(Warning... this is a rant.)
God, how long ago was it? Back when war with Iraq seemed inevitable, but before the first bombs dropped, and there was still that remote chance that the most egotistical, maniacal President in our history would have a change of heart, if he had a heart. Back when we radicals were a minority... when most Americans unfortunately believed the rhetoric of the day. And those of us that opposed the war, what were we called? Un-american, friends of the enemy, terrorists, traitors and cowards? Yes, I was a yellow-bellied coward who was a friend to bin-Laden, all because I had the guts to stand up against the majority and against a bullish administration, all because I believe that if Americans are going to die in a foreign country, there better be a good reason? Or even a reason at all?
My position on the war has never changed. But, suddenly, I'm in the majority. As a student of politics, I have long realized that the American people are savvy enough to study and understand the issues, but we are so busy and distracted by work and soccer practice and church and school and all those shiny new toys our President tells us we're supposed to buy, for the good of America, that we barely have time to live, much less study the issues. So, we fall prey to our sound-bite nation. We fall victim to a well-oiled propaganda machine. We are victimized.
But the American people eventually come around. Just when those of us who do know the issues start to wonder, they always come around. And they have. So, now, this cowardly traitor is in the majority. I guess most of us Americans are cowardly traitors now, because we have realized that King George just might be fallible after all. We have realized that this war is not about spreading democracy, or 9/11, or ridding the world of an evil dictator or weapons of mass destruction. We don't know the real reasons, either. But we know, whether its to enrich Halliburton, to exploit oil reserves or just daddy issues, that its self-serving and egomaniacal. And we're sick of it. We're sick of all the money we've wasted. Money that could go to roads, schools, ending world hunger, or maybe even the real war on terror. We're sick and tired of hearing about insurgent violence and car bombs. We're sick and tired of hearing about dead Iraqis, who were guilty of nothing more than being born and raised in a neighborhood in Baghdad, or Tikrit, or wherever. We're sick and tired of hearing about our own men and women in uniform who will never come back. And also, those who will come back suffering from lifelong wounds, whether psychological or physical, but who will, inevitably as long as this man is President, not get the help they need and deserve.
This country deserves more. Going to war requires a massive investment on our part. Not only on those who are going into harm's way themselves, not only on their families, who, in the best case scenario have to wonder every single day for months or years if their loved ones will come home, and if so, in what condition. The burden is on all of us. I know one person who has gone to Iraq. I know a few more who might. I care about these people, and it pains me that they could die for no good reason. Two people from my community have already died. I didn't know either of them myself, but I know people who knew them. That is a drain on my community. And this is true across the country. I imagine there is nary a community left that doesn't have at least one soldier who will feel the sting of this bullshit war the rest of their lives. We're tired. We've done enough, and at the very least, we deserve a real reason for all this madness. We deserve the truth. We will never get it.
What we will get is more bullshit from the President. It's bad enough that he is calling for more troops to go. More troops to go into a bad situation, made so bad by the adminstration's own actions. More troops that will become target practice. But what is particularly infuriating is that next week, the President
will finally get around to talking about sacrifice.
How dare you, Mr. President, to talk about sacrifice now. How dare you. You wanted this war, and even though every legitimate reason you gave us turned out to be either flat out wrong or a complete fabrication, you got it. Did it take you this long to start thinking about sacrifice? This long? We knew. We knew almost four years ago. When we found out that six American soldiers would never come home, we knew about sacrifice. That was March 21, 2003. Then, we were worried about protecting our own. You were worried about re-election.
I'm glad, Mr. President, that it has finally become convenient for you to think about sacrifice. 3003 dead soldiers later, you finally are considering what the rest of us have known all along. Don't you dare get on that microphone next week and tell us we need to start sacrificing. We've been doing it the whole time. You are alien to us, Bush. Alien. You are American by pedigree, but you don't care about anything the rest of us do. We reached a big number of casualties, so you decided it was politically expedient to suddenly start caring? It would have been expedient, for us, if you had cared in 2003. It would have been even more expedient for 3,003 families, if you had acted like a President, and not the petulant little boy you are, and taken your responsibilities seriously. But you didn't, and here we are, nearly four years later, and you finally decide we should start sacrificing?
Fuck you.
I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong the sufferings for ends which I belive to be evil and unjust. I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed. On behalf of thise who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practised on them...-Siegfried Sassoon, 1917
