Article: Resisting the Urge to Surge

I did not watch George W Bush's speech to the nation this evening. I'm trying to make sense out of a mainstream media that exercises its freedom of the press by giving air time to a pathological liar. It has nothing to do with "respect" for the office and it has nothing to do with "opinion" or "personal judgment" but it has everything to do with "truth" and "truth" is there were no WMD, there was no nuclear capacity, there was no imminent threat to the continental U.S., and there was no connection to 9/11. And the "truth" is the Project for a New American Century is the blue print for among other things, a strong military presence in the middle-east to protect our access to resources that provide enormous profits for oil companies and their share holders.

I did however read the MSNBC article on line and was struck by the conclusion that an increase in U.S. military presence will break the cycle of violence gripping Iraq. The reasoning that ignores the reality that violence only results in more violence as such should be dismissed outright. Indeed there exists documented evidence that our invasion of Iraq created more terrorists. If ones children or ones family is killed, if one loses all that he or she ever had to live and looked forward to the option of becoming a terrorist can be appealing for it might seem better to die than live with the memories of all that was lost forever.

To be sure there was already violence in Iraq but our preemptive strike escalated the violence in a country where 90 percent now say things were better under a leader who was recently executed for committing war crimes. More troops will only result in more people dying while perpetuating the lies upon which this war was waged. The truth is we did it to establish a military presence to protect the natural resources of the oil corporations. Indeed while I type the U.S. government is involved in drawing up a law giving big oil companies e.g. BP, Shell, Exxon 30 year contracts to extract Iraqi crude. The law will soon come before the Iraqi parliament and mainstream media will look the other way.

During the speech George W Bush mentioned that "...this is their fight" but it is our fight for democracy here at home as well for the truth is this President should be impeached for committing high crimes and misdemeanors by violating the supreme law of the land and further eroding our individual liberties contained in the Bill of Rights in the process of invading a sovereign nation without just cause indeed based on deceit and this Commander-in-Chief should be relieved of his command for dereliction of duty and tried for war crimes committed during and ever since the blitzkrieg of Iraq.

Now indeed is a time that tries men's souls. If we are ever to be a nation of laws, if we are ever to regain the moral high ground at home and abroad, now is the time to accept the responsibility for the carnage occurring in Iraq by holding those accountable who ordered the death of destruction. If not now - when?