Sunday, September 24, 2006

Are we feeling safe yet?

By Nancy Jane Moore

Let's see now. We invaded Iraq because they had something to do with September 11. Only they didn't have anything to do with September 11 and the Bush administration knew it.

Okay, so we invaded Iraq because they had weapons of mass destruction. Only they didn't have weapons of mass destruction and any "evidence" that they maybe, possibly had them was cooked by the administration.

Then we invaded Iraq to bring them democracy, only instead we gave them a civil war.

So finally we invaded Iraq because we had to stop the terrorists there (even though they had nothing to do with any terrorist attacks on us) so we wouldn't have to fight them here at home.

Only now we know that instead of stopping the terrorists in Iraq, we created bunches of new terrorists. And that's not the point of view of a bunch of disgruntled liberals -- that's the conclusion of a National Intelligence Estimate produced in April by US intelligence agencies.

The New York Times broke this story and Diane reported on it yesterday.

Today's catch-up story in The Washington Post tells us that:
Both Bush and bin Laden now consistently describe the Iraq war as the "central front" of the global war, and both are depending on victory there to set the direction of future struggles far afield.
In other words Bush, who was more interested in invading Iraq than in catching bin Laden, played right into the man's hands.

I've only got one question: At this point, how can anyone see Bush and his bozos as the people who will do the best job of keeping us safe?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

After World War II, the Nazis were tried for war crimes in the German city of Nuremberg. After this torture debacle, will some country be trying the USA for war crimes in the Iraqi city of Bagdhad?

I wanted to write something about the “torture” issue -- and these comments are just as apropos for this blog because the hatred directed at the USA and the current level of "threat" is a direct link to our actions in Iraq (the torture issue first became public with the Abu Grab prison scandal and with these new revelations, the torture issue is more pervasive than just the one prison … This looks like torture is and has been POLICY.)

Shame on the people who have put our country in this position. And, now that the "cat's out of the bag"; SHAME ON US if we condone torture; if we allow it to continue; and if we don’t persecute those who allowed this to happen. Where is the outcry from the “religious right”, or doesn’t everyone have the same “rights” in their Bible.

In addition, I don’t know what the rest of the USA was taught in school (grade school, junior high school, senior high school, and even in Sunday school); but, in Hazelwood, Missouri, where I grew up; we were taught that we were the “good guys” and we stopped people from doing bad things to other people. The idea that Americans would be guilty of torture was and is alien to the America my father fought for in World War II.

People may say the “World and it’s political dynamics (realities) have changed since 9/11”. But, we were also told it was “the communists who preached THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS, while we fought for ‘TRUTH, JUSTICE and the AMERICAN WAY.‘” Who could ever have believed that the AMERICAN WAY would now include torture.

If this is so, then we are just like every other two-bit dictatorship that ever existed. What a disgrace to the memory of all those who died on 9/11 -- When those people on “Flight 93” said “Let it roll” was this what they were defending? George Washington and Thomas Jefferson must be in tears….I know my father is.

Nancy Jane Moore said...

Very good points, Jamie. We seem to have forfeited any right to assert moral leadership. I know the US was never as good as we were all taught in civics class, but I've always believed we were much better than most countries when it came to treating people properly. Now, though, I don't know anymore.

Anonymous said...

Nancy -
We've lost all claim to any moral high ground. I fear we may never be able to re-claim the foothills, let alone the high ground.

Emma Lazarus's poem on the Statue of Liberty says, "Give me your poor and huddled masses yearning to be free..."
Where is that freedom?