When the US invaded Iraq, President Bush gave numerous reasons as to why it was necessary to attack a country that was not a threat to the US. He has tried on numerous occassions to link Saddam's regime to 9/11, even though there is no evidence that this was true. He tried to tie Saddam with alQieda, even though they were diametrically opposed. He said that Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction, citing decades old intelligence and forged documents to make his case.
Saddam's regime was weakened following the first Gulf War and was forced to give up his chemical and biological weapons programs under the watchful eye of the UN. His people were suffering under economic sanctions placed on Iraq by the US and UK following the Gulf War. Quite simply, Saddam posed no threat to his neighbors or the United States. So why did we attack him?
Simply put, America has become the bully of the world, attacking defenseless countries with no real army to think of to steal the vital natural resources we need to grease the wheels of our hegemonic war machine. Often times, as in Somolia, we go under the guise of humanitarian purpose, but the real reason is the oil. In the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism, we have become the most violent of extremists, even tossing away the ideals that this country was founded on so we can torture Iraqis for parking violations. We are fighting against an insurgency, people who resent an illegal occupation of it's land by a foreign oppressor.
Bullies always pick on the weak, those unable to fight back, which is why we haven't gone after North Korea, they actually have the weapons of mass destruction. No, we're content to pick on countries like Iran, whose army's equiptment is twenty five years old (and acquired from the US in an arms for hostages deal) and whose only crime, aside from wishing to build a nuclear power plant, is they happen to be sitting atop a bunch of oil.
We have become the nation that our Founding Fathers based their ideals against. The Bush Doctrine, which goes completely against the Monroe Doctrine, seems to be geared towards imperial designs, which opposes the ideals of the Founding Fathers. Couple that together with the Constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment and you'll find the Bush Administration, which has threatened to veto a bill co-authored by Sen. John McCain banning the use of torture, and it's supporters as being the most anti-American idealists ever to run this country. Right wing whack jobs like Ann Coulter call for the ban of free speech and Republicans applaud her. It only stands to reason that if they intend to okay the torture of parking violators in Iraq, it's only a matter of time before they allow it here.
Our country has become the Fascist state that we fought against in WWII, only the truly brain damaged or brainwashed couldn't see the flag waving propaganda as another cog in the Bush reich war machine. But it's okay, we're a superpower.
3 comments:
I've been asked to stop posting here, and I will, but one more comment before I leave. The picture of the guy holding the headless baby, thats not an American solider. The unifrom makes me guess it is a Russian soldier, probably holding the poor baby after a muslim bomb attack in checnya.
Well the picture aside, which is another topic- I think that they will try to rewrite history and the reasons for war as many times as the need to to justify their actions because it seems that they could not do so on factual explanations to the American people.
I'm not sure what Mark said, but I think it is important to know what people on both sides of an issue have to say. It gets difficult to talk facts because invariably people who criticize the left fall into the categories of (1) people that use distorted notions of patriotism to suggest that being uninformed and disengaged in politics is patriotic, and that holding people accountable for their actions and indisputable corruption is somehow akin to treason (2) Many of these people think they are well informed but generally get their info from Bill O'Reilly etc. and don't take the time to check facts (3) They consider themselves republicans but don't realize that this Administration does not represent many republicans on matters of spending, taxes, the constitution, or state sovereignty as evidenced by their desire to amend federal laws to reflect state preferences. A real republican would be just as fast to kick Bush to the curb as we would!
There are many political tents, but "stupidity' should not be one of them in this age of easy information.
When ever i go to a blog and post a comment, positive or negative, I always leave my URL so that my fellow blogger can track back to my blog. I only ask that those who post comments on my blog return the courtesy. Mark, however feels that he is above all that and doesn't want me posting negative comments on his blog, kind of how George Bush doesn't want to hear criticism.And I'm sure they think that when we drop bombs on populated ares in Iraq, the explosions magically avoid killing women and children. I never asked mark to stop posting comments on my blog, I merely spoke to his wife and hwh-tchh.
Post a Comment