Dear Mr. President,
Shakespeare said it best: ” The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars….. But in ourselves.”
The fault, Mr. President, in our present situation, is ‘ not in our stars… But in our stripes.’
The American stars are something to be proud of, sir. Represented by the stars on our flag, they stand for truth and justice for all. It seems to me, that the stripes that are represented on our flag, now stand for the stripes worn by our detainees , and for the stripes that we force other nations to wear when we dominate them.
I was just watching Thomas Ricks, the author and journalist, on C-Span. He was speaking about his latest book , ‘The Gamble, ‘ which is about the occupation of Iraq. The really pertinent point I wish to make is about the whole mindset that our ‘mainstream’ leaders, pundits and reporters seem to have. They gloss over the fact that Iraq was illegally invaded and is being occupied for almost six years.
Need I repeat to you sir, that anywhere from 100,000 to one million Iraqi civilians are dead because of what our nation has done? It is disgraceful enough that over 4000 of our young soldiers are dead, with tens of thousands scarred (physically and mentally) for life! Yet, many Americans, including Mr. Ricks, who opposed the invasion and are outspoken about the crimes of the Bush/Cheney crew, continue this ‘C’est la vie ‘ argument.
Mr. President, were we not taught that ‘ Two wrongs do not make a right?’ If it was wrong to invade, is it not wrong to stay and become the colonial ruler of Iraq?
The world now knows that the Bush/Cheney crew lied us into an illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. The world now knows that the Bush/Cheney crew broke the Geneva Accords and committed torture and rendition.
Let us imagine a scenario whereupon the Chinese government, who have so much at stake economically in America, got antsy. They did not trust the Bush/Cheney crew to guarantee their enormous exports to America. They did not trust keeping their investments here, going by what the Wall Street cronies have gotten away with.
Since Bush and Cheney used pre emptive strategy, the Chinese wonder, why not them? So, they did. They attacked us, and with our vast resources out of country, they won and soon after began an occupation.
Such a terrible chain of events, all because of pre- emptive war.
The very folks who say they are saving us from tyranny and turmoil create worse for us.
Our nation, sir, faces the worst economic threat since the early 1930’s. You have inherited more than a mess…… A Disgrace! Isn’t it time to talk straight to the American people? Isn’t it time to explain that we are too stretched militarily throughout the globe?
We simply cannot afford to spend 50 cents of every federal dollar in budgeting for defense related affairs. We cannot afford to maintain over 750 military bases in over 100 different countries. Most urgent, we cannot afford 70 or 80 billion dollars a month for the Iraq occupation.
We are broke sir!
Tell the American public. Look straight into the camera and tell them that it is either ‘ guns or butter.’ We have enough ‘guns ‘ now sir, enough to supply the whole damned world!
While you are at it, sir, urge the Congress to bring the liars and con men from the previous administration to justice. How often, when some minor felon goes before the bar, and the judge lectures “After all, we are a nation of laws, and you did break the law… ”
The last time I looked, that lady statue outside the courts was blind …. To position and rank and social standing. Investigate and indict, sir, and then you and we as a nation can truly ‘move on.’
11 comments ↓
[...] Green Resistance added an interesting post today on Mr Obama: Investigate and Indict!Here’s a small readingYet, many Americans, including Mr. Ricks, who opposed the invasion and are outspoken about the crimes of the Bush/Cheney crew, continue this… [...]
Justice is blind – for most of us. But there’s a new class of elites, and they don’t have the same system of justice. They work for government.
But we don’t count iraqi casualties, right? So then none of this should matter. silly numbers, they don’t mean much for the politicians, whether its those murdered in war or those dollars murdered by their crazy deficits.
Ferenc you are right. We do treat the Iraqi as if they were lesser human beings. Wasn’t it Hitler who had a name for lesser human beings?
There is no such thing as a lesser human being with the exception of those who commit crimes against others because of their perceived notion of being of the superior race.
There was an incident in Baghdad where a man was taking his wife to one of the open clinics there. As he approached the clinic he was on the opposite side of the street from the clinic. There were soldiers blocking the crossing of the street and he asked them to let him cross to take his gravely ill wife to the clinic. They refused. She died on the other side of the street from the clinic.
When I found out about that I wrote an article titled “Not all soldiers are heroes”.
Great article, to the point in human terms. I took notes from it for conservation points. Thankyou
powerful stuff, thank you for writing this Phil! I hope that the antiwar movement wakes up again and stands up to this democrat who seems to be little more than a standard imperialist.
thanks to roger and crystal f. where are you guys located? are there folks out on street corners in your towns?
we here have been out for 4 plus years now.
i welcome any feedback. you can reach me direct at paf1222@bellsouth.net
thanks again and please feel free to read all my columns on this great site.
philip
Such a great article. And the cure is punishment for the criminals who pushed America into this immoral war. And shame on us if we continue to tolerate the same old thing from each new regime.
I used to see people on the streets protesting – now they’re all gone, but the wars keep raging on. Are people this consumed with partisan politics that killing is only bad when it’s done by republicans?
Allen. You almost hit on it. To make it absolutely correct, you need to change it to read ” …Killing is only bad to a Democrat when its done by a Republican Administration and only bad to Republicans when it is done during a Democratic Administration.”
This is what is wrong with our country.
That’s why I have been calling for the demise of the Republicans. And it is Republicans only because the Democrats are in power. When the Republicans admit they are just as complicit as the Democrats they are now pointing fingers at, then I will consider them worthy of calling themselves American. But never again will I vote for a candidate of the Republican Party. They had their chance and they refused to admit to their killing of the innocents. Instead they blame the Democrats for it.
I ask the Democrats since they are now in power to admit to the continuance of the killing of the innocents. If they won’t admit to it we need to prepare an optional party for the the moral members of their party, just as we need to provide an option for the Republican moral people.
The only remedy to the criminal behavior of our criminals is punishment. If there is no punishment, there will be no change.
And putting the Republicans back in power is not an acceptable option. They should be gone for good. And the Democrats might need to follow. Their clock is ticking.
Wait a second. Let me see if I get this straight. The democrats are in power, they’re waging war and killing people in Iraq, and they’re escalating war in Afghanistan. They’re protecting all the bush people, and keep in almost all his policies. they’re violating all their campaign promises, and stealing our money to give it to corporations.
You’re not telling me the best thing for the country is to vote for a Democrat are you? You see, I’ll never vote for either a democrat or a republican. Maybe we should follow what that Perry guy is saying and just secede from this mess. How about that?
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