Memorial Day 2005

Memorial Day; what a perfect time to reflect on exactly how 1657 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis have lost their lives for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Oh, there was a reason; that reason is that the President of the US, supposedly the standard-bearer for truth and justice, lied like a dog to the world and his own countrymen.

Bush and his many surrogates told you over and over that there were WMDs, plans, secret facilities, mobile weapons labs, thousands of tons of anthrax, nerve gas, nukes. But they never had any proof to offer. Sometimes they tried... like poor Mr. Powell, decorated war hero and honorable man, sent to the UN to present aerial photographs that showed nothing and some taped "intercepted" phone conversations that supposedly "proved" that the nation of Iraq was a threat to the world. Then we have Rummy's famous and ridiculous statement about how "We know where they are... north, east, west, and south of Baghdad".

Most Americans didn't think that we should attack Iraq. Why? Because there was no proof of Iraq being a threat to us or anyone else. Also, the UN inspectors were on the ground. In a poll taken 2 days before the attack, 54% of Americans said that the inspections should be allowed to run their course.

But Dubya decided to go for broke with his failing presidency. He wanted to be a "war president" because as a peace president he was an abysmal failure. His domestic agenda of turning back the clock into the last century was DOA. Americans don't like abortion but they think it should be legal. Despite their incessant pandering to the religious wingnuts, when push came to shove Dubya couldn't even get his faith based initiative passed... his own party knows how bad of an idea that is. All the deficits are high... budget, trade, national debt... so Dubya needed an excuse to blame his horse shit on.

So he rolled the dice, and this result is definitely craps. Almost 1700 American dead, $300 billion spent, experts saying that the US is stuck there for 5 more years, American prestige sullied by reports of torture and murder of prisoners a la 1950s USSR.

So what does this war have to do with Memorial Day? Not a whole hell of a lot. You see, Memorial Day was a holiday for us to remember those who have died to keep this nation free. But freedom has nothing to do with this present war. This war was not provoked by Bush to keep you free. In fact, the war has made us LESS free because it has hurt our ability to travel freely in the world and invest in foreign economies. No, these 1700 didn't give their lives for freedom, they gave their lives because the POTUS lied like a dog. He lied to you, to me, to the world, the mothers and fathers of the soldiers, and to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM WHO DIED, PROBABLY MANY OF THEM BELIEVING THOSE LIES.

So this Memorial Day, you should hold a memorial service for THE TRUTH, which has been said to be the first casualty in any war. The truth has been beaten to death by George Dubya Bush, just like one of those mangled corpses in the American Gulags in Iraq and Afghanistan and Gitmo.