Today’s lesson is brought to you by the letter D, for Dirk. He is much less angry than me right now, and so has been given the task of dispensing something other than vituperation regarding this bullshit war. You can e-mail him here.
I think we should take a moment to think about what France has given the United States. The Statue Of Liberty. They gave it to us as a gift. Just to be nice. They practically gave us the Louisiana Purchase, which was more territory then we took from the British. The entire center part of our nation is all thanks to the French. And in the War of 1812, and in the War of Independence the French helped us to win. Not with just military assistance but with much needed money. For those who love your "Freedom" fries, look to the French. You would not be free without them.
And maybe this isn't the forum for this, but I'm gonna rant. (ed note: Please. His rants make mine look like all-out homicidal rages.)
1) Resolution 1441 says NOTHING about removing Saddam from power, nor does it say ANYTHING about using force. That's simply a U.S. interpretation. So now Dubya has made the precedent that any nation can interpret U.N. Resolutions any way they want. Who knows what hell that will bring the world in the future.
2) The war is illegal. Only Congress can declare war. It's right in the Constitution. It's also illegal as far as international law is concerned. The U.N. clearly states that war is only permitted in the case of direct self-defense. Preemptive wars are a blatant violation of the U.N. charter.
3) We've been told there will be every effort to minimize casualties. If so, why are they planning on dropping 3000 bombs on a country who's suffered so much poverty from sanctions that over 500,000 children and 2 million adults have died from dysentery, and other simple ailments. Right now 10 million people in Iraq are facing starvation. So far the sanctions have killed about one tenth of the Iraqi population. Somehow these people are a threat to every nation on earth? If someone told you that Denmark might blow us all up and destroy the U.S. you'd probably think they were crazy. However, if you look at Denmark's financial and military capabilities, they are much more able to do it than Iraq. In more honest times we would call this propaganda.
4) Another nation has been in violation of U.N. resolutions in the Middle East. For 30 years Israel has been in violation of being in the West Bank. As far as the Middle East is concerned Israel is a far greater threat to its neighbors then Iraq could ever hope to be.
5) We are told the Saddam has murdered his own people. This is false for the most part. He did gas the Kurds in northern Iraq (Saddam isn't a Kurd). The worst of the Kurdish slayer happened in 1988, while the U.S. and the U.K. were funding him to do so. In the 1990s one other nation performed a very brutal genocide against the Kurds. That nation is our ally, Turkey. For Kurds who live in Turkey you can be put to death as a child for requesting to have your Kurdish language taught in school.
6) There are many brutal dictatorships who have more weapons then Saddam in Africa. Why do we not go after them? Oil. Iraq's oil reserves are worth not billions, but TRILLIONS. Also, anyone wonder how strange it is that Halliburton will get all the construction contracts to rebuild Iraq? Who was Halliburton's CEO before 2000? Dick Cheney. I wonder how his stock options are doing? Just think of this little scam he's got going. First the taxpayers (you and I) pay to blow up a country. We let American men and women face death or injury to do it. Then Halliburton rebuilds the same country, and Dick Cheney pockets the cash. We could just skip the whole process and write personal checks directly to our Vice President. But of course others need to cash in too. Who else has stocks in Halliburton? George Bush Sr.. Colon Powell. Donald Rumsfeld. And who else? Surprise, surprise: the Bin Laden family.
7) There is one nation who is a real threat to world peace. This nation has used weapons of mass destruction on Canada, Mexico, Belize, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Honduras, Venezuela, Columbia, Panama, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Germany, Yugoslavia (Serbia), Ethiopia, Solmolia, Angola, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Vietnam, North Korea, South Korea, Combodia, Laos, Japan, Philippines, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, East Timor, and others. This same nation has overthrown democracies in Guatamala, and Iran. It has interrupted free elections in Italy, Venezuela, Chile, Iran, Indonesia, Bolivia, Peru, and others. It has funded terrorist groups and death squads in Cuba, Mexico, Honduras, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Panama, Argentina, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. It has used atomic weapons on Japan, the Bikini Islands, Canada (yes, Canada) and on it's own people. This nation is the United States.
Saddam is not a nice guy. He should be removed from power. We can make this happen without a quarter million troops killing Saddam's victims. The Kurds wanted to overthrow him after the first Gulf War. We not only let Saddam kill and maim the leaders and the people in the Kurdish rebellion, but we helped him to do it, telling him where to find them. They begged for our help, and we let them die. If you want to blame anyone for the horrible torture Saddam has done to his country, or his neighbors, first, look in the mirror. You could have stopped it (by protesting) and you didn't. The people in the streets are risking their freedom so more innocent people don't die.
Of course there is another alternative. Support George Bush while he jacks off to genocide. You're free to do that too. Of course I personally can't. Dick Cheney's stock options and my petrol bill being lower by 40 cents isn't more important to me than thousands of innocent people dying.
Dirk.