My earliest memory of my little cousin Billy is a summer vacation when I was nine and he was four. Our parents had bought us a magic set. I was older and bossier so I was the magician. Billy, with his big doe-eyes and innocence, was my assistant. He would squeak, “Abracadabra!” and I would make things disappear. But try as I might, it only worked on quarters, not Billy. He would always be there, standing shy and quiet and wide-eyed, by my side.
Last week Billy was sent to Iraq. He joined the Delaware National Guard just after high school because he needed support for college tuition. Then September 11th happened, National Guard enlistments skyrocketed, and the tuition benefits were cut. Already enlisted, Bill completed basic training and was sent to Saudi Arabia. At least it wasn’t Iraq.
He came back home, got married, got a job and then got called up. Just a few days ago, my little cousin - now 25-years-old - kissed his family goodbye and left for war. This time, the main stage.
Billy’s father, my uncle, is a Republican and was originally a fanatical supporter of the war. We got in an argument about preemption once. He told me that if another attack struck New York City where I live and I was hurt, he couldn’t live with himself knowing that we could have prevented it by attacking Iraq. He wanted revenge on anyone who might have hurt me or anyone else for that matter. I couldn’t agree, couldn’t believe that American lives are more important than Iraqis, couldn’t imagine preemptively attacking every bad guy in the world, couldn’t imagine what that would mean to freedom and liberty everywhere, couldn’t imagine that the real motives were anything but oil. We agreed to disagree.
But now everything’s changed. Today, my uncle hates the war, more than Saddam, more than Osama, more than anything as far as I can tell. He wishes he hadn’t given my mom such a hard time for the anti-war protests she joined. He wishes he’d joined them, too. Like before he couldn’t see the truth about the war but now, through tear-filled eyes, it’s clear.
At one point, 60% of Americans thought that Saddam Hussein was involved in the September 11th attacks. Today, according to a recent poll, 60% of Americans think the government misled us in making the case for war. I wonder if it’s the same 60%.
I wish more of my friends knew people serving in the war, but most of us had parents who could afford college and our friends could afford college, and their friends, and so we don’t know anyone desperate enough to enlist. I wish no one were ever that desperate. I wish the choices presented to us by our government at this point weren’t either to attack or abandon but to actually aid the Iraqi people from whom we’ve taken so much. I wish the war on terror was really a war on poverty, not a war on Arabs and Muslims. I wish there were better options for solving our world’s conflicts, that a strong United Nations could have pressured both Iraq and the United States to respect human rights and international law. I wish that a strong United Nations today could help revive and reconstruct Iraq with the credibility that America’s go-it-alone shock-and-awe strategy long ago squandered.
I wish I could go to sleep at night feeling secure that war is only used as a desperate and unfortunate last resort not a blunt tool wielded casually by empire. I wish millions of Americans were blocking every intersection in every small town demanding and end to this war. I wish that President Bush and members of Congress and every one of us felt just as frightened for all the American servicemembers in Iraq as I feel for my cousin. And I wish everyone in the United States experienced as much compassion for the Iraqis, too, knowing that we’re all in this world together - that with each Iraqi or American death, we would all cringe with the sorrow and fear that it might be one of our loved ones we’ll never see again. I wish that everyone could look at the war with that state of mind.
But mostly, I wish that I were nine years old again holding a plastic wand with Billy by my side thinking that, with just one “Abracadabra!”, I could make him reappear standing next to me. Or make this war disappear for that matter.
Sally Kohn is director of the New York-based Movement Vision Project, working with grassroots organizations across the United States to advance our shared values of family, community and humanity. She has interviewed progressive leaders across the country on their vision for the future.
This story only confirms what we already know. Until this war affects people “personally” nobody is going to do anything to stop it. I wish I could summon up some sympathy for her Uncle but he’s just another hypocrite that thought war was fine and dandy as long as someone else’s kid was dying for the cause. Time for the draft and we start with drafting children of anyone making more than 100K household income per year, the war would stop IMMEDIATELY!
Kristina40,
Your correct the war would end almost over night if all the little rich kids had to go to war.
If congress had to send their own children, Wars would be a ancient term that know one would dare use unless you were trying to prevent the world from being destroyed.
~Future~
Are we so lacking as human beings that in order to have empathy for others we need to know them or be a family member?
“After the first death, there is no other.” - Dylan Thomas
“It’s always the old to lead us to the wars- always the young to fall” - Phil Ochs
Amended:
“it’s always the greedy rich to lead us to the wars, always the poor to fall” - Doug Lago
This war is a crime that should be punished. Impeah, indict, convict. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Rove, Gonzalez, Wolfowitz, Pearle, Libby et al. Fight crime- impeach the president!
“Time for the draft and we start with drafting children of anyone making more than 100K household income per year, the war would stop IMMEDIATELY!”
Your anger is understandable, but misguided.
Time for Peace: Movement for the Renunciation of War
I renounce war, and I will never support or sanction another war.
Signed_____________________________
Date___________________________
It’s obvious to anyone with half a brain that this occupation had nothing to do with making “America safer” and everything to do with making money for Bush’s friends and “political capital” to push the conservative agenda (to bankrupt and then privatize the government).
Supporters of the occupation don’t really “support the troops”. What they mean by that is that they have to support the Republican Party - which is their means of control (the Christian Right needs that vehicle to control people’s lives, the Corporate Right needs that vehicle to control people’s wallet).
They know that if anyone sees through their “Support the troops” charade, it would be bad for them. How do you “support” the troops if all you are doing is sending them there to die or get injured? So they must let the uninformed keep thinking that the antiwar side are the ones who want the troops to die or get injured. Not the side that is trying to get them out of harm’s way.
Which begs the eternal question: why are Dems so lousy at framing the message and letting the Right keep getting away with it time and time again?
Upon Leaving Office Bush
He ought to spend the rest of his life seeking redemption as a Ward assistant in Hospitals serving those wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Ward assistants may perform the following tasks:
make sure that an adequate supply of clean clothing and linen is available for the patient and that soiled items are removed and cleaned
assist in maintaining stocks of linen and non-medical supplies
assist in lifting and turning patients and transporting them in wheelchairs or on movable beds
clean rooms such as bathrooms, showers, utility rooms and offices and clean interior windows
mop and buff floors, vacuum carpets, remove rubbish and linen and dust all areas
clean equipment in the pan room such as pan trolleys, buckets, pans, bowls, suction bottles and tubing, commodes, wheelchairs, seats and rinse trays
clean patients’ lockers and tables
distribute and collect food trays, check food orders and replenish refrigerator supplies
accompany patients, who are ready for discharge, to the central waiting area
transport equipment, X-rays and patient records between wards, departments and theatres
transport deceased patients from wards to morgue
assist in emergencies and patient restraint.
Ward assistants work rostered shifts which include night and weekend work.
They are on their feet for most of the day. In large hospitals, ward assistants work in a particular department such as outpatients or maternity. In smaller institutions, they may assist in several or all departments.”
jonjoe,
Because (I am sure your eternal question was rhetorical, but in case it isn’t) the Dems are complicit and fear that if they end the occupation, they will be viewed as “unpatriotic” and face the chance of not getting reelected. It simply is tragic when politicians have to worry about getting reelected at the expense of human lives.
I’m sorry for your loss Sally.
America needs oil. Lots of oil. Oil to run our cars, to run our farms, to make our clothes, to keep us warm, to provide us electricity.
Yes, some are making big profits off this war. But, the long term viability of America requires oil and we need access to that oil. Now we have 15+ military bases in Iraq to protect that oil. The American military will not be leaving Iraq for decades to come.
Bush is securing America’s future. The democrats understand this too. Do common dreamers?
fpal-
Please print your address out. I dare you.
Americans need shelter, lots of it.
We need to secure our future by providing shelter to those who can take it from others by force.
Illegal invasion, illegal occupation - the United States of America is not at war, officially or legally, with any country on the planet. Rove is gone, and his lies and propaganda need to go as well.
No war. No war powers. No Commander in Chief during wartime. No wartime President. Period.
Memo to fpal: wrong. America needs oil because we refuse to accept that, sooner or later, it’s gone. So what future are we “securing?” Instead of spending all of our money (and all the money for the next two or three generations,) killing people and stealing their resources, we should be demanding that our “best and brightest” figure out alternative solutions while our “leaders” motivate us to live differently. Anyone who believes we should, instead, steal what we refuse to live without needs to enlist right away and put their lives on the line for… oil. I dare you.
Americans gotta eat, but they don’t have to eat McDonald’s. We have to commute, but we don’t have to commute in SUVs. Our “lifestyle” sucks, and we all know it. God forbid we change, as opposed to forcing the rest of the world to…
Interesting comment, fpal.
You suggest that the survivability of the America depends on access to oil, and we are thus justified in invading Iraq for the purpose of securing this access.
I suppose a morbidly obese glutton breaking into a Baskin-Robbins to secure his future access to food could make the same argument.
What ever happened to the magical free market? Surely we could have paid for our oil? Wouldn’t the unassailably divine powers of the free market have presented America (and all other nations) with a just, fair price for the commodity it desires?
Somehow, I don’t think Bush would appreciate the irony of, say, hundreds of homeless people breaking into his ranch at Crawford, Texas and making themselves at home because their long term viability required access to shelter.
Do you understand this, fpal?
fpal - Are you serious or being sarcastic? It doesn’t matter if American viability requires oil. It’s not our oil!
If a family’s viability requires stealing from the neighbors, it’s still illegal and it’s still morally wrong. That’s true even if the neighbors got their money through nefarious means.
The solution is not to take what does not belong to the US, but to find alternative ways to produce energy. If as much money, time and effort were put into solar, wind, and other energy sources, it would create jobs, boost the American (and world) economy, and make our country independent of foreign oil. We are spending about $3,000 per second in Iraq. Imagine what that would do if spent for constructive instead of destructive purposes!
If you are serious, how dare you condone the killing of hundreds of thousands of human beings in their own country in order to secure America’s “future.” This is one of the most callous, reprehensible attitudes I’ve ever come across.
fpal-
methinks that my sarcasm was too subtle. I’ll try again.
We know that you have weapons in your house. They are East, West, South and North of your refrigerator.
We have people who have told us that you have terrorized your neighborhood. We cannot wait until your smoking gun is a mushroom cloud over your neighborhood. We must take you out, for our own safety.
There are laws against this sort of thing but they don’t apply because we refer to a higher authority. Besides, I have a gut feeling about this.
It’s true that after we get rid of you and take your house that we can resell it and make a profit. But that’s not the point, just a bonus.
We know that you are a threat and nothing you say can change our minds because we know that you are a liar.
How was that? Any clearer?
yungturk39
This free market notion is really a euphemism for access to resources. (What if, Iran would sell its oil only to China. Is that terrorism?)
Iraq was going to sell oil on the open market in Euros. This would have set a precedent that could have severally damaged the U.S. economy. (It was deemed to be an attack on the U.S.) Every country on the planet must buy oil only in U.S. dollars. This, along with 700+ military bases scattered around the globe, is how U.S. economic hegemony is maintained.
And you misunderstand me. I have not justified anything. I have just stated a rationale.
Don’t worry be HAPPY, When your son gets back will call him a hero. In the mean time I’ll sport a ribbon on my truck. Thanks for your sons added to the Bush’s body count.
fpal - I’m still not certain if you are being sarcastic or not. Your last post stating that the entire world must buy oil only in US dollars leads me to believe you might not actually be serious. But anything is possible - I’ve read some pretty loopy opinions on progressive blogs before.
If Iraq decided to sell oil only to China, it’s none of our business. It doesn’t matter if the US is severally (oops - I think you meant severely) damaged by other country’s economic and trade policies. The solution is diplomacy, not aggression.
If Walmart decides to only purchase their goods from China in order to keep prices down and American citizens lose their jobs, it’s “free market.” But if another country decides with whom it is going to do business, that’s terrorism unless that entity includes the US, right?
Again, pouring money into the American economy by way of alternative energy solutions is a lot more desirable than invading a country to steal its oil reserves.
But then, alternative energy would not benefit the already powerful interests. The neocons, warmongers, and chickenhawks are no more patriotic than the large, worldwide corporations they represent. These monopolies are not American in nature - they are international. It’s about money and power, and not about America’s future.
“America needs oil. Lots of oil. Oil to run our cars, to run our farms, to make our clothes, to keep us warm, to provide us electricity.
Yes, some are making big profits off this war. But, the long term viability of America requires oil and we need access to that oil. Now we have 15+ military bases in Iraq to protect that oil. The American military will not be leaving Iraq for decades to come.
Bush is securing America’s future. The democrats understand this too. Do common dreamers?”
This is the kind of pigheaded ignorance that has made the US of A into an international pariah.
Early on regarding the Iraq war, someone said “If this war is not worth your son or daughter dying for, then it’s not worth anyone else’s son or daughter dying for”. I firmly believe that. So few are really personally involved and sacrificing while the rest of the country parties on. And I HATE those car magnets. Such hypocrityes.
fpal:
I have a question about your viewpoint. If what you said is true (and noble, as seems to be implied) then why aren’t we being TOLD that what you just said is the reason for all this strife?
If it’s so obvious and sensible then why is it when someone actually brings up the point you just pontificated upon in the corporate media it’s derided as a ‘tinfol hat’ conspiracy theory?
Look ganging up on fpal is nonsense - he’s simply stating a truth.
neomunk: I have always held that Bush could garner wide public support for this war if he only leveled with the American people - we must put our marker on the oil in the Middle East to secure the American economy. If we leave without securing that oil, the US economy craters, 50 million or more are out of work, tens of millions of forclosures, etc. etc. Bush could tell the truth and the war would be come a regrettable necessity and the majority of American people might actually support the invasion of Iran if it could secure more oil for our “non-negotiable way of life.”
But Bush can’t tell the American people the truth because then he would be, in effect, admitting that peak oil is real and we haven’t done jack to find other sources of heat, locomotion and wealth in the time we had to do so. The small investor (and many large ones as well) then makes a run on the markets, which crater, and that is that. So the pretense must be kept up that this is a war for our security from the radical Islamist bogeyman and that oil is a fairly secondary concern.
Screwed, screwed, screwed, we royally are.
>Yes, some are making big profits off this war.
>But, the long term viability of America
>requires oil and we need access to that oil.
>Now we have 15+ military bases in Iraq to
>protect that oil. The American military will
>not be leaving Iraq for decades to come.
>
>Bush is securing America’s future. The
>democrats understand this too. Do common
>dreamers?
It used to be, that people in this country had principles, morals and ethics. When we were faced with a problem, we “tightened our belts” and did without until we could come up with an alternative. We “made our own way” with respect to the goodwill of our neighbors and other nations.
You see, this is the difference between people like fpal and true patriotic Americans. We do not shift our misfortune on others via war but take it on ourselves and conquer it ethically and morally. Even if it means we must suffer here at home (rather than abroad).
We make our own way with what we got. To steal and conquer is a disgrace to everything my great grandfather, my grandfather, my father and I was taught.
Fpal, you make me want to puke. To think there are people like you in my own country. I just want to puke. Give me another civil war and I will do to you what we did to the immorality and unethical principles of the south.
Fpal, you and others like you would have served well under Hitler. Because that is EXACTLY the sick principles under which he started his war. And the same principles under which Bush and Cheney started this one.
May God dam Americans like you and may God destroy this country before people like you and Bush move us forward in the Hitlerish domination of the world.
God bless what America was and God damn her for what she has become under this Demo-Repub regime that has subplanted the goodwill of the true patriotic American people.
Ken Boettger
Ellensburg, WA
It does seem as if our new pal fpal has caused a disturbance in the progressive force.
But indeed he’s 100% correct in his assertion.
But that assertion needs clarity, or at least definition.
The mindset that would allow us to follow blindly, nay happily- securing our future!- along in an aggressive war for oil, must be imperialistic in it’s thought and fascist in it’s execution. And it’s that Nazi/fascist bent that makes some of us-me included-want to puke. It’s how our Government THINKS people. Our FASCIST government.
Hell, every morning I wake up and think “Great! I lived to see another sunrise!” But before an hour goes by I’m usually sick to my stomach with the way my country has been behaving these past 7 years. It’s usually while I’m sipping my morning coffe when my mind comes to rest on Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. I’m choking down the last of my breakfast when I read about yet another US soldier on his way home in a body bag. I cringe when I see news programs showing violence in Iraq and ask myself if it was MY country that was invaded by thugs trying to topple my government and steal my resources if it wouldn’t be me that was blownig shit up in the streets. (ask yourself this too- if WE were invaded and occupied how many of us would sit idly by and “cooperate” and how many would be loaded for bear and buying fertilizer)And I’m not alone.
The collective stain upon our very souls will not wash off with soap and water. Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom and sometimes it feels like vigilance is an endangered thought process……..
“Join the military to get a university education”
What phony, lie’ing enlistment bait.
This bush madness has cost more than it would cost to give every student in the u s a university education without killing and being killed.
You see that’s the problem, we don’t see our own contradictions and the real motives behind sending our boys and girls to fight. We look at the benefits and bonuses of joining this and that, and ignore the horror of what our bombs do the hapless lives of others in some poor foreign country that goes against whatever interests we term “the American way” (which in many cases was created by the government through an exploitative foreign policy to begin with)
Thus, supporting the troops becomes the glorification of atrocity and country sponsored terrorism, whatever the spin might be at the time. Sure officials play on our fears to hide their true motives, but we don’t see this because we do not want to see it. When a parent proudly displays his little Johnny or Billy sporting a military uniform, that is what he is promoting.
So look now what you are teaching your children, are you going along with the current propaganda that promotes the military, or do you hang your head in shame knowing what these soldiers really represent? The tripe about supporting your children in whatever they choose is just that: tripe. If they join the military because they believed in the propaganda you intentionally or unwittingly promoted and get killed as a consequence, you were complicit in it. I understand that this is a very difficult pill to swallow, but it is true just the same.
Today’s Clusterfuck Nation by Jim Kunstler:
http://www.kunstler.com/mags_diary22.html
He has a handy way of telling it like it is.
Dear Doug,
It started long ago with Kennedy dying so a war in Viet Nam could make a few very rich very ruthless people a lot of money. These few got so rich they hired Nixon to show the power brokers how it really was done.
Reagan was hired by the same cabal to sell the rotten deal to the very people it was hurting the most—the same ones who are hurting now. If you are poor and powerless I’m sorry because without your support the Captains and Kings could never have taken over.
If anyone wants to view an interesting video on YouTube go type Saddam connection to Bin Laden. There you will see a 1999 ABC NEWS report stating the exact same propaganda that Bush used in 2003! The report goes so far as to suggest that Saddam was going to give OBL refuge! The “reporter” states the source of information as “three intelligence agaencies”! 1999..a year before Bush even came to power!I am not making this up, see it for yourselves!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18uxVYN-5iY
Some of the real betrayers are those who when we had the,”shot over the bough in the mid 70’s ” didn’t respond and get us less dependent on oil. Presidents from Jimmy Carter on are complicit in the disaster we are now facing. There is a lot of blame to go around!! Unfortunately, our children and grandchildren will be paying the price in a myriad of ways.
Nietzche:
I read with interest your response to my post:
“It started long ago with Kennedy dying so a war in Viet Nam could make a few very rich very ruthless people a lot of money. These few got so rich they hired Nixon to show the power brokers how it really was done.
Reagan was hired by the same cabal to sell the rotten deal to the very people it was hurting the most—the same ones who are hurting now.”
And up to here I’d have to agree, or maybe point out a little preaching to the choir, but still, a nice historical connection to the lies and murders of today. But then:
“If you are poor and powerless I’m sorry because without your support the Captains and Kings could never have taken over.”
I must respond: Maybe I’m poor (but I like it that way- a better class of people BY FAR) but I’m not powerless- far from it, and in fact without dissent from myself and those like me those Captains and Kings would have taken over loooong ago…..
It’s like blaming the Germans in the German underground (yes, there was indeed a GERMAN underground in WWII) for “letting Hitler get away with it”
Dissenters are the last ones to blame. It’s the enablers who vote GOP and “Support Our Troops” by desiring they STAY in harm’s way that allow the profiteers to walk on our country.
I fought and argued against this war, when it was just an unmistakeable gleam in Der Decider’s eye, but back then even my progressive friends either yawned, or accused me of being anti-american. That’s right, many of my artsy, sproutsy ‘re-live the 60’s’ friends had fallen for the dog and pony show put on by the republican party the year before the war became a reality. I was shocked as people who still reminisced about protesting Vietnam, turned around and supported the Iraq invasion because this time it was ‘terrorism’, as opposed to bogus communism. The blindness made my head hurt.
As a student of european history, I could guess what the outcome of the war would be, and as an observer of human nature, I could only imagine how badly it would be fought with a functional imbecile and his merry band of idealogues leading the charge. I haven’t been disappointe.
I also could guess the impact on the US dollar, which no one had even mentioned. Most in the United States couldn’t even think of the long term impact of a war like this on the US budget, but every currency trader was are of it, and the USD began to sink within weeks of the attack, as it became clear that the strike was anything but surgical. We have never had to live within our means, and endless war was a hobby we could indulge in. But back then we were a creditor, not a debtor nation. I’m afraid the US taxpayer is soon going to realize that the bill for this war is about to come due, in the way of Vat taxes and other forms of use and consumption tax.
In the height of irony, the vast indebtedness this war has created, has demolished the US currency, and accelerated the adoption of the euro by many other oil producing nations. If our oil loving friends felt justified in attacking Iraq because Saddam was selling oil in euros, well they better be ready for a lifetime of invasions, because the economic fallout from the war has caused many other nations to begin invoicing petroleum in Euros as well.
Qatar and other countries have eliminated their peg to the US dollar, wanting to row away from the sinking ship as quickly as possible. And, of course, as oil is priced in dollars, as the US dollar collapses, the price of oil soars…we are headed for $100 barrel oil even without a war with iran, simply as a result of the collapsing US currency.
The Iraq war has bankrupted the United States, and we are rapidly losing our power overseas, as both our allies and enemies understand we are over-stretched and in daily needs of money which can only be obtained with weekly loans from China.
I tried to explain all of this to my friends, but no one cared to hear.
So, I pursued Canadian residency, and began a new life north of the border. I decided that if Americans were going to do nothing to prevent this outrage from taking place, I had to leave with memories intact of what my country had once been. Just in case I had doubts about my decision, the world watched with amazement as Americans, mislead into a war which yielded no weapons of mass destruction, turned around and voted the same culprits in for a second term of lying and deceit.
My heart breaks for the outnumbered people of good conscience, who can only watch helpless and bewildered as the country they knew is transformed into something alien and brutal. However, just as the good germans had to suffer the karma brought on them by the actions of the thuggish majority, I fear that no one in the United States will escape the economic fallout from this misbegotten republican adventure. The approaching recession/depression is karma made tangible, about to hit all where they will find it impossible to ignore. In seeking to avoid their fate, american leaders accelerated it’s arrival.
It is a very difficult thing to leave the country of one’s birth, but for me, I felt that my country had left me, leaving me little other choice but to begin a new life elsewhere while I still had the time to start over. If even two of my acquaintainces had shown the courage to fight this in 2002/2003, I would have stayed, but alas, even in the blue states of Conneticut and New York, the spirit was lacking. This is what we call a learning exerience…but why is it that most humans only learn with pain?
Doug and Candide, couldn’t agree more with you both. I’m poor too and, as you say, they are a better class of people by far. If only they, like you, would pay attention to what is going on around them.
As Candide points out, you and I will not escape the reality we are helping to co-create merely by remaining a part of the system. Either our voices are not loud enough or our brothers and sisters can’t hear.
kegbot and fpal:
Those who espouse the views you are presenting are the weak.
Weak.
Read that again. You are weak.
Why do I say this? You’re perfectly okay with other people being murdered by the millions so that you can drive your car? Destroy a generation of children that you can get exotic foods that had to be sent halfway around the planet? So that this nation can go on riding it’s imaginary economy?
Let me put it another way, stealing from those who don’t have as large a gang as you is the act of a weakling, and that seems pretty obvious.
You do know that stealing every drop of oil on Earth won’t let us continue this pretend economy forever right? Oh, by the way, how many children have you PERSONALLY killed for that oil fix? None? Oh, that’s for the ‘lesser’ people to do. What a tough guy you are, talking about “securing the oil”. Who’s oil is that anyways? Anyone who is tough enough to take it? Hope China and Russia don’t decide it’s in their best interest to take it from us… That would be evil of them, right?
Your rationalizations are the same ones used by all the weak lazy fools throughout history to justify stealing what they could have gained by a little work or ingenuity.
The next terrorist attack will be because of people like you, and I can only hope that the greatest majority of the casualties aren’t innocents, but people who are willing to see mass murder committed for material gain. At least then there would be some sort of justice involved.
Another question comes to mind: Would you fill your car up so often if you actually had to pour Iraqi blood into the tank to make it go, or does that make your imperial pronouncement hit a little close to home? Mmm mm mmmmmmm nothing runs my Hummer like 3 pints of sweet light Iraqi 4-year-old. Too bad it only gets 12 miles per child though, right?
My only solace is that you and your ilk will be evolved out of humanity by necessity.
the sun and the wind and the rain,are still free….FUCK THAT OIL!!YOU CANT DRINK IT !!oil is a way to get big bucks flowing quickly and is just a schill under the shell,it is an illusion and while you are all busy looking and talking about the oil…the bush crime syndicate is busy stealing and tieing-up the world’s finest water reservoirs……wake-up,assholes…
weren’t either to attack or abandon but to actually aid the Iraqi people from whom we’ve taken so much. I wish the war on terror was really a war on poverty, not a war on Arabs and Muslims.
Here is the solution to Iraq going out of control when we leave. They need help and lots of it. Russia and China are both willing and accepted by Iraqis but the U.S. will have to make friends again.
We have to show respect!
Thank you NMBill, In my opinion that is indeed the correct answer.
I don’t usually post to say that I agree with someone (I’m long winded, ya know) but that was extremely insightful and deserves being referenced and re-referenced ad infinitum until no longer necessary.
dougrambo says:Some of the real betrayers are those who when we had the,”shot over the bough in the mid 70’s ” didn’t respond and get us less dependent on oil. Presidents from Jimmy Carter on are complicit in the disaster we are now facing.
Do you mean Carter was a part of the problem? Do you recall, Doug, that when Carter called the oil problem the “Moral Equivalent of War” all of the media and the Republicans made fun of him, calling his program MEOW! MEOW! Well, maybe Carter’s choice of words giving his enemies ammunition in an acronym left something to be desired, but the point is, Reagan told Americans he was tired of all that boo-hooing and “we gotta conserve” crap. Don’t you remember that he said it was a new day and Americans could drive their big old cars again??? Seems like a lot of Americans fell for this GE shill’s crap. Reagan ratted on his freinds at the McCarthy hearings for heaven’s sake. He went around union busting for GE. His first old lady packed his suitcase and kicked him out because of his cowardly behavior at the House on Unamerican Activities Hearings. Same old bunch just a different face. Carter was made fun of as being stupid and a wimp and the corporate-owned media showed the faces of the hostages day after day–infuriating Americans as Carter worked to free them. Reagan said he would kick ass if he had been president–yet, you will recall how much ass was kicked when the marine barracks were blown up in Lebanon. At least Reagan had enough sense to get the hell out. Now, it seems that Reagan’s men (maybe even Bush, SR. –he always seems to be around when there is trouble) may have made a deal with the Iranians not to release the hostages UNTIL Reagan was sworn in. I have a lot of things to blame Carter for–Brenshenski, being the chief one and his creation of Osama Bin Laden–although Brenshenski thinks his plan magnificent since he bankrupted the Russians in Afghanistan, too bad the plan is working well on us too, isn’t it? Anyway, Carter did try to point out the necessity to change our oil-gluttony but the American people would have none of it. They voted Reagan in, and well, we got deregulation, the Savings & Loan Scam, more deregulation under the Contract with America Repbulican Congress. Banks can do anything, including make trillions of dollars in predatory loans, expecting all the while the Greenspans and Bernaki’s to bail them out–not bail out the homeowners, mind you, but the corrupt bankers who have already made billions in fees generated by these loans. Let’s get this straight-they want the BANKERS bailed out–just like they bailed out the crooks in the S&L scam. But as for Carter, seems like oil is more than just the moral equivalent of war–it is now war itself. Where is Reagan? Dead and with an airport named after him! Bah!