The War in Iraq: The tip of the iceburg has now been exposed!
Earl J. Prignitz
November 10, 2005
More and more Americans are becoming deeply concerned about this Administration's war with Iraq, what with the death toll of U.S. troops going well over 2000, plus the thousands of wounded -- and it is high time that they are, for this war is fast becoming another debacle very much like Vietnam.
With the disclosures made in the Downing Street Memos everyone should know by now that our President had planned this immoral and illegal war months before the 9/11 attacks on our country ever took place. It is also common knowledge that the "Think Tank" group headed up by the Vice President, The Project for the New American Century (PNAC), had this in mind many years before. The 9/11 incidents simply provided our leaders with an excuse to go over and start bombing. They even convinced us that we would be greeted as liberators and that our mission would be accomplished quickly. Democracy would be spread throughout the Middle East and freedom would flourish. What our leaders failed to realize is that Iraq is a very complex country that it is comprised of rival clans, religious factions who have fought each other for centuries. They obviously hadn't read the history lessons of past failures in the region.
Anyone with his eyes open knows that the key justifications for this war -- to stop Saddam Hussein from developing nuclear weapons and supporting al Qaeda -- were based on faulty intelligence and outright distortions and have been thoroughly discredited. United Nations weapons inspectors, who were simply dismissed by the White House as naive and ineffective, turned out to have gained far better information than our intelligence agencies. And we certainly know by now that the insurgency is continuing to mount along with American causalities, even as our leaders give us the same old lines "That there is light at the end of the tunnel," or "Mission Accomplished" or "We must stay on Course."
Add to this the fact that many of the returning veterans who volunteered initially believing in the mission, now tell us that many Iraqis have grown to despise us. They blame us for their lack of water and electricity, for the lack of jobs and health care, and for the violence they are suffering every day.
And why not?
Our troops were sent to fight an unnecessary war without sufficient armor against these ruthless and barbaric bombing attacks, without adequate reinforcements, without a plan to win the peace, and without adequate medical care and other services for when they return home on stretchers or crutches or with eye patches -- unable to walk, to work, to pay their mortgages, or to support their families. Many of our veterans have been treated shamefully by their government when it sent them into harm’s way under false pretences, and again after they returned home without adequate care.
While it is true that more than half of the American people now say they have lost confidence in the President’s handling of this war, they are not doing anything about it. Why? The mass media has been feeding us the Administration's lines far too long. And far from making us safer from terrorists, it has turned Iraq into a haven and recruiting ground for terrorists which has deflected our attention and resources away from the fight against terrorism. If anything, it has emboldened our enemies, as it has become increasingly apparent that the most powerful army in the world cannot stop a determined insurgency.
Regrettably, it is no longer a secret how vulnerable we are, and Hurricane Katrina showed us just how tragically unprepared we are to respond to a major disaster -- four years after 9/11 and after wasting billions of dollars on an unnecessary conflict. This war has caused immense damage to our relations with the world’s Muslims, a religion practiced by some 1.2 billion people and about which most Americans know virtually nothing. We cannot possibly mount an effective campaign against terrorism without the trust, the respect, and the active support of Muslims, particularly in the Middle East where our image has been so badly tarnished. Our weakened international reputation is another heavy price that our country has paid for this war. Each day, as more and more Iraqi civilians -- often children -- lose their lives and limbs from suicide bombers, as well as from our own bombs, the resentment and anger toward us intensifies. And every week, the number of U.S. service men and women who are killed or wounded creeps higher and higher, and shows no sign of diminishing.
It is high time that we, the American people, who decry what our government is doing in our name, rise up and call a halt to this despicable mess!
Phone, write, fax or email your representatives in Washington -- not just once but over and over again. Let them know exactly how you feel when it comes to the plight of our countries future.
Don't give up, speak up!
With the disclosures made in the Downing Street Memos everyone should know by now that our President had planned this immoral and illegal war months before the 9/11 attacks on our country ever took place. It is also common knowledge that the "Think Tank" group headed up by the Vice President, The Project for the New American Century (PNAC), had this in mind many years before. The 9/11 incidents simply provided our leaders with an excuse to go over and start bombing. They even convinced us that we would be greeted as liberators and that our mission would be accomplished quickly. Democracy would be spread throughout the Middle East and freedom would flourish. What our leaders failed to realize is that Iraq is a very complex country that it is comprised of rival clans, religious factions who have fought each other for centuries. They obviously hadn't read the history lessons of past failures in the region.
Anyone with his eyes open knows that the key justifications for this war -- to stop Saddam Hussein from developing nuclear weapons and supporting al Qaeda -- were based on faulty intelligence and outright distortions and have been thoroughly discredited. United Nations weapons inspectors, who were simply dismissed by the White House as naive and ineffective, turned out to have gained far better information than our intelligence agencies. And we certainly know by now that the insurgency is continuing to mount along with American causalities, even as our leaders give us the same old lines "That there is light at the end of the tunnel," or "Mission Accomplished" or "We must stay on Course."
Add to this the fact that many of the returning veterans who volunteered initially believing in the mission, now tell us that many Iraqis have grown to despise us. They blame us for their lack of water and electricity, for the lack of jobs and health care, and for the violence they are suffering every day.
And why not?
Our troops were sent to fight an unnecessary war without sufficient armor against these ruthless and barbaric bombing attacks, without adequate reinforcements, without a plan to win the peace, and without adequate medical care and other services for when they return home on stretchers or crutches or with eye patches -- unable to walk, to work, to pay their mortgages, or to support their families. Many of our veterans have been treated shamefully by their government when it sent them into harm’s way under false pretences, and again after they returned home without adequate care.
While it is true that more than half of the American people now say they have lost confidence in the President’s handling of this war, they are not doing anything about it. Why? The mass media has been feeding us the Administration's lines far too long. And far from making us safer from terrorists, it has turned Iraq into a haven and recruiting ground for terrorists which has deflected our attention and resources away from the fight against terrorism. If anything, it has emboldened our enemies, as it has become increasingly apparent that the most powerful army in the world cannot stop a determined insurgency.
Regrettably, it is no longer a secret how vulnerable we are, and Hurricane Katrina showed us just how tragically unprepared we are to respond to a major disaster -- four years after 9/11 and after wasting billions of dollars on an unnecessary conflict. This war has caused immense damage to our relations with the world’s Muslims, a religion practiced by some 1.2 billion people and about which most Americans know virtually nothing. We cannot possibly mount an effective campaign against terrorism without the trust, the respect, and the active support of Muslims, particularly in the Middle East where our image has been so badly tarnished. Our weakened international reputation is another heavy price that our country has paid for this war. Each day, as more and more Iraqi civilians -- often children -- lose their lives and limbs from suicide bombers, as well as from our own bombs, the resentment and anger toward us intensifies. And every week, the number of U.S. service men and women who are killed or wounded creeps higher and higher, and shows no sign of diminishing.
It is high time that we, the American people, who decry what our government is doing in our name, rise up and call a halt to this despicable mess!
Phone, write, fax or email your representatives in Washington -- not just once but over and over again. Let them know exactly how you feel when it comes to the plight of our countries future.
Don't give up, speak up!
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