw that broke the camel's back."
Of course, that's three more months in hell that Bush is committing these people to endure (this from a guy who could not even complete an Easy Street tour of duty stateside in the "champagne unit" of the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War). To add insult to injury, after saying that he had prayed for the "comfort" of these soldiers and their families, Bush didn't even have the courtesy to inform them in advance that the extension was coming. "It was disrespectful," said Mindy Shanahan, also from Fort Hood. Her husband is in Iraq and will now be stuck there an extra three months, assuming he survives. "We should have had at least 48 hours notice, instead of having to see this on CNN," she said.
Read the full commentary
Actually I cannot believe people only speak of the war being 5 years old when it started in 1990 with the first invasion of Iraq by the first Bush Administration. It was continued on during Clinton's with the constant patrols on land and the air war against Saddam's territory under the "No-Fly Zones." We need to keep in mind what effect the war has had over these 17 years on our military. The discussion on the virtue or evils of the Draft for the military should not solely be focused on fairness in who serves, rich or poor. Rather it is necessary to look at the history of armies and freedom. After the Second Punic War the Roman people were so sick of war they refused to vote for every proposal of war the Senate put forth. The Senate then voted to allow the formation of private legions to be used in war. Rome's citizen army largely disappeared and along with it citizen control of the military. The Social and Civil Wars followed and Romans lost their freedom. Likewise, today the Iraq war is largely being fought on the backs of the National Guards and Reserves and the Bush Administration is strangling their budgets and has proposed to reduce the Guards and Reserves by about 40%. Cheney and Rumsfield have spent their public careers privatizing the military. In the last 20 years about 30 to 40% of military support and operations have been privatized. We have a professional military that we call a "volunteer service." This leaves us open to operations where control is unclear as happened at Abu Graib, and perhaps now with the secret prisons of the Bush military. We need a debate about returning to a public military and reverse the privatization. I can guess, however, that most Democrats fear the military and think that outsourcing it makes us safer. I say, bring back the Draft. Rumsfield feared that, he said that a conscription army is hard to control and expensive. .
ReplyDeleteThe most important thing to keep in mind is the potential for loss of our liberty.
Niccolo Caldararo
165 Frustuck Ave.
Fairfax, Ca. 94930
4 53-9064