June 27, 2005

The answer is NO.

This Tuesday night the President will address the nation from Fort Bragg. It is fitting for this braggart to choose that venue, but that aside, we should be prepared for the inevitable. Faced with plummeting poll numbers Bush sees that we are beginning to realize that our children’s blood has been spilt not for a worthy cause, but rather for a deliberate lie. Bush has loathed any public forums during his presidency so this step is a calculated one, designed to do one thing, LIE to us in the hopes that we ease up on the pressures which are mounting. The answer to that must be a resounding, NO.

With the release of the Downing Street Memos we now have confirmed that our President lied to Congress, and thus to the American people, in order to pimp the war he wanted from the day he walked into office. He played upon our most fundamental fears in linking terrorism to Iraq, when there was no real connection. The right has tried their level best to muddy the issue, vacillating between parsing the meaning of the word "fixed" to pretending the memo is fake. The latter blather is completely ridiculous since both Bush and Blair have already addressed the memo as being real, but disagreeing with it. The notion that the British have a different meaning for the word "fix" is equally silly and is not deserving of a response. No, the memos are quite real, and quite clear.

The primary issue from the Downing Street Memos has been the admittance that Bush was going to fix the intelligence around his policy decision to invade Iraq, SIX MONTHS BEFORE, he actually invaded. It was at this time that Bush was coming to the American people and swearing that he was going to use all avenues of diplomacy before committing America’s children to die in the desert sands. These memos reveal that was a horrible, horrible lie and anyone who has lost a child in this war, or has one over there now, should be irate about these revelations. More importantly for the country, and the democracy we embrace, George Bush lied to Congress to justify his war. I call it his war, because more than one former administration official has gone on record as saying that from day one of the first Bush administration, George Bush wanted to go to war against Saddam Hussein. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 merely provided Bush with his excuse.

So, George Bush got his war. He created a secret cell in the Pentagon, called the Office of Special Plans, headed up by Douglas Feith. The OSP had one function and that was to cook the intelligence needed for Bush to force his war upon the American people and the world. Bush was fond of saying in the run-up to the second election that Kerry had looked at the same intelligence as him and reached the same conclusion. Well, yes. However, what Bush conveniently leaves out is that Kerry thought it was REAL intelligence, while Bush knew damn well that Feith and the OSP had relied upon the faultiest of intelligence and compromised sources, in searching for a way to "fix the intelligence around the policy", of going to war. One does not need to be an intelligence agent to realize that is backwards. In the real world, you base your policy on your intelligence. In the world of George Bush, where the blood of the innocents matter naught, you choose your policy, and then fix your intelligence around it. That is the primary thing proven by the Downing Street Memos.

The secondary item from the Downing Street Memos is that it appears that George W. Bush started the war six months prior to asking Congress for the power to do so. Bush often has joked about it being easier for him if this was a dictatorship, but waging war is NOT a presidential power. Waging war without Congressional approval, is also a crime and impeachable. This is the part of the memos which speaks to Bush increasing the "spikes of activity to put pressure on the regime (Iraq)". This translates into bombing runs which were made on Iraq in the hopes that Saddam would retaliate. Unconvinced? How about the line from the memos where Britain realizes that they would need to "wrong foot Saddam" to give them a justification for war.

So the Downing Street Memos not only prove that Bush fixed the intelligence and lied to Congress to go to war, but it also reveals that he was purposefully trying to get Saddam to retaliate in order to justify the war he wanted, all along. Despicable.

What has the butcher’s bill been so far? Officially the death tally stands at over 1,700 American soldiers and close to if not more than 100,000 Iraqi’s. Recently however, some are even questioning the validity of those numbers. This website ( http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1648.htm ) seems to believe they have discovered that the true number of dead Americans could exceed 7,000. Considering the mendacity with which this administration operates, who would be surprised if this turns out to be true as well?

The impeachment drumbeats have started. People are onto this administration and the lies it must live with. The death it has spread. Faced with declining poll numbers the Bushies tried desperately to laugh off the Downing Street Memos. It did not work. They sent out Karl Rove to make absurd comments about the Democrats, hoping to draw the attention away. It did not. They placed a call to their media machine and we saw wall to wall coverage of the runaway bride, followed by the Jackson trial, and most recently, the missing girl in Aruba. THIS time the American people did not lose their focus. The drums keep beating. The American people are waking up from their media-induced coma and asking the logical question, "How did we get here". The answer is becoming clearer. We got here because the President lied to Congress and the people by fixing his intelligence around his pre-set policy of war. We got here because the President actually started the war, before even getting approval.

The American people have short memories. Allow me to remind you what this President said the night he committed our kids to die for his war.

"The United States and other nations have pursued patient and honorable efforts to disarm the Iraqi regime without war"

"Peaceful efforts to disarm the Iraqi regime have failed again and again -- because we are not dealing with peaceful men"

"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised"
"It (Iraq) has a deep hatred of America and our friends. And it has aided, trained and harbored terrorists, including operatives of al Qaeda"

"Today, no nation can possibly claim that Iraq has disarmed"

"Many Iraqis can hear me tonight in a translated radio broadcast, and I have a message for them. If we must begin a military campaign, it will be directed against the lawless men who rule your country and not against you"

These were the words of George W. Bush when he came before us to wage his war. They were all lies. This Tuesday he comes back to us, to seek a continuance of his war. What lies of Bush will I write years from now, looking back that the American people fell for this time? I pray it is none. George Bush does not deserve another chance to commit your children to die. He just does not deserve it. An international effort through the United Nations can ensure the continued rebuilding that is necessary after the onslaught we have led. Maybe they will be more concerned about restoring water and electricity then rebuilding oil wells. Bush will do his level best to speak in glowing terms of freedom, a concept he knows frighteningly little about. He will look you in the eye and say that we cannot set a deadline for the troops to come home because that will allow the terrorists to know when we are leaving. Nonsense. That defense means we are never leaving Iraq, and quite frankly, that is closer to the truth than Bush wants you to know. We are not leaving Iraq. We are actually building military bases in Iraq now so we can have a permanent presence in the country. Try that democracy on for size.

President Bush comes back to us this Tuesday and he will paint as rosy a picture as he can muster. He will sell us on how much progress has been made. He will speak about sacrifice, a word he has abused and has no right to utter. He will speak to your patriotism, using it like he used your fears two years ago. To the yellow ribbon crowd, if you really supported the troops, you would want them home and not dying for a war conceived in 2001, packaged in 2002, and sold to us in 2003. War is not glorious; it results in only one thing, death. There have been times that war has been wholly justified and those deaths have been honorable to protect the world from the evils of our times. This is not one of those times however. A tinpot dictator who posed no threat to anyone is not worth one life, let alone 1,700, or 7,000. I will leave you with one last quote from the last time Bush came to us to propagate his war. This quote may hit closer to home as to why your kids have died:

"And all Iraqi military and civilian personnel should listen carefully to this warning. In any conflict, your fate will depend on your action. Do not destroy oil wells…"

The answer George, is no. No to your wars George. No to your death. The blood that has been spilled is on your hands George. It is on your head. You are fond of saying you often talk to God George. I pray that just once, you stop talking, and start listening.

Anthony Wade, a contributing writer to http://opednews.com/, is dedicated to educating the populace to the lies and abuses of the government. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.

Anthony Wade’s Archive: http://www.opednews.com/archiveswadeanthony.htm

Email Anthony: takebacktheus@yahoo.com