By Anthony Wade
We all got caught up in the moment three years ago. Someone had violated our country and our psyche like no way before in our history. We wanted those responsible brought to justice. We wanted an eye for an eye. We wanted justice. Now three years later we must ask ourselves, how much is enough?
Our troops are halfway around the world, fighting a war in a desert against people that had nothing to do with 911. They are dying every day. Over 1000 of them have now died, for what this president calls a just war. That is 1000 kids that had families, futures and dreams. Some dreamed big, some dreamed small. Some simply dreamed of a world where you should be able to trust your government. They believed in the creed that says the United States of America never sends our soldiers into harms way unless it is absolutely necessary. It is quite disturbing to see your dreams shattered in such a brutally horrific way. These 1000 Americans leave behind family, friends, and the hopes of a generation that are dangerously slipping into oblivion. 1000 of our kids are dead. How much is enough?
In the rage for bloodlust, it is not only our own that are dying every day in the sands of a world that we have no business being in. There are also civilians. I know sometimes we tend to overlook them because they are not our own. We have clever ways of dehumanizing the cost by referring to them as collateral damage, or just simply, the enemy. There are anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 dead civilians because of our wrath. That is 20,000 people dead that had nothing to do with 911. Who cries for them? They had futures too. They had lives too. Now, they are the forgotten dead.
The "wrap yourself up in the flag" crowd will tell you that they all hate us and want us dead too. They will label me the "blame America" first crowd. They are liars, whores and cowards. They are liars because they sold us this war based on false intelligence. Many would grant this president a waiver on this because he based his decision on this "intelligence". The fact is that president Bush planted his own cell in the Pentagon called the Office of Special Plans for the express purpose of FINDING a reason to go to war with Iraq. The fact is that when he came into office, nine months before 911, war with Iraq was his top priority. He merely needed a pretext, 911 provided it, and the Office of Special Plans rubber-stamped it. The fact is that the war in Afghanistan was planned months before 911. They are whores because they not only make billions of dollars off of this cavalcade of death, but they flaunt it. They hand off billion dollar contracts without bidding, while our kids and the civilians die every day. They do this in plain sight of all of us and the worst part is we allow it. We do not have proportionate rage for the whores who profit off of the blood of this war, as we did on 911. They are cowards because they are too quick to kill our kids when history proves that they did everything they could to NOT go to war when it was their blood on the line. Dick Cheney sought and was granted FIVE deferments during the Vietnam War. That means five times he could have shown the zeal he now shows for war, and each time he politely declined, citing "other priorities". George Bush has now been proved to not only have used connections to avoid having to go to Vietnam , but he then went AWOL from the Guard. The White House tries to spin this away but at the end of the day their man has blood on his hands. From 35 years ago he has the blood of those soldiers who he skipped over to get into the "Champagne Unit" in the Texas Air National Guard. From today he has the blood of our kids and the innocents in this world on his hands. The disinformation machine that is Karl Rove wants you talking about fanciful tales of "fake memos" and tries to dismiss any rational question about the discrepancies in Bush's service as a political attack. Unfortunately for them, regardless of the memos, Bush was confirmed to be AWOL before they even became a story. This was confirmed by a former Reagan Defense Secretary as well. Is there anyone left who honestly believes that George Bush served honorably? There is nothing political about questioning a man's service who has no problem sending YOUR kids to die while shouting "bring em on!" I recently received an email suggesting that we change the name of this war to Bush's War, and I agree. It is clearly not part of the War on Terrorism. How much of Bush's War is enough?
How much is enough? How many lies are enough for you to say no more? How many times will you allow this administration to ignore the lies they spread to sell us this war to begin with? Bush is fond of saying, "well isn't the world better off without Saddam Hussein?" No, Mr. President, that is NOT the point.
How much is enough? How much more money must be made by the Halliburton's of the world before you stand up and tell the war profiteers to pack their bags? They held a conference to discuss strategies about how to make the most money in Iraq! They now are using our troops as meat-shields, requiring them to accompany Halliburton truck drivers around Iraq. How much is enough for you?
How much is enough? How much more of this "war president" refusing to talk honestly about his avoidance of war when he was younger will you allow? The younger man that was George Bush was supposed to report to a Guard Unit in Alabama but those who were there are on record as saying he never showed up. He signed a "statement of understanding" that he would sign up with a Guard Unit in Massachusetts when he went off to school. He couldn't even do that. Guard rules dictated that he should have been punished by an active recall to duty. It never happened. Now, the White House will try and tell us that he did not have to sign up with a guard unit in Massachusetts. I guess it comes down to what the definition of "statement of understanding" is. I do not want to hear about fantasy stories of typefaces and whether the typewriters in 1973 could have had superscripts. I want this president for ONCE during his reign to actually answer the damn question. Answer why he refuses to go to ONE soldier's funeral. How much of this cowardice is enough for you?
I do not blame America. I also though do not wrap myself up in the flag because eventually the flag starts to cover your eyes. You start to blindly follow your leaders instead of doing your democratic duty to question them, especially when so many are dying needlessly. The flag crowd will tell you that it is ONLY 1,000 deaths. Look at Vietnam? Look at WWII? There are only 1000 dead in Iraq. Wrong. There are over 20,000 dead. 1,000 of them are our kids. Tell their parents it is only 1,000 dead so what's the big deal? Tell it to their spouses, friends and communities. Just take the flag down from over your eyes so you can see the tears in theirs. Then we will see how brave you really are. Then we will see how much bloodlust you really have.
I challenge the citizens of this country. It is time to take the flag away from your eyes. It is time to bring our troops home and actually work with the international community to fix what we have broken. I understand that means less money for Halliburton but I could care less. I have received some email asking why I am so upset about the state of this union. That is the wrong question. What you need to ask yourself is why you aren't as upset? These 20,000 plus people were killed in your name. Is it enough for you yet? Democracy is not a forced concept. The flag ends up meaning nothing if it covers your eyes from seeing the true cost of your patriotism.
Anthony Wade is co-administrator of a website devoted to educating the populace to the ongoing lies of President George W. Bush and seeking his removal from office. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive, and professional counselor, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.
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Email Anthony: takebacktheus@gmail.com
