President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have all gone out of their way in recent weeks to tell us we're "winning" the war in Iraq, that the efforts of indigenous Muslims to toss us out of their backyard are in their "final throes" and other such nonsense.
Some morons still believe them. Presumably, these are the same morons who still believe -- despite all evidence to the contrary -- that Saddam Hussein was linked to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and that Iraq posed a threat to the world because of the vast quantities of biological and chemical weapons it possessed, and the nuclear weapons it was developing.
During January, February and March of this year, the first quarter, 201 brave Americans lost their lives fighting Bush's illegal war in Iraq. Another 1,316 were wounded, many crippled for life. All according to numbers put out by Rumsfeld's own Department of Defense.
So you'd figure that, with all the rosy scenarios emanating out of Washington these days, the casualty count for the second quarter would be a little bit better, right?
Wrong.
In April, May and June, the U.S. military suffered 210 dead, with 1,526 maimed. What, exactly, is getting better?
By way of comparison, the United States had lost just 43 soldiers by May of 2003, when George W. strutted across the flight deck of that aircraft carrier and declared an "end of major combat" in front of a big sign Karl Rove put up proclaiming "Mission Accomplished."
We've also killed between 20,000 and 100,000 Iraqis, thus creating an army of new terrorist recruits seeking to avenge their mother, sister, brother, father or child. And in Baghdad, Tikrit, Fallujah and elsewhere, our presence has served to provide useful training in the tactics of urban guerrilla warfare, tactics that will be just as applicable in Manhattan or Niagara Falls.
Did we mention the $1 billion a month that it's costing us to fund this insane adventure? We've passed the $300 billion mark for Iraq and it's growing every day.
But Social Security is a crisis, they tell us.
How long will America stand for the pursuit of an illegal and immoral war far removed from anything in our national interest? How many more brave men and women will have to die and how many more billions will be squandered in this useless endeavor?
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 12 2005 |