Volume II No. 35
 03-21-04
 Bush's Unilateralist War
 { Iraq One Year Later }
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2004

 There he was on Friday. The President of the United States at his
 "invitations-only" pep-rally for the Iraq War.

 He was somber. Composed. And during the entire speech barely
 raised his voice above conversational level. In other words, Bush
 had been well-coached. Gone was the brash, arrogant, and sanctimonious
 American President that has been so parodied and rediculed in
 untold numbers of late-night television monologues. And in the
 editorial section of newspapers in the United States and elsewhere.

 George W. Bush well-realizes that he is not as revered overseas as 
 some previous residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, have been. 
 That explains his caustic reaction to John Kerry's revelation that 
 several world leaders have confided in him that they wold prefer 
 a change at the White House come November.

 Bush complained that, "If you're going to make an accusation in 
 the course of a presidential campaign, you ought to back it up 
 with facts." 

 Hmmm... 

 What "accusation" was the President talking about? Regardless 
 of the malapropism that was the "real" Texas George reacting with 
 indignity and contempt that anyone - foreign or domestic - would 
 dare suggest that it would be better for the United States and the
 entire world community that he be sent back to his beloved ranch.

 The citizens of the world might as well stop dreaming. This man just
 doesn't get it. Yes, 9/11 was a tragedy of the highest magnitude. But 
 it was not an excuse to start a war in Iraq only because bin Laden and 
 his cave-dwelling jihadists are unreacheable. Hiding as they are in the 
 lawless badlands along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 After the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein never rebuilt his military
 forces to anywhere near their previous level of competence. The 
 weapons of mass destruction have not been found, because they 
 do not exist. Perhaps they never did exist. At least not to the extent 
 that they represented a legitimate threat to world peace.

 Further, there was no alliance between Usama Bin Laden and his
 Al Qaeda operatives, and the secularist Hussein regime.

 All of these imaginary connections existed only in the minds of the 
 unilateralists in the White House who wanted to reach out and punish 
 someone for the loss of those three thousand lives in New York City. 
 As Donald Rumsfeld so aptly suggested at the time. "There aren't
 any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets
 in Iraq."

 Thus, Saddam Hussein was a convenient stand-in for Usama Bin 
 Laden as Public Enemy No. 1. Next came Shock and Awe, then the
 Iraqi Information Minister { aka Baghdad Bob } and his rediculous 
 posturing, Jessica Lynch's exaggerated heroism and subsequent 
 rescue, the killing of the dictator's sons, Uday and Husay Hussein, 
 and last but not least, the capture of the bearded, disoriented, 
 { and possibly lice-infected } deposed Iraqi President.

 In the meantime some 570-plus U.S. soldiers have lost their lives.
 American forces that cruise the streets of Baghdad in their intimidating
 Humvees are cursed at and spat-upon as "occupiers." In no manner
 are they welcomed as glorious "liberators" as was so erroneously
 imagined before the war even began.

 Honest Iraqi citizens are subject to daytime robberies by thugs and 
 criminals who prowl the streets without fear of arrest. Attractive
 young Iraqi women must always walk in groups of two or more, or 
 with a male relative along for protection, as there have been numerous 
 kidnappings. { it does not take much to imagine what has happened 
 to those unfortunate women already gone missing... } 

 Thousands of Iraqis who want jobs, can't find them, and have no 
 means of earning an income to provide for their familiies. Collaborators 
 spotted working with Westerners are subject to violent attact on the 
 streets by Iraqi nationalists and armed remnants of the old Hussein 
 regime. Deadly bombs go off in the marketplaces, outside hotels, and 
 by the roadside. The long-standing hatreds that divide Shiite and Sunni 
 muslims lie simmering beneath the surface of all political discourse. 
 No doubt ready to burst forth the moment the American occupiers 
 leave for good.

 In a word, Iraq is a mess. A tragedy.

 By what right did George W. Bush have to inflict this misery upon 
 the Iraqi people? In the name of Western-style democracy and a new 
 Iraqi constitution? There are words to describe what the U.S. President
 has done. Some might call his actions those of a "cultural imperialist" 
 As the new Iraq has been stealthily guided in a political direction the 
 Bush administration is most comfortable with.

 Iraq represents a civilization with a history that stretches back over
 millenia. Such a fact is something that the Iraqi people have a right
 to be proud of. But, as brutal and inhumane as Saddam Hussein was, 
 he was their tyrant. He was one of them. And it was up to the Iraqi 
 populace to throw him out by whatever means available. And to replace
 the brutal tyrant with a government of their own design.

 Would anyone in the United States accept some well-meaning 
 "liberators" coming over here from a far-away land, and instructing 
 us how to live?

 Of course not.

 Iraqi liberation was not worth a single American life. Saddam Hussein 
 is not Usama Bin Laden and was not the threat to the world community 
 the Bush administration would have us all believe. Thus, his subsequent
 removal from office cannot stand as a satisfactory justification of
 the Iraq War.

 American troops were sent to Iraq based upon weak, exaggerated
 intelligence. And at the behest of a war-mongering President who 
 apparently wanted to make a statement that his administration would 
 not accept what happened on September 11th, 2001, without a strong 
 military response.

 Thus, we have this misguided military operation in Iraq when the target 
 belongs squarely on the back of Al Qaeda.

 The diabolically evil Bin Laden continues to escape justice in his 
 mountain hideaways. While 87 billion American dollars are wasted 
 upon a nation-state in a part of the world that knows nothing but 
 endless conflict and chaos. Meanwhile, the quality of American 
 public school education lags behind that of almost every other 
 first-world country. The economy grows without creating new jobs. 
 The problem of illegal immigrants on American soil is a continuing 
 nightmare and national embarssment. Healthcare for all U.S. citizens 
 is but a fantasy. And our eldest citizens worry if their futures are 
 destined to be dark and bleak. As these kind souls are used as political 
 props every election year. And forgotten about almost immediately 
 after.

 These are the facts as we know them to be today. And these facts
 suggest strongly that a regime change come November 2004, would
 be a welcome relief for the American people.
 

 ReadingPost.Com
 © Copyright 2004

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