In Response To Fort Bragg

In Response To Fort Bragg, originally uploaded by Wazdat!.

Same Old... Same Old... Same Old...

All I can say is that I felt a great deal of shame when l beheld George W. Bush attempting to use our troops to save his coattails for Congress. When he spoke, he simply repeated the same old nonsense that he did before.

Bush is quite simply, an obstinate prisoner of his ideology - at best. He has carried out his decisions, and no one will tell him he's wrong! It's as if he were following some sinister inner agenda, and we are not privy to the info.

Fact upon fact can be shown to him, and he will simply tune you out and consider you - unimportant.

The danger is that Bush's fantasy world is having dangerous repercussions in the Middle East.

I listened to Bush, and every word he spoke, trying to paint a rosy picture on lraq, and Afghanistan, and I looked at those expectant young faces, I felt the clueless cynicism of Bush's words leave those men more disturbed about their fate than before.

He lied about the beginning of the war:

"A little over a year ago, I spoke to the nation and described our coalition's goals in Iraq. I said that America's mission in Iraq is to defeat an enemy and give strength to a friend -- a free, representative government that is an ally in the war on terror, "

Weren't we supposed to have a "mushroom cloud'' for a smoking gun? In the months before the war, there was no mention of freeing the lraqi people. "Regime Change" was mentioned only in the context of ''911", and "terrorism'',

''911", and "terrorism'' are repeated a lot by Bush, as well as the phrase: "Freedom is on the march". And now, he and his cronies paper over the facts that they see we no longer ignore.

"One year ago today, we restored sovereignty to the Iraqi people."

Really? And did the Iraqi people have a chance to tell you what kind of economy, what kind of infrastructure, or the degree of security they were expecting, when Bremer shut down the Iraqi economy, and left the populace at the mercy of the "insurgents"?



We have made no "significant progress" in the area of sovereignty and government. It took the political action of Al-Sistani, to force Bush to hold elections, and to count each vote for one person. The Sunni took no part in the election.

The Parallel Universe of the Bush administration could not admit to the deteriorating military situation, the poor planning that preceded it, and refused to acknowledge the true strength of the enemy.

''They failed to break our Coalition and force a mass withdrawal by our allies. They failed to incite an Iraqi civil war.''

How many of our ''Coalition" partners have left? For the entire year in 2004, by the month a new ally left in response to terrorist kidnappings of their nationals. There was a mass withdrawal. As for a civil war, we are sitting on top of one. If we do not keep our heads, and start following a wiser course, we will have a war.

"We're working to improve basic services like sanitation, electricity, and water. And together with our allies, we'll help the new Iraqi government deliver a better life for its citizens."

Then show me the first example of such " basic services" that can be shown on CNN? Let's see how Haliburton and Kellogg, Brown & Root are handling this "rebuilding". If they are doing so the way they are handling the food distribution, I pray for the poor Iraqis! With the kind of favoritism, graft and embezzlement that is going on with KBR, how CAN they "rebuild'' the infrastructure?

And how poorly have our troops been mishandled! In response to criticisms of how poorly armed and equipped our men are what did Bush say?

"Some Americans ask me, if completing the mission is so important, why don't you send more troops? If our commanders on the ground say we need more troops, I will send them. But our commanders tell me they have the number of troops they need to do their job. Sending more Americans would undermine our strategy of encouraging Iraqis to take the lead in this fight. And sending more Americans would suggest that we intend to stay forever, when we are, in fact, working for the day when Iraq can defend itself and we can leave."

Nineteen bases say that you intend to stay forever. When General Shinseki told you that 4 divisions were necessary, you fired him. And now, thanks to lack of manpower, hunting terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq is like squeezing toothpaste. You apply pressure in one place, and they move to another. They are still in Fallujah. Al-Sadr, SCIRI, and other Shiite militias are still around.

Now Bush gets starry-eyed:

"In this time of testing, our troops can know: The American people are behind you. Next week, our nation has an opportunity to make sure that support is felt by every soldier, sailor, airman, Coast Guardsman, and Marine at every outpost across the world. This Fourth of July, I ask you to find a way to thank the men and women defending our freedom -- by flying the flag, sending a letter to our troops in the field, or helping the military family down the street. The Department of Defense has set up a website -- AmericaSupportsYou.mil. You can go there to learn about private efforts in your own community. At this time when we celebrate our freedom, let us stand with the men and women who defend us all."

Paul Rieckoff of Operation Truth.org said:

"We don't need to be told that flak jackets and safer Humvees are on the way, because we've already learned that a phone-call home and a few hundred bucks is probably the quickest way to get body armor. Hundreds of Troops have been wounded or killed because of faulty vehicles or missing armor, but who has been held accountable?"

The Veteran's Administration sticks our boys with horridly exorbitant bills.

The truth is, there were no WMD's in lraq. There were no terrorists in Iraq until we allowed them in there. There is no Iraqi economy, and no foreign investment. There are no basic services, or any basic infrastructure. The people of Iraq want us to leave, only if we do that too soon, we will ignite that civil war we know will happen. George Bush says he is grateful to the troops, but shows no feeling toward those disabled by that war. He has lied to his people, his troops. Hundreds of thousands of lraqi civilians have died, and we are no safer now, than we were on 911.