The War(s) Plural

Let us start with something we can all worry about. IRAQ. Let us face it folks, we pay taxes and our tax money is paying for lots of things in IRAQ including missiles, soldiers (alive and unfortunately dead), civilian casualties, security in general, and of course the great reconstruction effort. As Americans we should hold ourselves somewhat responsible for everyone who dies over there. You know solidarity. Like the rest of the world showed us after 9/11.

This IS the issue that affects us all. It is not helping the economy, it is not helping morale, it is a detriment to our national security as many world leaders and intelligence experts have said that "this war has increased the population of terrorists and has been a distraction of our military capabilities". The war on terror is not being fought in IRAQ and for those of you who think Bush can keep us safe from terror, well WHO WAS IN POWER ON 9/11 FOR ALMOST A WHOLE YEAR. Mind you folks, before 9/11 we had NEVER suffered an attack on our shores (pearl harbor was off shore and that was in 1941). I love the pundit's "what if gore was in power". WELL MAYBE GORE WOULDN'T BE OUT PLAYING GOLF WHEN PDBS ENTITLED 'OSAMA DETERMINED TO ATTACK IN THE UNITED STATES' CAME ACCROSS HIS DESK.

As of September 8th 55, 842 people have died as a result of the Bush wars while seriously injuring 114,391 friend and “foe” alike. Given that every human has on average 8 pints of blood in them and assuming that every injured person dropped at least 2 pints of blood. That would make each and every American have about 1 cc of human blood on their hands. At this rate if we stay in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN for another year and a half we will have spilled enough human blood for everyone to fill one ceremonial shot glass (can I get a lemon to suck on with mine?). Maybe we can do it right around the impeachment proceedings should Bush get reselected. We broke it and we definitely bought it.

Facts about IRAQ the way it is right now and probably will continue to be like until the “proposed” election date in January (conveniently after our own election) more than likely it will continue unless we get out.

Security, it’s pretty obvious (unless you are a member of the Bush administration or PM Allawi or as I like to call him Pinocchio) that there is no real security in IRAQ. Just ask Colin Powell, or General Abizaid, the IRAQIs themselves, or more directly someone from the 1000+ families that have lost an American. Regardless of where you are in IRAQ (unlike what Pinocchio said last week) there are attacks constantly going on and not just in hotbeds like Fallujah. Last week Pinocchio portrayed the majority of the country as being secure and even secure enough to hold elections come January. Where in fact, since the handover of power to Allawi, all but 6 of Iraq’s 18 provinces have been devastated by some sore of insurgent/terrorist/US attack. US Troop death toll has increased drastically since the handover. Remember mission accomplished?

Other facts: We have contractors in charge of prisons, violating Geneva conventions. Mercenaries being paid to kill or embarrass Iraqis in the name of the good ole USA. With your TAX DOLLARS. Mind you, if a Muslim is exposed in the nude, according to the Koran, they are shunned, and are damned. That's right no heaven for them, even if it wasn't their fault they were portrayed in the nude. Another thing about the prison scandal. After Abu Graib got major headlines, thousands of prisoners were released. Without a trial or anything! If they were so quick to release these prisoners why were they prisoners in the first place. Seems like they hadn't done anything wrong once Rumsfeld showed up after the scandal got press. What if they WERE terrorists? How are we ever to know? Is the mercenary that just took a picture of that Iraqi in an ass pile the judge of who is or isn't or shouldn't be a prisoner or would you rather have a court decide that. You know the American way?

Other facts: The intelligence that said Iraq had these weapons was from 1991 (ask Condi Rice, she's the one who said it). Saddam never sought depleted Uranium from Niger. There was no “smoking gun.” There was not “faulty intelligence” there was real intelligence from the CIA and all the weapons inspectors from the UN and the US that said there were NO WMDs. This was all very well explained to the President of the USA in the months leading to his decision to go to war. The IRAQ war was unnecessary especially since we were getting close to catching OBL in Afghanistan. You know THE REAL TERRORIST. There was NO link between Saddam and Al-Qaeda (Dick Cheney has flip-flopped on this one lots of times recently). There are even reports that Osama hated Saddam because he was a secular ruler who would kill any Muslim that got rowdy. If anything, it’s not so far fetched that Saddam would have been a target on OBL’s list.

Last fact, if you follow the link to the UN charter you will see that in essence the IRAQ war is internationally illegal. We went in without their support. The coalition Bush speaks of is composed of nations such as Kazakstan, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia. Here is a great link to the numbers of troops "donated" by these powerful nations http://www.geocities.com/pwhce/willing.html#troops . There are only 32 countries and only 6 of them have more than 1000 troops on the ground. That's right coalition? We are the only country with more than 10,000 troops on the ground.

Also, the fact that congress voted to give the power to the President to use force is completely against the rules for war written in the constitution. The power to declare war should never rest in the hands of one person in this country. That's why congress is supposed to have that power. Blame the Republican congress for that, after all they are the ones that brought that legislation to the table. So Republicans, feeling good about your party now? They violated one of the most sacred aspects of our democracy. You see if ONE person has the power to wage war whenever he wants in the interest of national security well, that sounds like as close to a dictator as you can get. I mean isn't that what Saddam was doing all those years? I think I'll wake up and gas some Kurds today, anyone opposed? Doesn't matter... I think I'll do it anyway.

These are the facts and most of the candidates forget about Afghanistan which is about to hold elections October 9th. I wonder if FOX news will be calling those elections. OH BOY! I can't wait until all the precincts are reported in. BUSH WINS! Lord knows if the Taliban will take control over the country again even though another puppet Hamid Karzai is slated to win those elections.

The FACT is Iraq is not safe, not for elections not for our troops not for anyone including foreign journalists. And when I hear people talking about putting civilians on the ground to start the reconstruction. GUESS WHAT PEOPLE THERE ARE CIVILIANS ON THE GROUND. They are called IRAQIs. Have we forgotten about the very people who we occupied, then liberated, and now live in fear as long as US soldiers are there? They have hands and feet and minds, and engineers, and construction workers, and teachers and guess what they are like a real country. With real citizens that have functioned all these years, despite having the whole world imposing sanctions on them and living under the reign of a tyrant. We broke we bought it doesn't mean only our corporations have the right to build it up again. Let the IRAQIs build their own country, then they may actually respect the buildings, instead of having grim reminders of "the bad Americans built this building."

This just seems like common sense right?

So what do we do? Let's hear what the candidates have to say:

Nader's plan - From his website Nader's plan is simple.

• Replace our troops with the international peacekeeping forces of the UN. This removes our troops and saves American and possibly Iraqi lives. Peacekeeping forces are not US soldiers, and the hatred that the insurgents/terrorists towards Americans will be reduced because UN Peacekeepers are not the enemy to them. We are.
  
• Hold supervised elections and provide international aide to Iraq. It is true that Iraq has been under massive sanctions since they invaded Kuwait. Now that Saddam is gone, we can lift those sanctions. Get the world together and start pouring some money into Iraq in order for the country to REBUILD itself without the help of foreign contractors etc.

Kerry's plan:

• Very similar however, his plan extends to the war on terror. Not just getting the UN and our allies involved in IRAQ but in the war on terror in general. Meaning, if you get the rest of the world on your side (since they aren't on our side now, thanks Bushy) they will more willingly help you find the terrorists that live there. UN needs to help us out, if the UN didn't have any means or power, why does it even exist. You mean to tell me that the UN is jut a jobs program for wealthy diplomats? THE UN NEEDS TO BE INVOLVED IN IRAQ. Some people have said, how do you get the world involved with so much violence. The old fashioned way and the same way Bush got the "coalition of the willing" together. YOU BRIBE THEM. Trade policies can help countries make up their mind.
  
• He wants to train Iraq's own security forces so that they can help the rest of the world keep the peace in their own nation.
  
• Kerry wants to give the Iraqis support to help them get their own government up and running. Meaning Democracy may not be the way but let them decide where they want their country to go. You know Governor Bush said he didn't think the US should go around the world shoving democracy down people's throats.

Finally the BUSH plan: I don't want to lay it out cuz you can see it on your TV's like he said. But to be "fair and balanced" I am required as an aspiring journalist to do so. So here it is.

• STAY THE COURSE
• NO NEED FOR INTERNATIONAL HELP (he had his chance at the UN and he didn't really do that did he?)
• LET HALLIBURTON AND OTHER AMERICAN CONTRACTORS REBUILD IRAQ
• STAY IN IRAQ UNTIL THE TERRORISTS/INSURGENTS STOP ATTACKING US

OK folks, get out there and vote for who you think is the best leader and whether or not you think our current leader should be held accountable for all the problems they have created.