Bush commemorated the grim milestone of 4,000 U.S. military deaths in Iraq by vowing that as long as he's president he'll make sure "those lives were not lost in vain."
Can anyone tell me what that means? How will those lives not be lost in vain? What of the 30,000 U.S. military men wounded, thousands upon thousands of them gruesomely? How will their sacrifice not be in vain? What of the estimated 90,000 (conservatively) Iraqi citizens who have died in this debacle. What did they die for?
In order to answer that question, you have to ask yourself another simple one, one which defies an answer: What is this war about?
Can you answer that?
Now try this: What was it ever about? What does victory or loss in this war mean?
Unfortunately, these lives Bush spoke of are dangerously close to being lost in vain. Iraq is a mess of almost irredeemable chaos and probably the best way for these soldiers' lives to not have been lost in vain would be for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and all the other liars who callously and arrogantly played with these lives to be held accountable for their crimes. Then, this debacle could serve as a lesson as to what should happen in a true democracy — the rule of law and truth prevails, even at the highest levels. But, lives lost in vain is what happens when you cook up an illegitimate war under illegitimate pretexts. Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Haditha — these things are almost sadly inevitable when the whole thing is bound together by lies and corruption, moral and otherwise, and painted over with stubbornness and pride, with the absolute deficit of the most heroic trait a man can have: admitting a mistake and making amends.
Lives lost in vain is what happens when our elected officials and our citizens cower before bullies and demagogues. Lives lost in vain is what happens when lives are played with by those demagogues and autocrats.
So, it comes apart. Continually. You can't patch it back together with a revolving door of new generals and commanders as those bound by honesty and integrity resign in succession (U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Fallon being the latest).
Currently four cities in Iraq are at war with hard-line Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr's militiamen. This following a rise in suicide bombings over the past few days that has left scores of civilians, Iraqi soldiers and a handful of U.S. servicemen dead. The so-called Surge is, as it always has been, a smokescreen. Just like the second battle of Fallujah — remember, the one that broke the back of the insurgency?
The dark truth of this abominable war lurks behind these periodic smoke screens: there can't be a victory or even a good end to a war for which there never was a true or valid point to begin with.
I reserve most of my outrage over this for the spineless Democrats we elected in 2006 to end this terrible nonsense. The Bush administration are simply morally bankrupt criminals. The Democrats are something worse altogether: cowards.
Indeed, let's not let the lives of these brave men and women be lost in vain.
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There are 4 comments posted for this article.
The Democrats in Congress are cowards and maybe worse, political opportunists. They seek to keep the "war" front and center for the duration of the presidential campaign instead of standing on principle and cutting funding and ending the war. Worse, they lie and say that they can't stop it. Yes they can. Do you remember when the Democrats were threatening to filibuster Bush's supreme court nominees and Bill Frist created the "nuclear" option of changing the rules of the senate to allow a majority versus a super majority to overcome a filibuster. Isn't ending the war as important to the Democrat Leadership as ripping apart the constitution was to the Republicans? Obviously, the answer is NO!
So, not only cowards, but, carpet baggers, liars, politicians! There is one candidate that talks differently about the war in Iraq. He is a Republican, but, not a Bush Republican. Here's what he has to say about the 5th anniversary of the war.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul446.html
Posted on March 25, 2008 3:16 PM by Todd
The Founding Fathers were correct in placing responsibility for declaring war on Congress (currently 635 people) rather than on one man. The idea is to make sure the issue is thoroughly debated BEFORE the war is declared.
Of all the current candidates for President, only Ron Paul demanded that Congress take responsibility and vote whether to declare war. He has been promoting a peaceful approach to foreign policy for 30 years, with the same peaceful approach to domestic policy as well. This war, the war on poverty and the war on drugs are violent affairs, way too costly, and abject failures. War is not the answer.
Posted on March 25, 2008 3:37 PM by Sandra Kallander
It's very discouraging when you elect people to represent you, and they ignore you when it comes to important issues and legislation. The war in Iraq has been a disaster for the U.S., and whoever is elected in November will have a tough time withdrawing troops, no matter what they promise as a candidate.
Another issue which both Dems and Republicans have turned their backs on is the problem of illegal aliens. They're fueling the fiscal crisis we now have in California, and turning Los Angeles (and much of the state) into a third world city. The U.S. takes in more than one million legal immigrants each year. But the unchecked illegal alien invasion will push our city and state permanently into the third world, and threatens to bankrupt the state.
Posted on March 28, 2008 9:38 AM by Ken
So true. I was on the treadmill at the gym the night this statistic came on the TV and I felt like screaming at everyone! Nobody looked, commented or acknowledged the insanity of this war. What is going on? I'm outraged and sickened. The reason why the dems in Congress approved the war was because they were scared to death by the tragic events of 911 and felt based on the false fucking evidence being presented by the Bush Administration that this was the 'right' thing to do. We should be ashamed of ourselves! Why do people feel so disconnected to this war? BECAUSE THE PRESS CANNOT PHOTOGRAPH THE COFFINS COMING HOME! WHY? Why is the media standing for this? Let's go take the pictures like they did of the coffins coming home from Vietnam and SHOW THEM to the American people. Maybe then they will start to connect the dots.
Posted on March 31, 2008 9:34 PM by Jane Kahn