I Am Not Up To The Task

It is times like this I wish I was a better writer. If were, if I had the ability to articulate a point of view clearly, cleanly and concisely, I might be able to convince George W Bush that his thinking on pretty much every issue is completely incorrect.

Issue one: In a Vetran's Day speech yesterday, the President contended that the Democrats asking questions about whether or not his administration had used false intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq was, "deeply irresponsible".

"The stakes in the global war on terror are too high, and the national interest is too important, for politicians to throw out false charges," Mr. Bush said. "These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will. As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand behind them."*

Huh?

How is asking whether we have committed troops into harm's way on false pretenses in any way sending the message to our troops that their elected officials do not stand behind them? How do you spin that? To me, that seems to be the greatest show of support.

And let me say the thing that no other liberal seems to be willing to say out loud. For all the people on the extreme right posturing about "un patriotic Americans" who openly question the "war on terror", the President has committed the greatest unpatriotic act. He has lied to the American people, and the entire world community, and used our armed forces for purposes that have nothing to do with defending this country.

It is the President, and his administration, who are betraying the United States, by willfully disregarding the ideals we as a nation were founded on.

A note on this "ruthless enemy determined to destrory our way of life." Intelligent, college educated people do not fly planes into buildings over idealogical differences. This is not about not believing in the freedom of speech, or the protection against unwarranted search and seizure. It is not even about hatred of western religion. They do it because they live in a place being adversely effected by US policies, and violent action is the only way to get our attention. These are people who have suffered as few of us could comprehend, people who have watched economic sanctions starve their children. Who have seen the US meddle in their local affairs for no other reason than the protection of US financial interests. I do not condon the loss of innocent life, but it is time for us to realize that to a certain extent, we are simply reaping what we have sown.

The use of violent acts to attempt to change policy has a long history. There would be no Republic of Ireland except for armed resistance. And lest we forget, one of the events celebrated in history classes around the nation as a milestone in the US struggle for independance, the Boston Tea Party, was itself an act of terrorism.


There is much more to say on this, but it will have to wait