To any politician or pundit on the Right calling for the US to go into Iraq again -- from an Iraq War Veteran

I’ll tell you what, let’s go back to Iraq.

Oh, yes, let us do that.

I’ll dig out my uniform and strap on my pistol and gird up my sword and ride into battle yet again.

Just so long as Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, Paul Ryan, Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, and every single one of those powdered, Botoxed talking heads at Fox News are in the vanguard. That’s right, you cowards, you put on a uniform and you lead the charge this time around. The Koch brothers and Mitt Romney can pay for it, every goddamned penny, we’ll bleed them until they’re dry and then we’ll pull the gold fillings from their teeth to pay for it right along with the rest of their Wall Street cronies. You fuckers got rich off the last one, you can damned well pay for this one. And when you run out of money, we’ll take your blood, fair’s fair.

Strap John McCain into the cockpit of an A-4 Skyhawk and let him fly air cover.

If he gets himself shot down and taken prisoner again, well, you know what? Fuck him, leave him to the enemy because frankly his hate and bile and raging insanity have done more damage to this country than Bowe Bergdahl ever did.

The terrorists can keep him.

Peace love and understanding tell me
Is there no place for them today
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord knows there’s got to be a better way

War what is it good for
Absolutely nothing…
- Edwin Starr, “War” 1969

Originally posted by Jim Wright on Stonekettle Station.

Quote of the day---indisputable

“The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own government, I can not be silent.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.

One of the best, most important articles Americans will never read

It posted this week:

The Worst Mistake in U.S. History

America Will Never Recover from Bush's Great Foreign Policy Disaster  

       Ten years ago, George Bush made a decision that this country will regret for a very long time.

 

"Not to put too fine a point on it, but the invasion of Iraq turned out to be a joke. Not for the Iraqis, of course, and not for American soldiers, and not the ha-ha sort of joke either. And here’s the saddest truth of all: on March 20th as we mark the 10th anniversary of the invasion from hell, we still don’t get it. In case you want to jump to the punch line, though, it’s this: by invading Iraq, the U.S. did more to destabilize the Middle East than we could possibly have imagined at the time. And we -- and so many others -- will pay the price for it for a long, long time."

 

A mistake for the nation, a mistake for the Middle East, a mistake for the world.

 

It's a great read.  Americans would do well to familiarize themselves with it so more of us learn what we did, so we also learn better where we are now because of it.

 

And why we need to make sure we don't let this or anything like it happen again.

Iraq War Crimes? (Guest post)

"The immorality of the United States and Great Britain's decision to invade Iraq in 2003, premised on the lie that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, has destabilised and polarised the world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history.

Instead of recognising that the world we lived in, with increasingly sophisticated communications, transportations and weapons systems necessitated sophisticated leadership that would bring the global family together, the then-leaders of the US and UK fabricated the grounds to behave like playground bullies and drive us further apart. They have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now stand – with the spectre of Syria and Iran before us.

If leaders may lie, then who should tell the truth? Days before George W Bush and Tony Blair ordered the invasion of Iraq, I called the White House and spoke to Condoleezza Rice, who was then national security adviser, to urge that United Nations weapons inspectors be given more time to confirm or deny the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Should they be able to confirm finding such weapons, I argued, dismantling the threat would have the support of virtually the entire world. Ms Rice demurred, saying there was too much risk and the president would not postpone any longer.

On what grounds do we decide that Robert Mugabe should go the International Criminal Court, Tony Blair should join the international speakers' circuit, bin Laden should be assassinated, but Iraq should be invaded, not because it possesses weapons of mass destruction, as Mr Bush's chief supporter, Mr Blair, confessed last week, but in order to get rid of Saddam Hussein?

The cost of the decision to rid Iraq of its by-all-accounts despotic and murderous leader has been staggering, beginning in Iraq itself. Last year, an average of 6.5 people died there each day in suicide attacks and vehicle bombs, according to the Iraqi Body Count project. More than 110,000 Iraqis have died in the conflict since 2003 and millions have been displaced. By the end of last year, nearly 4,500 American soldiers had been killed and more than 32,000 wounded.

On these grounds alone, in a consistent world, those responsible for this suffering and loss of life should be treading the same path as some of their African and Asian peers who have been made to answer for their actions in the Hague.

But even greater costs have been exacted beyond the killing fields, in the hardened hearts and minds of members of the human family across the world.

Has the potential for terrorist attacks decreased? To what extent have we succeeded in bringing the so-called Muslim and Judeo-Christian worlds closer together, in sowing the seeds of understanding and hope?

Leadership and morality are indivisible. Good leaders are the custodians of morality. The question is not whether Saddam Hussein was good or bad or how many of his people he massacred. The point is that Mr Bush and Mr Blair should not have allowed themselves to stoop to his immoral level.

If it is acceptable for leaders to take drastic action on the basis of a lie, without an acknowledgement or an apology when they are found out, what should we teach our children?"

--Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in a column in The Observer (see link below)

Link to original article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/02/desmond-tutu-tony-blair-iraq

Worst. President. Ever.

Proof, if--or as though--you need it:

-Iraq War
-Catastrophic, open-ended war
-Misrepresentation of reasons to attack Iraq
-Internationally illegal, unprovoked attack of another foreign, sovereign nation
-WMD's
-Complete lack of WMD's
-Guantanamo Bay
-Torture
-Abu Ghraib
-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
-Undersecretary of Defense Paul (I'm crazy and hungry for war) Wolfowitz
-Attorney General John Ashcroft (who actually turned out to do some good for the country after all, in denying the President and his staff the ability to "have their way" at the Justice Dept., with their illegal request)
-Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez (the stooley)
-Attorney General Michael (the shill) Mukasey
-Vice President Dick ("Darth Vader") Cheney
-Little or no planning for what to do after we, the US, attacked and invaded Iraq, again, against international law
-"Kangaroo" courts
-"Waterboarding" (like it's a fun thing)
-"Black Sites"
-Extraordinary rendition (from and by the United States)
-Halliburton
-"No-bid" government contracts for corporations and other "Big Business"
-$147.00/barrel oil (due, largely, to illegal attack on Iraq)
-Cronyism
-Graft
-Gross Incompetence
-FEMA
-FEMA scandals
-Hurricane Katrina response
-Recess appointments
-Warrantless wiretapping
-Unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping
-"Signing Statements"
-Fired US Attorneys
-Politicization of the US Justice Department, specifically
-Politicization of the US Government, generally
-Plamegate
-Outing an undercover CIA agent for political reasons
-Treason (see line just above)
-Doubling the National Debt
-Denying global climate change
-Undermining the Environmental Protection Agency
-Undermining EPA laws
-Undermining US laws and law
-Stripping the Endangered Species Act of all real power, even though it's US Federal Law, with much precedent
-Housing Crisis
-Credit Crisis
-Deregulation of the Banking Industry (see both lines above this one)
-Faith-based initiatives
-Virtually obliterating the line between State and Church, which is unconstitutional
-Undermining the rights of individuals in the United States
-Asking the Federal Government, through the FBI, to, once again, spy on private American citizens (this is very recent and ongoing)
-Denying homosexuals equal rights and "equal protection under the law", in spite of our Constitution
-Growing--and bloating, indeed, ballooning--the size of the Federal Government
-Cutting taxes for the wealthy and uber-wealthy
-Cutting taxes for the "Big Oil" Companies--at just the time they're making their largest profits--and the largest profits in the History of the United States (yeah, we need to cut their taxes, didn't we?)
-Making it illegal--yes, illegal--for the Federal Government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower the cost of medicines and medicinal drugs (Did you remember that one? Then again, did you even know it already? If that isn't FOR big business and against the American Public--the little guy, you and me--I don't know what is)
-Making all records of their own Bush Administration "off limits" from the American Public, once they're out of office (like it was never OUR government--it's apparently his--and we'd like it back)
-The dividing of the country into "us" vs. "them", rich vs. poor, right vs. left, religious believers vs. unbelievers, etc.
-The use of bullying tactics on foreign countries, telling us and them that they are either "with us or against us"
-The use of access to the President, his staff and the administration for reward, when they like someone's work
-The denial of access to these same people and individuals when the administration doesn't like their viewpoint(s)
-The denial of access to the administration to Betty Thomas, the longtime, veteran White House reporter, which actually happened, because they didn't like her and her questions
-The use of the Federal Government to make propaganda in our own press
-The use of the Federal Government to make propaganda in foreign country's press
-The use of the Federal Government and Federal dollars to create propaganda
-The use of the American Press to create propaganda in our own country
-The use of Fox "News" Network, specifically, to create propaganda in our own country
-Declaring "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq, when the war had virtually just begun
-Denying freedom of the press
-Denying Americans access to pictures--video or stills--of American Soldiers killed in action, coming back from the war in Iraq, even if their families felt otherwise and made that clear

The list goes on and on, longer than this, unfortunately.

Four things come to mind just now, seeing this list:

1) Warren G. Harding had nothing on George W. Bush, his incompetence, his corruption and his graft (just wait 'til he's out of the White House. Then he'll REALLY start reaping benefits from Big Business)
2) I'll be glad when this nightmare is over
3) I can hardly wait for January 20, 2009, when these people are gone
4) I hope we, as a country and, really, as a world, can recover from the damage George W. Bush and his entire administration, for 8 years, has done to this country.

(With thanks to Garry Trudeau and his "Doonesbury" comic strip, this Sunday, August 24, 2008. You can see the original comic here: http://www.doonesbury.com/)

Further reason why I write this blog

I was reminded today of why I first started this blog and why I continue to write.

The outrageousness and ignorance and stupidity and greed and ugliness that comes out of this White House and this George W. Bush administration is just too much.

This blog is meant to give information for some and catharsis for me.

President George W. Bush (man, it has always hurt to say that) was on the radio yesterday for his weekly radio address and, unbelievably, blamed the Democrats for high gas prices.

OH MY GOD...

I couldn't believe it. I still can hardly believe it.

This President, the one from Texas, the one from and for oil companies, the one with a Vice President and Secretary of State and a lot of others both in and around this administration, from the oil companies, has the nerve and gall to accuse the Democrats of being the reason for the high oil prices.

Holy cow.

Don't you think your arbitrary, internationally illegal war in the Middle East which you at least "misrepresented" to us, the American people, had anything to do with it, Mr. President?

It's as I've said the last several months--all Americans, be they Republican, Democrat, black, white, conservative, liberal--all of us, from all walks of American life--should have automatically bought oil stocks in 2000, once this shill for Big OIl and Big Business stole the White House election.

It was one thing we could have counted on--oil prices going up.

We just didn't know how far up.

Senator Obama is right about Iraq--still and again

This just out, on Yahoo! news:

Rice says US-Iraq coming together on timetables

So, lets' see, Senator Obama was right about voting against the original invasion of Iraq, to start with, and now, once again, he's right about a "timetable" (ooh, that word!) for having the US military withdraw from Iraq.

Hmmm. It seems there's a distinct trend here, isn't there?

Senator Obama demonstrates good, intelligent and prescient judgement on important national and international issues.

This in sharp contrast to what Senator McCain says, thinks, wants and plans. "McSame" voted FOR the war before it began and now keeps saying he wants to keep us over there, at great personal and financial cost.

The differences--and choice--between the two seems extremely clear and keeps getting more so, don't you think?

(Original story here:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080821/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_iraq)

And then, as if that isn't enough, there's this, just out:

John McCain Unsure How Many Houses He Owns

That's gonna hurt.

Full story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080821/pl_politico/12685

Wanna' see his "cribs"? Go to this link:

http://www.mccainvminnesota.com/cribs.html