Wednesday, March 19, 2008

God Damn George W. Bush

Five years ago at 10:15 PM EST -- a little over ten minutes from now, five years back -- President George W. Bush got on the airwaves to announce to our nation and the world the beginning of the Iraq War.

Five years later, with just shy of 4000 US soldiers dead, over 600,000 Iraqis dead (according to John Hopkins University), countless hired mercenaries and corporate hired hands dead, countless wounded on all sides, a traumatized and ill-cared-for population of stateside vets, an over-stretched US military standing serving far longer stretches of active duty than any US military since WWI, and over 2 million war refugees -- not counting, either, the dubious numbers of 'detainees' and 'extraordinary rendition' prisoners of war who are not considered prisoners of war protected by previous US treaties or any standing international law previously recognized by prior US Presidents and administrations -- we are still at war with no end in sight.

Five years ago, I wrote on The Swamp discussion board at The Kingdom (both long defunct) that this war was wrong, and I angrily castigated those on that board who had stated their support for our going to war prior to March 19, 2003. I could not believe that anyone would want this war to happen. But many did, and many still cling to their support in the face of five years of deceit, chicanery, distortions and lies. Many heated words were exchanged then, but I didn't believe the stated reasons given by our President, Vice President or any member of his staff then. Every stated reason for then going to war has been since proven to be either a lie, a gross distortion of truth, or complete and utter fabrication. Hell, I'm just a hayseed hillbilly in Vermont, and their claims didn't hold water five years ago under what little scrutiny was possible prior to March 19, 2003. They haven't passed muster since; they've all been proven nonsensical. It was all lies.

March 19th -- another March 19th -- another day that President Bush espouses his shit without change and claims this was somehow a noble act, serving some perceived good.

God damn George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

God damn them to hell, as they've willfully damned Iraq to hell-on-Earth and damned America to unnecessary, ceaseless war.

God damn Fox News and all corporate media that supported the march to war, and have supported the lies and obfuscations and deceit of the American populace ever since. God damn Karl Rove for even conceiving Bush as a credible Presidential candidate. God damn those who rigged, tampered with or boondoggled the election process in 2000 and 2004. God damn those 18 and over who didn't vote in 2004, allowing a mere 30% of the US population to vote Bush and his hyenas back into power three years ago, thus sustaining the war effort with their inaction. And God damn me for not doing more when I could have, should have -- as if any one of us could have done anything to curb this lunacy.

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