Our Constitution is Being Eroded

Our nation is bleeding today. Our constitution is being eroded slowly but surely by an administration on a surge of power grabbing. The founding principles of liberty and justice for all have become just words rather than high principles of America as a country. We, the people, need to speak up and let the administration know we are no longer accepting this state of affairs. We must stand up again and again until we get our country back. The mid-term elections are only a few short weeks away. We need to be very careful in our choices on that day. Some incumbent legislators are not acting in our best interests. The opportunity for change is at hand if we are strong and wise enough to take up the reins and drive for ourselves. We have little to lose by action. Inaction guarantees further loss of our country's heritage and of our constitutional freedoms.

RIP America

RIP America, September 28, 2006. On the darkest day in American history the US Congress passed into law a bill confirming the right of our government to use torture in interrogation. The right of habeus corpus was removed from any person designated as a terrorist. The provisions of the law exten to American citizens who may never crossed our continental borders in their lifetime.

As of this day the America we all knew and loved no longer exists. In the name of fighting terror we have taken one giant step down the moral ladder. Once again we as a country have demonstrated our lack of real integrity. Once again all of America has lost. I grieve for a country that once made me proud. I am embarrassed, angry, and disappointed that these actions were taken in my name by our Congress.

Iraq Is Too Expensive to Continue

The latest congressional analysis shows the ongoing occupation of Iraq is costing about $2 billion PER WEEK. This cost is about three times the initial costs of the war due to repair, replacement, and permanent base construction. At the same time a majority of Iraqi citizens are both opposed to the American presence and supportive of attacks on our soldiers. We can no longer afford the costs in either dollars or lives. We must call for an immediate end to the occupation and an immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq before our country is completely bankrupted by the ongoing farce.

Iraq Is Too Expensive to Continue

The latest congressional analysis shows the ongoing occupation of Iraq is costing about $2 billion PER WEEK. This cost is about three times the initial costs of the war due to repair, replacement, and permanent base construction. At the same time a majority of Iraqi citizens are both opposed to the American presence and supportive of attacks on our soldiers. We can no longer afford the costs in either dollars or lives. We must call for an immediate end to the occupation and an immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq before our country is completely bankrupted by the ongoing farce.

No Torture Bill in America!!

Readers continue to complain about the recent speech by Venezuelan President Chavez. At the same time we see no complaints about the torture bill winding its way through Congress at the behest of the President. Why are we so intent on complaining about the words of a foreign president when our country is in real danger of further eroding its moral standing in the world?

The bill now being considered in both houses of Congress would allow our government to bypass rules established by the Geneva Conventions. The bill would allow various means of interrogation which have long been considered torture by most reasonable people. The bill would also give retroactive protection to those members of the military and the CIA who may have illegally performed such tortures in the past. We cannot allow this to happen.

Our moral standing in the international community is at an all time low as a result of our invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq and the publicized mistreatment of prisoners. That we even allow discussion of the proposed torture bill is unconscionable. That our legislators may allow such a bill to pass is beyond imagining. Let foreign presidents rail as they will, we have larger fish to fry on our own soil.

We Have Lost In Iraq

The violence escalates on a daily basis in Iraq. More American dead are added to the toll almost every day. And yet we are assured that “all is well” by our Congress and the administration. I must disagree. Anyone who thinks the war in Iraq is not lost is delusional. The record of increasing deaths and failing infrastructure in the face of a continuing occupation is very clear. We are not losing. We have lost.

We Americans need to take a good look at where our country is going. Our stature in the world is falling and will not be improved so long as we remain in Iraq. The world holds us responsible for the situation in Iraq; and rightly so since we did invade what was at the time a peaceful country. When our troops entered Iraq we had not been attacked, local citizens had relative safety (compared to the situation today) and jobs, and public services were intact. Today not one of those descriptors fits in most parts of Iraq.

Our actions are destroying a country and its economy to the benefit of large corporations and political contributors. Our military is stretched beyond reasonable limits. Enough is enough. The time has come to admit defeat, bring our troops home, and commit what remains of our resources to the healing of the wounded and the restoration of both our own country and Iraq. We have no more time to waste.

World, I Am Sorry

As we continue the daily trek toward five years in Iraq, the news from Baghdad and other locations worsens on a daily basis. The number of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan is higher now than at any point since the initial invasion by American forces. For what has happened in both countries to date as a result of my government’s action I offer my humble apology to the entire world. Please accept my sincere apology for what America has become.

I am sorry that in two separate elections nearly half of American voters supported George Bush as the country moved toward being the biggest bully on the block. We as a voting public offered our trust where none was due. As thanks for our support we were rewarded with a large dose of fear. We have seen our civil rights eroded steadily by both a secretive administration and a subservient Congress. Today we have lost much of our power to protest the misdeeds of the government thanks to the so-called Patriot Act. Today we are subject to government spying on our private affairs without either warrant or notice.

In the next few weeks an election of great importance will take place. This time we have a chance to vote our ideals. We can look at the track record of the current administration and learn for ourselves. We have the choice of changing the course of this country or we can continue the same downward spiral. For the sake of our position in the world I for one hope we find a new direction.

We Need Different Opinions

In his 9/11 address President Bush continued to defend the ongoing occupation of Iraq and asked all Americans to “put aside their differences and fight for victory.” We all know what he really meant. The President prefers we stop voicing our own opinions and bow to the wishes of the administration. I say “No.” We need different voices and differing opinions in this country. Voicing our differences allows for finding middle ground. In the middle ground we find a course that best suits the country. Either end of a polar spectrum tends to pull the country too far in one direction.

All of us who oppose the ongoing Iraq debacle need to speak up at regular intervals lest our voices be suppressed or lost. We have lost too many of our freedoms already in this war on terrorism. We cannot afford to lose more. If we fail to speak up and simply join the pack we stand to lose our country. We cannot afford to put aside our differences and follow in blind fashion down a path we see as wrong.

We Have a War Criminal for a President

President Bush and the administration led America into the Iraq occupation by claiming the presence of weapons of mass destruction and support by Sadam Hussein for Osama Bin Laden. Both sets of supposed “facts” are now known to be untrue. Invading an innocent country is illegal under both international law and the Geneva Conventions. Under those statutes the people responsible are war criminals. In light of the facts as we know them today that makes President Bush along with high ranking members of the administration liable for trial on charges of war crimes.

Given the state of affairs in addition to the ongoing admissions by the President of various illegal activities (warrantless spying and secret prisons) I continue to be amazed at the lack of any response by the American public. We should be outraged. We have been lied to repeatedly by a President who is by all definitions a war criminal. How much longer will we allow this situation to continue? We must demand an immediate end to the illegal occupation of Iraq and demand full legal recourse by international courts if we are to regain any measure of standing in the world community. We cannot stand still and allow our country to be led any further into criminal activity.

Time for a Change in Leadership

President Bush in recent speeches continues to drive home the point that worldwide terrorism is a factor of life and that we need to fight terrorism on all fronts. Americans all seem to be agreed with those general statements. The differences come with how to win against a disorganized front. President Bush wants to “stay the course” Iraq despite the fact that by all measures that course is failing. We need a new course on all fronts.

Day by day we see our freedoms eroding in this country. Day by day we see increasing violence worldwide. Day by day we see a failure of leadership in the White House or Congress in solving these problems. We need new leadership. The elections are coming in November. Now is the time to insist both our incumbent politicians and the candidates for office address our concerns and offer new solutions. Time is wasting. We are in the same position as Rome under Nero when Rome burned and Nero fiddled. We cannot afford to stand by and lose our country to inept leadership.

Wasting Money in Iraq

The ongoing occupation of Iraq costs $11 million per hour. For that price we maintain 130,000 American troops in the country putting each one at risk of death or serious injury every moment of the day. We are paying for increased destruction of the Iraqi economy and infrastructure. While we maintain a military presence in Iraq the civilian resentment toward our occupation continues to grow. How many better ways could those millions be spent?

We have many needs in our country today. Even one hour's worth of Iraq expenditures could provide superior health care to many people. Only an hour's monies could feed, house, and clothe large numbers of our neediest citizens. College tuition for hundreds would require only an hour's money. For just a few days' expense the levies in New Orleans could be rebuilt so we don't face a repeat of the Katrina disaster. For a few hours' money we could provide real port security for our country in place of the sham we enjoy today.

There are too many ways the money is needed at home to allow ongoing expenses in Iraq. We must insist on withdrawal today lest we spend our country into a black hole of debt that will never be filled. Today we can change our course and begin the recovery our country needs so badly. Staying the course is no longer a realistic option unless we intend to destroy our country entirely.

Brutality, Atrocity, and War

Brutality and atrocity have always been parts of war. Nonetheless we, the American public, should not accept the behavior of our troops when rape, murder, or other violations of law are the result. We should demand the perpetrators be brought to justice just as we would demand such in our neighborhoods. Just imagine the horror and the anger generated by the rape of a daughter or a neighbor. Those same feelings should arise at the news of Haditha and other Iraq neighborhoods.

Every atrocious act from our troops brings increased resistance to the occupation and leads to increased support for the insurgency. We can support the individual soldiers to the degree that they are performing their jobs in an unforgiving environment, but at the same time we cannot use that environment to justify illegal acts of any sort. If we fail to demand justice we allow further erosion of our American heritage. We cannot afford to lose our standards of behavior even in a time of war.

We Must Oppose the Iraq Occupation Today

The initial invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq was supported by a majority of Americans. Since the initial invasion we learned more facts and learned we were misled about 9/11. Today a clear majority of Americans favor troop withdrawal. In spite of rising public opposition to the war our Congressmen are taking no action to change the course.

The time has come for each of us to contact our elected officials and insist on a new course. We should insist there be no permanent American military bases in Iraq. We need to withdraw our troops and those of other coalition countries to allow the Iraqis an opportunity to govern their own affairs. We should insist on full funding of the Veterans Administration to give the returning troops the support they deserve. We as a country need to change our stance in world affairs and end the reliance on “pre-emptive” invasion as an option. We need to redirect the funds being used to further the occupation for better support of our affairs at home.

The ongoing costs of the occupation are too high in both blood and dollars. By withdrawing from Iraq we have a chance to set a new course for our country. So long as we remain silent the same losses will continue for an indefinite future. We must all speak up and speak out about today and make our legislators aware of our thoughts. Today is not too late, but tomorrow may well be.

History is Full of Lessons if We Only Look

In years past America watched as thousands of our soldiers died in Vietnam. Today we are seeing on a daily basis a repeat of that piece of history. Why can we not learn from our past mistakes? Why must we continue the present course in Iraq? Why can we not find a better way?
Until and unless our elected leaders here the protest loud and clear our children will continue to die in Iraq. To date every death has been in vain as the country has deteriorated into civil war and worldwide terror attacks have never been higher in number.

What have we gained in this war? We will not gain from this or any other war until we begin to learn from our past history. History is only a learning experience if we let it be. We must begin to look at our history, stop repeating the same mistakes, and end the occupation of Iraq. Any other course has been proven in past times to lead only to further losses. We simply have no more children to lose.

The Iraq Occupation is Criminal

The time has come to face the truth in Iraq. This is not a war. The ongoing occupation of Iraq is the result of an illegal invasion of a sovereign country. The actions taken to date by American military forces are in violation of international law and the Geneva Convention against aggressive war. The invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq are crimes for which we, the American public, are ultimately responsible.

Our elected leaders took us into Iraq. Now we, the voters of this fair country, are responsible for changing the course. No one should argue that we have any right to continue criminal behavior. The responsible course is full and rapid withdrawal followed by economic support to foster rebuilding the country we have almost destroyed. To choose any other course but withdrawal is to continue criminal behavior. No person can continue to support such illegal activity and still claim to live as a moral and civil person.