http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/7190A Wake-Up Call to The Democrats
by Timothy Gatto | May 2 2007
snip//
We are embroiled in a pre-emptive war. This is a war that was started by us against a nation that had not done anything to warrant an invasion from the United States. Some say it was to obtain oil, others say it was to stop the oil from flowing so that American oil corporations could reap more profits (read “Armed Madhouse by Gregg Palast, Plume Books). Some say it is to put an American presence in the Middle East, some say it was to install a US friendly democracy there. Whatever the reason, the war was wrong. Everyone in this nation except for the rightist of the right, and extreme neo-cons, all believe that this war was immoral and there is a running debate as to whether it is even legal.
Whatever the facts are, this war does not benefit the American people. It might benefit certain politicians and certain corporations, but as far as it having any real benefits to the American people, it has none. There should have never been an authorization for the use of force, but hindsight is 20-20. What is disturbing is that now, after everything that has been discovered about WMD’s and the plans of Saddam Hussien, we are still occupying Iraq. You may counter this charge with something like we are not “occupying” Iraq, but that is semantics, we are in reality, occupying a nation that is in the middle of a civil war that our actions have brought about. As a former soldier, I will tell you that we have no chance of winning this war with the assets that we have on the ground in Iraq. The American people know this too.
The 2006 elections were in reality a referendum against this war. You have held a circus on Capitol Hill with your non-binding “timetable” for pullout of American Forces from Iraq that you all knew would be vetoed by this administration, yet you did it anyway. This was a political stunt and does nothing to change the facts of where we are at today. You can water down the spending bill and bring it to the White house again and if it is not what this President wants, it will be vetoed again. Eventually, Americans will tire of you not “supporting” the troops, as the Republican controlled mainstream media will cast you as “unpatriotic” and you will eventually give this President what he wants. You will then have another “talking point” for your 2008 election campaigns. The American people know this too. We realize that you are playing politics with this war.
We also realize that we have lost many of our constitutional rights during this phoney “War on Terror”. This war is nothing more than a way to limit the rights of American citizens. So far we have seen Posse Comitatus severely weakened with a rider to the Insurrection Act. We have seen the President allow suspect treatment of prisoner of war. Some equate this torture with the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which by the way, also threw out the Writ of Habeas Corpus to any “enemy combatant” tried on non-US territory. We now have a concentration camp built at Guantanamo, Cuba. We have seen this President let the NSA use Wiretaps and electronic surveillance against US citizens in violation of the FISA court that allows this by letting the government get a warrant 72 hours after the act. We have seen the Patriot Act allow Federal Investigators to search our homes without our knowledge if as long as we are designated “terrorists” agents. We have also seen this President use “signing statements” continuously since he took office that allows him to abridge laws he doesn’t feel that he should observe in the name of a wartime “Unitary Presidency”.
snip//
The American People are well aware of what needs to be done. The American People are well aware of who needs to do it. This President and his Vice President need to be impeached. You might believe that it is only the far left that wants this, and this could well be the mistake of judgement that destroys the Democratic Party once and for all. We realize that you are letting American soldiers continue to be used as target practice so that Democrats can still have the Iraq war for a campaign issue next year. The American People know this also and they are not happy about it. You authorized this war and as Senator Gravel has said, Congress can Un-authorize this war. You can impeach, do whatever it takes to stop the killing that has taken over 600,000 Iraqi lives and over 3,300 American ones, not counting those that die in the air on the way to Ramstien or the ones that die Stateside. We have estimates of 35,000 severely wounded, I suspect more. We are in an immoral war and we have an almost dictatorial President and Congress plays political theater.
more...
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
