I know I write a lot of articles opposing the war in Iraq. But until our loved ones are out of that nightmare, I don’t see how I can stop. Each week I watch the memoriam on ABC’s “This Week.” As I watch the list of America’s finest that were lost that week being scrolled down the screen, I can’t help but think about the hundreds of people whose lives will never be the same. And that is for each and every one of these brave men and women.
For the families and close friends the loss blows a hole the size of Texas right through their very soul. And it is a wound they will carry to their grave. It is a sadness only those who have lived through it can understand. And then there are the hundreds or perhaps thousands of people whose lives they had touched in some way. Every teacher, class mate, sports team mate, fellow church 
member, neighbor, and so on. All these lives are affected by the loss of each fallen soldier.
My point is that the human cost of war is extremely high. Far too high for the causes espoused by the Bush administration. Today, new poll numbers show Bush’s approval rating dipped below 30% for the first time since Carter. And it’s all about the war in Iraq. So, if the overwhelming majority of Americans want to end the war, why does everything seem like business as usual?
I remember back during Viet Nam, hardly a week went by without an anti war rally or sit-in or some other protest demanding an end to the war, and it was mostly college kids. So, why are college kids sitting this one out? I think it is perhaps the all volunteer military that keeps things quite. A lot of the protests of the sixties were about the draft. But just because kids are not being forced into military service, does not mean we shouldn’t be protesting this illegal and immoral war.
The kids dying in Iraq today did volunteer, but let’s face reality here. Most enlisted people just needed a job because college was not an option for them. Some are there to take advantage of college opportunities. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they were shanghaied. I’m sure they went in with their eyes open, ready and proud to possibly pay the ultimate price for the sake of their countries security and freedom. But to sacrifice them for this ill-conceived disaster we call the Iraq War is criminal.
It is deeply troubling to me to see George W. Bush and his ilk look the American people in the eye and with a straight face, proclaim that the sacrifice of our most precious asset (our young people), 
for the causes he espouses is “the right thing to do.” It is truly amazing to me that I belong to the same species as these people. How in the hell can they possibly fathom that sending human beings to their certain death can be seen as a legitimate means to their planned end. It is truly mind bending.
We had a legitimate cause to go after Osama Bin Laden and his gang, although I think that was botched. Even if everything the Bush administration had said was true, it still was not a worthy enough cause to have sent our troops into harms way in Iraq. And there is even less cause to keep them there now.
For those on the Right who will now lambaste me over this article, I AM NOT ADVOCATING ABANDONING THE IRAQI’S. There are dozens of ways to help the good people of Iraq, I just happen to believe military action should not have or should not now be one of them.
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Devin Barber, Politics Correspondent
Devin’s column, “Left Of The Right” published every Tuesday and Thursday to Gather Essentials: Politics is a Blue Collar Democrats take on current political news.
Devin was raised by proud Roosevelt Democrats. Being the son of parents counted among the throng of Americans displaced by the Great Depression has given Devin a deep rooted passion for causes dealing with the poor and the working class.
You can find all of Devin’s columns at http://gather.com/leftoftheright
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Comments: 35
"Spiderman III Breaks Box Office Records, Queen Of England visits White House, Paris Hilton Going To Jail, And Oh Yeah, Dozens Of Americans Continue To Be Violently Massacred In A WAR Every Week".
I wrote a cranky article a few days back that asked if we can still remember the Virginia Tech tragedy. It seems to me that many of us have either forgotten it or refuse to draw any lessons from it. How many people on gather do you see yammering that cho was just "Evil". Yeah. Use the E word and then you do not have to think about it any more.
For all our pride in bein Americans I think that many of us are unwilling to take the time to focus on our roles as voters or citizens. Jefferson spoke of the vital role of education in creating the American Republic by anchoring it in the wisdom of the voter. Seems to me most voters these days aint got much wisdom. Hey we voted in a President not once but twice who bragged about getting Cs in college. We are poorly educated ourselves and we no longer want our leaders to be any better.
We went into Iraq with an agenda. That agenda was to set up Military Bases because we never planned to leave!
You might be interested in this article:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/iraq-intro.htm
Just think how what we are doing now will come home to roost in the years ahead. It can't be avoided. We will be living with thousands of wounded veterans, physically and mentally. The millions of displaced Iraqis are our responsibility too. And the many thousands of Iraqis who have lost a loved one will not forget who was supposed to be providing them security: the occupying force in their homeland. Then there is the economic cost which we are putting on our "credit card." The debt must be paid.
What goes around comes around. There is no escape. As a nation, we have made our choice, and we will pay the price.
Actually I am more afraid of Bush, then terrorism, at this point in my life.
Thank you for the article. Now I don't feel so alone in my wish for peace not war.
I believe what you wrote is the feelings of the majority of Americans. I often wonder about those on the extreme Right (some of them make ignorant comments right here on gather) who talk about "killing enough of them", "nuke them", and lambaste those of us who don't agree with the King George and his Jesters have ever been to war.
Thanks for the perspective.
Namaste, Wayne
Although I'm a little surprised the wing nuts from the Right havn't already showed up to call me a Bush basher.
Bush is spending our soldiers like the Republican ran congress spent our money. The problem is that money can be replaced, human beings cannot. And this president doesn't seem to give a damn. I saw where a man was sentenced to 2 years in prison for possesing stolen property even though the judge agreed with the man's claim he didn't know the stuff was stolen. "Ignorance is not an excuse" was the judges statement. The judge said the man should have known better than to buy from a private party without proof of ownership.
My point is that Bush's claim that he didn't know that much of the intelligence was false is no excuse. He still took our country into war under a false pretense. Therefore he is guilty of High Treason and should be immediatley impeached.
It's true that the Iraqis need to have a political sollution. But unfortunately, you need to have much improved security to have the potential for a political sollution. The Sunnis aren't going to work with the Shiites when they're executing them in the streets. The Shiites aren't going to work with the Sunnis when there are car bombs going off in their markets.
People also say "why can't the Iraqis control their own security and take the lead". The Iraqi security forces (army, police, etc) have been getting much better, especially as they work more with our troops. In many places, the Iraqis are taking the lead. But unfortunately, one of the reasons why they've been having so many problems is because our military was buisy handing off the security responsiblilities before they were ready, and the situation in the area would again turn into chayos. That's why our troops are going out to provide the Iraqis security instead of throwing it to them before they could handle it.
re: "Actually I am more afraid of Bush, then terrorism" I don't think you will get anyone in Bagdad or Darfur to agree to that statement.
- reasons there are few anti-war rallies:
mario has a telling point: in that there is no draft forcing non-volunteers to go. Nothing pollinates anti-war rallies quite like a draft does.
anti-war rallies are not popular because certain government, corporate and social worlds might black list participants. This brake would be loosened if there became a draft.
- reasons the death of our service members in the Iraq war are not raging front page headlines every time one of them dies;
Our society allows for the existence and perpetuation of a warrior culture within our ranks; for self defense purposes and because much of the world still runs by 'survival of the fittest' and 'success only for the aggressive' mentalities.
As a society we know that warriors die in battles. As a society, we would rather not have battles and deaths; but these things are always with us and we have little choice but to become a little cold or jaded to it.
The war is also an outlet for national feelings of impotency over 9-11, the continued existence of al quaeda, and the freedom of bin laden. Unfortunately, bringing Saddam down did not satisfy the public's hankering for 9-11 justice.
It's true that many of our volunteer service members currently in Iraq enlisted under a passion for wanting to visit retribution upon the 9-11 perpetrators. Those members are stuck settling for roles in a different war. They are performing well.
Many of those who enlisted in the National Guard never expected to go to combat in a foreign country in exchange for the college financial assistance that had been carroted to them. Once upon a time the role of the National Guard was to keep semi-trained forces ready near their homes to be used only in the cases of local or national emergencies.
Back in those days, the military maintained troops and back-up troops in the field, a large number of equipped and trained standing units scattered across the globe and on our domestic lands, and maintained a large number of equipped and trained reserve units. The National Guards were then the last fallback resource for the military's access to pre-trained semi-readied troops in the case of global confrontation.
It is unfathomable to me that this police action in a third world is causing us to call up from our last resorts. It makes me wonder just how small the military has become? And since we (the taxpayers) haven't seen any tax decreases thanks to the downsizing of the military, just where did/is all the money going? Not to social security, that's for sure.
I'm against the war and I support the soldiers.
Our warriors can be sent to other playgrounds to exercise their ways. Darfur comes quickly to mind.
We ARE an occupying force in Iraq. They have a legitimate reason to hate and fear us. What the Bushies did is to send our troops into harm's way ill-equipped and into the wrong place. Our soldiers in Afghanistan are closer to the perpetrators of 9/11 than anyone in Iraq.
Plus, the point has (ligitimately) made that we need to STOP this "war on terror" nonsense. Terror is not an entity, it is a tactic. One cannot declare war on a tactic, only on the nation(s) who use the tactic. We were not attacked by a nation, but by a gang of criminals. Dissolving the Iraqi government and dismissing their security forces was not the way to fight the true perpertrators of the 9/11 attacks.
Mitch... .would the Wahhabist Islamist of the Sudan who have slaughter 400,000 people so far because they are not Muslim be considered some of your "freedom fighters"?
The war in Iraq is Mr. Bush's war in every sense of the word. There was never any reason to go in there other than that Saddam was a bad man. Well no duh...that describes about 1/4 or better of the rulers in countries around the world. We will probably never know why Mr. Bush was so driven to go into Iraq. Delusional people are rarely able to clearly articulate their delusions for the rest of us. It's unfortunate for all of us that in this case the delusional person happened to be the President of the United States who had just conveniently decided to pick a second war in the midst of another war.
Have you a quote of Bush ever saying anywhere at any time that Saddam every had anything to do with 9/11? Trying to tie Bush to those ideas is not only shameful but also down right liying. I'm surprised that you would chastise Bill in one sentense and then do the exact same thing in the next. How about some honest political debate and disscussion.
The terrorist didn't follow us to Iraq. They have been seeking us and others out for 30 years striking US targets on average every six months. They have just gotten more sophisticated in their weaponry and more aggressive in their determination to do massive damage to western targets. Its a dangerous combination for the West and America as we don't have the will to do what it takes to stop the maddness. But I suspect another one or two major catosrtophic attacks and they will find that our resolve can change faster than the wind. Lets hope it won't be to late by then. Its too bad that the Saudis foiled the oil field plot of last week. I am sure that the Saudi oil Sheiks have the will and the means to do major damage and wouldn't hesitate to retaliate if the attack would have been succesful.
I am pointing at how the nation was whipped up to go after the 9-11 perpetrators and how that fervor let us end up in (or allowed us to be manipulated into) the different war in Iraq.
I also commented on how toppling Saddam had not satisfied our desire for 9-11 justice. I guess I should have stated what I thought was obvious, that we don't feel 9-11 justice from toppling him because we know Saddam was not a guilty party in the WTC tragedy.
I stand corrected.
Politicians and bankers lining their pockets.
Grief and wasted lives.
My fear is the opposite of Rich's. When the next catastrophe happens, people will become even more extreme in their demands for security and for "victory." The next leader elected after the next catastrophe is likely to grab even more executive power than George Junior has. Before that happens, we should be clear about our preference for freedom and democracy. (Anyone who would sacrifice freedom for security deserves neither, as Ben Franklin said. And will have neither, I would add.)
So, I agree with Mia that we need to find a solution in Iraq, and the solution should express our values, including absolute freedom for the Iraqis to choose their own destiny (including what to do with their oil). We should get all the way out as quickly as we possibly can. My creative solution is to turn the security issue in Iraq over to the UN or possibly NATO.
the UN is out of the question. It is a defunct organization fully corrupt and ineffective as is evidenced by any of the missions they have taken on in Africa or Europe from Bosnia to the Ivory Coast to the Sudan etc etc etc.
Rich,
Bush won't be around when the next one hits and clear thinking educated people already know this mess goes way farther back than Bush and will continue way into the 21st century and beyond if we don't wise up.
I'd like to think we could sit at a round table and talk ourselfs into a solution but when the other sides solution is my that my side has to convert or die I don't see a way for me or other freedom loving people to sit there for very long.
re: "by your standards we should do away with Congress and the Administration."
.....How can you possibly draw that kind of conclusion from what I wrote???? WIth that logic maybe you can solve this for me..... If red minus green is 14 how fat is a sound wave?
RE; "Corruption and ineptitude apply to our government..." Ineptitude probably from day one. Corruption most of the rest of the time in small segments of otherwise probably decent administrations. Unfortunately the guilty by association... hang em all... mentality humans seem to have, distracts from the goodness of the rest.
Grant, Harding, Nixon, and Clinton Administrations come to mind as probably the most tainted with corruption. I suspect the current administration takes first place for ineptitude of handling of Iraq although I lay a great deal of that at the feet of the politicians who dictate what our soilders can and cannot during a time of war.
Your post was anything but stupid. You have in my opinion correctly identified why the Iraq situation is still out of control. Who would have thought a people would want not want to live free. It is much like airplane hijackings. Prior to 9/11 who would have ever thought that a hijacker would fly a plane into a building on purpose. Before 9/11 they landed somewhere demanded money shot a hostage or two and then were appeased. 9/11 changed the complection of what a determined evil minded person is willing to do.
Sorry for my absence, but I've been on the road since Tuesday on a comedy run. (Look for my soon to be published article "LEFT OF THE RIGHT: I Spent Three Days in a Car with a Republican.")
The debate throughout this thread has been quite admirable. Even Rich seems calm.
I recently watched a documentary about Cain and Abel. It said that most Bible scholars agreed that God's judgment of Cain for killing Abel, was that not only was Cain responsible for the loss of Abel, but also for the generations of his descendents who would not be born. I don't know about any of you, but placing that kind of perspective on killing, has forced even this anti-war liberal to re-evaluate what constitutes justice in regards to killing or being responsible for the intentional death of another human being. It really changes the meaning of the commandment "thou shalt not kill." In this light, the idea of sending our fellow human beings to certain death for the purpose of inflicting death is an act so profoundly detrimental to our society and our future, who knows if we haven't already robbed ourselves of any future at all.