Like it or not: THE WAR IS OVER

The war in Iraq is over. For the second time in a generation, a half-witted Texan (Just what is it about Texas) and the dirty old men that comprise his administration have used our children as cannon fodder for the Military Industrial Complex and have forced them into a dangerous, untenable conflict; A quagmire, if you will. The revelations of the latest atrocities - and more are coming to light each day - of stressed-out soldiers gunning down entire families of men, women and little children in cold blood - is the final writing on the wall. Any hope of winning the hearts and minds of the Muslim world in general and the Iraqi people in particular has been utterly, irreparably destroyed.

The only thing to do now is to admit that the entire affair was a dreadful mistake, cut our losses and get the hell out of there while the getting is good, as quickly and as orderly as possible (if order is even an option anymore). The far-right's insane rationalization for this obscenity of a war, from day one, has been thus: "Do you think that the world would be better off if Saddam Hussein were still in power? Good question! Here's my answer:

YES! GODDAMMIT, YES!!!

At the very least, Iraq was semi-functional before March of 2003 when our president made the stupidest foreign policy blunder in American history by invading it. Saddam was a thug, no question about it. His two sons were even worse. But at least the average Iraqi could get through a typical day without fear of being blown to kingdom come or of being shot down in the street like an animal. Am I right? Do I exaggerate? Saddam would have eventually fallen of his own weight - Dictators always do - Time and again history has proven just that. Unfortunately, this administration's knowledge of the history of the world is woefully deficient. It has been said that a people who are ignorant of their own history are doomed to repeat it. The Bush Mob could very well serve as a textbook example of that old adage. Then again one would expect them to be ignorant as to the lessons of Viet Nam. During the swinging sixties, these clowns had "other priorities" ( Dick Cheney's own words) didn't they?

The Bush/Cheney cabal has created a geo-political catastrophe that will take more than a century to remedy - if it's ever remedied at all. This war was never about weapons of mass destruction. It was never about "freedom and democracy". Are you naive enough to believe that an administration that stole two elections and gave us the Patriot Act gives a hoot in hell about freedom?

Come to think of it, name one time in history that our government has even seriously advocated freedom in the Arab world....Are you stumped? Well, you should be because it never happened. The genesis of "Arab extremism" can be traced back to the day in 1953 when the CIA, under the orders of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran and installed a US controlled lap dog (The Shah) who led a brutally repressive regime until he was overthrown by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. Think about that: Iran has not been democratic since the United States ended democracy there in 1953. What was Ike thinking???

That brings me to the question which is begging to be answered: If our government doesn't give a rat's ass about freedom, why the hell did they invade Iraq?

It was the oil. It was all about the oil. It was all about the fortunes that a handful of White House insiders and a their greedy corporate connections could make off of that oil. Do you think for one minute that these assholes would have even thought about invading Iraq had its main export been galvanized bicycle clamps? There was never, ever a shred of noble purpose behind it. To believe otherwise is to deceive yourselves.

And what has been the result of all of this madness? Over twenty-five hundred American kids and well over one hundred thousand Iraqi citizens are dead. Dead. Ponder THAT for a minute or two.

Eight years ago, the House and the Senate came close to removing a sitting president from office for lying about having an affair with a young female intern. When are they going to wake up and realize that the transgressions of Bill Clinton are a mere pinprick when placed in juxtaposition with the George W. Bush bloodbath?

Pray for peace.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

PS - A special word of thanks to Condoleeza Rice for proving, once and for all, that black women are capable of being just as evil as white men. You go, girl!!