One libertarian’s Response to President Bush’s August 25, 2007 radio address : Bush’s Continued Occupation
August 25, 2007 on 9:34 am | In Politics | Comments Offby Christine Smith
Bush’s weekly radio address was just more propaganda in which he painted a false picture of Iraq and supposed achievement being made by our military forces there.
Whether such progress or achievement is true or false is irrelevant to the big picture (it is of course easily debated and in my opinion from research I’ve read little progress has been achieved) but again that is not the fundamental question.
The question is not how much the U.S. military is or is not achieving in Iraq, but why the US military is even in Iraq.
So while Bush prepares his photo-op address to the American Legion at their annual convention in Reno, more and more American troops will die and many more Iraqis will die for nothing except an arrogant egotists agenda. Bush, you say you intend to tell the American Legion why Iraq is critical to our nation’s security, well why haven’t you told the American people…and while we’re at it, and why don’t you have general Petraeus deliver his September report to the American people and Congress? Why must his and other reports come to your White House to be interpreted by you and only then given to us?
I for one do not want your Sec. of State or your Sec. of Defense to deliver a progress report (because that’s all it will be a report citing all the ‘progress’ made, I want Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker to speak to Congress and the American people directly, and their findings widely distributed through media. I do not trust any interpretation from your White House.
I read some results from a very interesting CNN research poll taken August 6-8 which asked:
‘As you may know, in September the top U.S. commander in Iraq will report to the President and Congress about how the war is going. Do you trust him to report what’s really going on in Iraq without making the situation sound better than it actually is, or don’t you feel that way?’
43% responded: Trust him to report what’s really going on
53% responded: Do not trust him to report what’s really going on
Whatever Gen. Petraeus’ and Amb. Crocker’s perceptions and findings they should be given to Congress directly not written by your White House.
Bush your surge is doing nothing but increasing the death toll on all sides. But, meanwhile, you tell us ‘by driving out the terrorists from cities and neighborhoods, we’re creating the conditions for reconciliation,’ but the truth is Prime Minister al-Maliki has condemned the U.S. military raids in Shiite neighborhoods. And Iraq is now incurring about double the number of war related deaths than compared with last year.
The government of Iraq is far from any peaceful political reconciliation, so the civil war continues with our men and women right there in it.
You say we’re still in the ‘early stages of our new operations…’ Translation: You have no intention of withdrawing our troops–saving their lives nor saving the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians. You state that by our staying in Iraq ‘we will help provide new hope for millions of people throughout the Middles East, we will gain a new friend and ally in the war on terror, and we will make the American people safer.’
Nothing could be farther from the truth. In actuality, your continued occupation will create more and more enemies throughout the Middle East who will hate Americans and express that hatred through violence, but you, you are determined to not only let more American troops die but you’re willing to increase the risks to our national security–the lives of American civilians on our soil, that’s how I see it..and for what? Your political agenda…and that, Bush, is deplorable.
One libertarian’s Response to President Bush’s August 11, 2007 radio address : Afghanistan & Iraq
August 11, 2007 on 9:35 am | In Politics | Comments Offby Christine Smith
Today Bush told us that ‘August is considered a slow news month…’ and that ‘we’ve had some encouraging news from both Afghanistan and Iraq.’
As for being ‘a slow news month,’ I wonder if the families of the 28 U.S. soldiers who died in just the first 8 days of August felt it was a slow news month.
What we heard from Bush today was just more of his usual propaganda again claiming his occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are making progress. His words meant to make Americans feel good about his wars, but the facts show otherwise.
Need we be reminded that it was approximately 4 1/2 years ago that Bush stood on that aircraft carrier for his photo-op declaring mission accomplished and then today he says ‘the surge is still in its early stages.’ It’s obvious that for Bush his wars will never cease; he and his gang thrive on war while tens of thousands die as a result.
Bush interprets President Karzai’s words regarding the Taliban in Afghanistan to mean the Taliban fighters ‘cannot stop the march of democracy in Afghanistan.’
‘March of democracy’? From what I’ve read, it appears there’s a resurge of the Taliban, continued civilian deaths at the hands of insurgents, a huge opium trade, government corruption, and a serious threat of an Al-Qaeda comeback. There is enormous civilian suffering and death. With more than 500 Afghan civilian deaths reported this year, eroding support for Pres. Karzei, and widespread poverty, despair is mounting. Of course, we must also consider the thousands of innocents who died from the U.S. air strikes upon populated areas (towns & villages) of Afghanistan in the past several years and the resulting destruction and collapse of the Afghan hospital system. Brutality is the word for what Afghan civilians endure…brutality from the rule of warlords, militia commanders, and a continued oppression of the people.
I am reminded also of the terrible suffering of the women in Afghanistan…women so oppressed that they commit suicide to escape their circumstances. Women who set fire to themselves to escape domestic violence, forced marriages often between young teen girls and older men, and dire economic situations. And though the Karzei government recently banned underage marriages and indicates other plans to improve women’s conditions are underway, domestic violence and rapes occur, and it appears according to reports from human rights and women’s agencies to have had only a marginal affect on women’s suicide rates.
And what does the U.S. government care about democracy and the lives of people in Afghanistan anyway? Afterall they ignored the Taliban’s egregious human rights abuses on civilians there for years…but now it’s suddenly a convenient reason to cite for maintaining their occupation. Obviously, it has nothing to do with human rights, we can rule out fighting al-Qaeda or the search for Osama bin laden as the reason now, we can also rule out eradicating the opium production which has grown under our occupation…and I can’t accept it was even about bringing the terrorist who trained in Afghanistan and who attacked us to justice since Bush ignored Saudi Arabia (from whence several came.) No, I believe Bush wants to gain and maintain geopolitical control over the largest petroleum pipeline on the Eurasian continent…and for Bush, that’s reason enough to send American soldiers to their death and for more Afghan civilians to suffer and die.
Further, Bush neglected to quote President Karzei’s remarks from a CNN interview program the ‘Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer’ in which Karzei said regarding apprehending Osama bin Laden, ‘We are not closer, we are not further away from it. We are where we were a few years ago.’ Sounds like more ‘encouraging news’ Bush overlooked sharing with us.
As for Bush’s ‘encouraging news’ from Iraq, yes an al Qaeda leader was killed, but at what cost? Bush conveniently never mentions the 3,632 American military deaths nor the thousands who have returned with horrible life-changing injuries, nor does he inform of us what happens when our soldiers leave areas. Neither does he speak about the thousands of Iraqi civilians who have died and approximately two million who have fled the country into Syria and Jordan. Add to this that the Iraqi parliament is far from bringing stability to the nation; instead according to ‘Iraq Body Count’ there have been more than 2,500 civilians killed in Iraq during July 2007, but Bush assures ‘our surge is seizing the initiative from the enemy and handing it to the Iraqi people.’
I believe the U.S. government will eventually pull our troops from Iraq due to total collapse of the country’s infrastructure. Sectarian violence and insurgent attacks will escalate. Peace and security will not be achieved by our occupation. Meanwhile, we can expect to hear more propaganda from Bush like we heard today, nearly the identical words we’ve been hearing from him since this began…and nearly the identical words since his surge in January.
Nothing changes in Bush’s world: his wars and the service and deaths of our military men and women bring peace, spread democracy, and as he said today ‘They are accomplishing great things for the future of our Nation…’
No. The result of Bush’s wars on the future of our nation is dismal. Rather than focusing on our defense, he enrages more and more people against us worldwide and thereby weakens our defense at home…billions of your dollars are spent, thousands die, and we as a nation become, I believe, far more vulnerable to another murderous terrorist attack on our soil because of Bush’s continued occupation of both Iraq and Afghanistan.
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