One of the reasons I spend a fair portion of my time blogging, gathering news, writing letters to politicians and doing what I can to voice my protest to this illegal, immoral occupation/war in Iraq is because I'm married to an active duty serviceperson. My husband has a job that absolutley puts him in harm's way. In about 6 months he is nearly certain to be deployed-again. Lt. John Kerry said it succintly: "How can you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
I like most Americans, am sick to death of the death. Minstrel Boy is the member of one of the most affected groups of Americans that want this war to end, a Gold Star Family member. He has a poignant post up about a 19 year old soldier that threw himself onto a live grenade in order to save his fellow soldiers. Read it and then email or call you Senator and Congressperson. Demand that they cut the funding for this horrific action that simply puts more and more Americans in danger. Make a commitment to send an email and call once a week. For every letter or call recieved statistics say that each one represents 10,000 people that feel the same way but didn't write or call. You can be the power of one multipied by 10,000. do it and quit making excuses like "My voice won't matter". It can and it will. Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121
If you are not adequately motivated to commit to a letter writing/calling campaign in order to stop this illegal war, think about this: A post from Joseph A. Palermo at the Huffington Post. He quotes from the book by William Goodman, Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, entitled: “Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush,” (Hoboken, New Jersey: Melville House Publishing, 2006). This post, Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush is compelling, please read it.Joseph Palermo’s bio from HuffPo: Assistant Professor, History, CSUS. Bachelor’s degrees in sociology and anthropology from UC Santa Cruz, master’s degree in history from San Jose State University, master’s degree and doctorate in American history from Cornell University. Expertise includes political history, presidential politics, presidential war powers, social movements of the 20th century, movements of the 1960s, civil rights, and foreign policy history.
I've added 2 new 'faces' to my blogroll. Check out "Beggars Can Be Choosers" and "Island Philosophy"
H/T to Anne for the huffpo linky.
10 comments:
I love your blog! I would really appreciate it if you would check out mine sometime, my friend:
http://islandphilosophy.blogspot.com/
Citizen activism really is essential to get Bush/Cheney off the dime here. Their intent, personified by the permanent bases, is a permanent occupation. Citizens need to threaten their legislators' jobs, to make them threaten Bush's job, to make him defer to reality and admit that permanent occupation hasn't been an option for a long time.
Right-o Op.
Permanent bases=Weplanned to stay.
Rat bastards.
The war in Iraq was horribly wrong but it would be a mistake to pull out too soon.
Bush has turned the place into an ungovernable wasteland which is why they must sort it out before leaving. If it isn't American/British soldiers who will be dying it will be the Iraqi people.
I don't like seeing UK/US soldiers in Iraq but it's not so easy as to just pull them out. Only when order is restored will the bloodshed truly end.
I like this blog. I like what it stands for.
http://jingoistic.blogspot.com
Jingo said "The war in Iraq was horribly wrong but it would be a mistake to pull out too soon."
Check out Michael Schwarz's The Myth of More:
This is the fundamental fallacy of the Myth of More. In fact, the American invasion and occupation of Iraq have visited a series of plagues on both the Iraqi and the American people -- and on the world as a whole; and these plagues will have no hope of amelioration until the U.S. military genuinely withdraws from that country or is expelled.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=11576
Yes but America should atleast stay and sort out the problems that have been caused because of the invasion.
I didn't agree with the war but you can't just leave the country in the state that it's in.
Jingo, staying and fixing would be the responsible thing to do, if fixing were possible. "We could put that darned fire out if only we could get enough gasoline on it." The "solution" you propose isn't helping in the first place - it's hurting, and more of the same will hurt more.
Check out this Kos diary. It brings into sharp relief the stark difference between "war" and "occupation." The fundamental problem with your position is that you are treating the problem like it's a war, when in reality it's an occupation that has passed the tipping point and can never succeed.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/12/14/145538/04
The application of enough military, no, police, power to control the populace would be even further detrimental to our national interest than the current debacle, were such augmentation even possible. It would KEEP us pinned down in Iraq, and weaken the ability of our military to respond to (or initiate) challenges elsewhere. And it would only be a temporary fix in any case - the insurrection/civil war would only reappear once the concentration of force was removed.
We have lost already. There are only two possible solutions that would lead to something that might be called "success" (and then only if one's name was GWB). One would be to go back to "war" footing and perforce exterminate even larger swaths of the Iraqi people than we have already. The other is to commit massively more resources forever to make the "occupation" a successful annexation. Either option is patently ridiculous.
I imagine it a bit like this: Unruly children are left to "play" with a plethora of priceless, beautiful, works of art-- costly, valuable irreplacable objects and a vunerable population. They break many, many, items. These bratty children continue their rough-housing unabated until finally, an adult steps in and sends the "children" into a "time-out" with a severe discipline promised for later. The children are not left to clean up the mess because clearly they cannot be trusted to "behave themselves". The grown-ups must insert themselves into the fray and clean up the mess. But first you have to get the children out of the room. This cannot happen while the Chimp-King still sits on the throne. The US and Britain's presence exacerbates, inflames and otherwise makes a bad situation worse. In order to make order of the mess in Iraq, we must withdraw and seek new counsel , make new agreements, and stop trying to FORCE our will upon others.
If the American troops leave it will just leave the country is a state of disarray.
I just can't see anything being resolved with American troops pulling out while the country is in the state that its in.
I just can't see anything being resolved with American troops pulling out while the country is in the state that its in.
Correct. And nothing will be resolved if the troops are left in, either. Somehow, someday, Iraq will be resolved. But it won't be by our doing, no matter how long our troops are there. What is the point of troops being there if they are not achieving any strategic objective?
Why do you think it is in America's power to settle Iraq's civil war? Whose side should we take?
Post a Comment