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NOVEMBER 22, 2005 – Last week
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) raised a firestorm by suggesting it was time
to pack up and troops and come home from Iraq.
Contrary to the nonsensical distortions
of Republicans in response, Murtha said that he was not advocating
anything resembling a surrender but rather acknowledging that we
obtained victory long ago and have no further reason to be there.
This
Wall
Street Journal article gives a nice rundown on the fact that
Murtha did not just form this opinion from nowhere or suddenly
“flip-flop.” From the beginning, he was saying, Bush is going about
this the wrong way, and it can’t be won as he wants to do it.
It gives links to
this article from before the war in which Murtha laid out
that, “''All of us
want to get rid of Saddam,'' Murtha says. But he believes that the
younger Bush ''went about it the wrong way,''
and
this article from May of 2004 in which Murtha lays out that, “We
cannot prevail in this war as it is going today… We either have to
mobilize or we have to get out."
That was almost
a year ago, and clearly we have not mobilized anymore since then.
Murtha’s main
argument now is that we went there for WMD’s and to get Saddam.
There are no WMD’s, we’ve gotten Saddam, so why are we still there?
Now the
Republicans are fighting back with their holier-than-thou lies,
giving their disingenuous, FOX News-brand answer to why we are
supposedly still there. The “terrorists,” they say, and
“democracy,” throwing strong-sounding but inaccurate claims. And
the Democrats don’t quite have the courage yet to really lay out the
simple reality: that not only shouldn’t we stay in Iraq now, that
we should have pulled out long ago – and, that the reason we are
still there has nothing to do with terrorists or democracy.
As we
wrote back on December 16, 2003:
“If the
police broke into someone’s house and trashed the place entirely,
killed the pet dog and two of the kids, because they thought there
were drugs in the apartment, but it turned out, after they
searched and searched and searched, that they had been given a bad
tip and there never were drugs to begin with – those police would
have some answering to do and a price to pay."
The reality is
that the law makes plain what should have been done in Iraq. For
those who supported the “preemptive” war based on “intelligence”
about WMD’s, once we found out there were none, we had no other
choice but to leave and pay the price for our misguided actions.
It’s just that simple. Police who raid a house on a bad tip (or
because they made up supposed tips) must, upon finding nothing,
immediately leave. It is not an option – to repeat, not an option –
to remain and keep the place. Even if you think the guy is a drug
kingpin, if you show up and find nothing, you must go.
But we didn’t
leave when we didn’t find WMD’s, and we didn’t leave when got
Saddam. And the reality is, as I pointed out Jay Diamond’s WRKO-Boston
radio show a while back, that we are never – never – going to leave
Iraq. Ever. We are not there because of “terrorists,” we are not
there because of democracy.
As we pointed
out back in May 2003 in this article
http://www.moderateindependent.com/v1i3inept.htm :
“All along it seemed that Bush
was possibly inept diplomatically, and that's why the
multinational coalition didn't form and UN resolutions failed.
The reality is that President Bush never wanted the support of
France, Germany, Russia, and the UN. In fact, he wanted to avoid
having it at all costs…
“Before even the first week of the war
was over, Vice President Dick Cheney's old company, Haliburton,
was given a $400+ million dollar contract - they said it was for
putting out the 7 oil fires that were burning. As we now know,
Haliburton has also been given control of pumping and distributing
Iraq's oil for the foreseeable future (see
CNN story). All of this was given to Dick Cheney's old
company during just the first week of the war, in, as is no
secret, a secret, closed "bidding" process (see
CNN story)…
“…when you start looking at the
realities of Operation Iraqi Freedom, you have to start
questioning. The first U.S. Marine to die died securing an oil
field. The first task accomplished was securing oil fields. Even
during President Bush's address to the nation on the eve of war,
when he said he had a message for the Iraqi troops, before he said
not to use chemical weapons, before he said not to commit
atrocities, the first thing he said to them, with all of America
and the world watching, was, "Do not destroy oil wells, a source
of wealth that belongs to the Iraqi people."
Before saying don't use weapons of mass destruction.
Can't imagine that is true? Here is
the full quote (you can read the full
text of the speech on the government's own website):
"And
all Iraqi military and civilian personnel should listen carefully
to this warning. In any conflict, your fate will depend on your
action. Do not destroy oil wells, a source of wealth that belongs
to the Iraqi people. Do not obey any command to use weapons
of mass destruction against anyone, including the Iraqi people.
War crimes will be prosecuted. War criminals will be punished. And
it will be no defense to say, "I was just following orders.""
The reality is
that “terrorists,” which never existed in Iraq before we made them
through our actions, and “democracy” have nothing to do with why we
are still in Iraq. In fact, many of the “terrorists” who are there
now popped up because they saw what was happening: that we were
never leaving, but instead going to stay to ensure we had control of
whatever government was there so… we could have control of the oil.
Everyone seems to
forget that we are building and have built massive new “enduring”
military bases in Iraq – not exactly a sign of impending withdrawal.
As The
Christian Science Monitor reported more than a year ago:
“…a
dozen is the number of so-called "enduring bases" located by John
Pike, director of GlobalSecurities.org. His military affairs
website gives their names. They include, for example, Camp Victory
at the Baghdad airfield and Camp Renegade in Kirkuk. The Chicago
Tribune last March said US engineers are constructing 14 "enduring
bases," but Mr. Pike hasn't located two of them.
“Note the terminology "enduring" bases. That's Pentagon-speak for
long-term encampments - not necessarily permanent, but not just a
tent on a wood platform either. It all suggests a planned
indefinite stay on Iraqi soil that will cost US taxpayers for
years to come.”
Get the idea yet? You may not have
thought this a big deal, but you can bet the people of Iraq got the
idea. If you don’t think our continued presence there is the reason
for the violence, you are not paying attention. It is not
terrorists out to get America, it is Iraqis furious that their
nation has been taken and will never be given back, just as you
would be if some foreign nation invaded America and started building
"enduring" bases here.
The simple
reality is that of course we should leave Iraq now – Murtha is
correct, our troops have accomplished all they were sent to do, and,
as many Democratic candidates and elected officials have said, all
they do now is put a bad, oppressive, occupational face on our
nation, and remain as sitting ducks.
And the larger
reality is that we should have left Iraq long ago. Once we knew
there were no WMD’s, it was time to get out.
But we didn’t
leave, and the reality is we never – never – are going to, as long
as the Bush/Limbaugh Republicans are in charge. The only
circumstances under which our troops will leave will be if they can
leave without leaving. In other words, we will only leave troops if
we have control of the oil through control of whatever government
ends up there. And if you question this, do a reality check for
yourself: do you believe for one second the Bush administration
would leave and allow for a new Iraqi government to decide to give
oil and rebuilding contracts to Russia or Germany instead of the US?
It is time, America, to start putting everything together.
Put this information about the “enduring” bases together with this
information from our recent article
Conservatism is the New Communism:
“Saudi Arabian billionaire investor
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said Tuesday he now holds a 5.5% voting
stake in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (the parent company of FOX
News) and is ready to raise his stake, especially if it is
necessary to shield Murdoch from any potential hostile takeover
attempts by the likes of John Malone's Liberty Media…
"In an interview on CNBC Tuesday, Alwaleed said he has
communicated his strategy to Murdoch and was "mobilized and ready"
to further boost his voting stake "if we feel that the strategy of
Mr. Murdoch and his son and his family is being threatened by any
outsider." He added: "Clearly, this is something we will not
accept, because we are very happy as shareholders with what Mr.
Murdoch is doing."
"A News Corp. spokesman Tuesday declined to comment on the news,
but company sources said the Saudi prince has long been regarded
by Murdoch as an ally in his showdown with Malone.”
A billionaire Saudi Prince "will not
accept" someone changing FOX News from the conservative propaganda
station that it is. He "has long been regarded by (FOX News owner
Rupert) Murdoch as an ally..." He “clearly” will not let anyone
change FOX News’ Bush/Limbaugh-conservative-propaganda format
because he is “very happy… with what Mr. Murdoch is doing.”
It’s time to start looking at the larger
picture. There can be no useful debate on Iraq until America boldly
steps through the looking glass and gets the courage to see the
plain, obvious reality. Big-mouthed Republican bitches mouthing the
words of marines on the floor of Congress in defense of dishonest
and delusional policies is not courage. Murtha calling for the
rapid redeployment of our troops to actually defend our nation
rather than secure business deals for Halliburton and American oil
companies is courageous.
But what would be really courageous is
to call things as they are. The lines about “surrendering” to the
“terrorists” or giving up on democracy are nonsense. Not only must
we immediately leave Iraq, we should have done it long ago, as soon
as we found out there were no WMD’s. But more importantly, someone
has got to have the balls to call it like it is: the only reason we
are still there – and likely the only reason we are there to begin
with – is for the oil, and for the sake of further making America a
Saudi-like nation ruled by a single family which controls things
with their massive oil wealth and through the use of religion in an
extreme form.
The truth is so simple it fits all in
one sentence, while the liars need 24 hour-a-day propaganda to sell
their lies. Look again at this statement again:
...for the sake of further making
America a Saudi-like nation ruled by a single family which
controls things with their massive oil wealth and through the use
of religion in an extreme form.
It is not even an entire sentence, but
it is a truth so plain it becomes obvious with just a handful of
words.
The Iraq war is not an attempt to free
Iraq, it is an attempt to further enslave America in servitude to
the family of anarchists named Bush that has entirely taken control
of every branch of the government and seeks to dismantle our
democracy and replace it with a religious fascist state that exists
to perpetuate their own personal power and wealth. They like
war because war is anarchy - they can kill as they wish without
trial or lawyers - make a deck of cards and kill everyone whose face
they decide to put on it without trial or even clear charges; they
can hand out and take our tax dollars as they wish, without
accounting or legislative approval for the particulars. That
is what the Bush vision of "freedom" is: anarchy, freedom to commit
criminal acts without the impediment of law.
America has a different definition of
what freedom is, and it is the freedom to pursue happiness in a
nation where all men are equal, and where strong arm bullies with no
respect for the law are called criminals and locked up accordingly.
It is time to get the courage – people
in both parties, as well as us Moderate Independents – to deal with
this ugly, obvious truth and so to immediately end this mess in
Iraq. The war only exists to perpetuate the anarchistic state
of war and further the Bush family's designs on permanently
controlling America, turning it into a fascistic, religious state
over which they preside, as the Saudi rulers preside over their
nation. The war must be ended immediately. We must trust
in God, that if we do the right thing, which is to end the war right
now and make true amends for the wrong we have done, that America
will once again live in God's good graces.
Or we can just “stay the course” and
keep losing five soldiers a day because we are "cowards" who can’t
handle the truth.
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