Open Letter To A Warlord...

...or how I got in touch with my inner Olbermann.*






To quote a former co-worker "This really burns my goat..."

President Bush comments on the renewed violence in Iraq:

“This is going to take a while, but it is a necessary part in the development of a free society.”
(emphasis added)

WTF? Necessary, Mr. Bush? How is this necessary? Please explain to the hundred thousand+ dead Iraqis and what's left of their families exactly how this war was necessary. Please explain the necessity of this ongoing bloodshed to the many more Iraqis wounded and maimed. Please explain to the thousands upon thousands who have forever lost their homes and livelihoods how their country's destruction has spurred "the development of a free society."

You can't. You can't not only because you lack the mental capacity to do so but also because it is not true. Optional wars prosecuted on pretense solely for personal gain and glory are never "necessary."

No matter how hard you wish it to be, Mr. Bush, unlike WWII your Iraq War is not a righteous conflict to save the world from vicious empire-building fascists. Except for in your clearly addled mind, there is nothing about this war that is "romantic." Instead, whatever "islamofascists" -- a piece of shit neocon word if there ever was one-- we currently fight, are almost to a man "fascists" created in the wake of and by our Iraq invasion. After five fucking years and with no end in sight, this war has outlasted WWII. But unlike WWII, we have precious little to show for our nation's many sacrifices to this conflict.

Mr. Bush, what we do have to show for your "Iraq Adventure" is all negative. Ours is a country that is much less not much more safe. We have 4000+ KIA citizens and tens of thousands more horribly wounded too. Our economy reels on the verge of collapse. Our treasury is likely bankrupt. Our international reputation is tarnished jet black. Our Armed Services are strained to almost breaking. Our Constitution lies in tatters.

Was this conflict necessary for "the further development of our free society" too, Mr. Bush? Because at no time in our nation's history has our society been less free. In the course of your utterly disgraceful Presidency, you have dialed back our many rights to the time of our last king: King George III. Never before has the distance between our poor and the rich been so great. Not in my lifetime has corporate greed so triumphed over citizens' rights. Nor did I ever thought I'd live to see the day when The Supreme Court sided with a commercial developer's use of eminent domain to force people from their homes. At no other time in our history has our government of our democratic "free society" been so secretive or so actively engaged in subverting the will of its people.

Your Iraq War is not about the "development of free societies," Mr. Bush. Rather it's a pathetic attempt by a small man (i.e. YOU) to make yourself feel like big man. Ironically, your total manipulation at the hands of Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the neocon cabal served only to shrink your stature. Your Iraq War is about big oil (not that you've got your hands on any yet), big corporations, huge spiffs to campaign contributors et al. Your US War on your countrymen's rights continues to be waged to cover up your administration's many crimes, to steal elections, to quash dissent, to spiff campaign contributors and/or big corporations.

Sometime after the end of your disgraceful Presidency, we will begin to learn the true extent of the damage you have caused this country. You will soon rise from the ranks of our most disgraceful Presidents to claim the title of our most disgraced President. In the meantime, Mr. Bush, is it too much to ask that you at least try to maintain the status quo? You know, not fuck up anything else too badly?

I thought not. Well, you can't blame this citizen for asking.

-AF

*Thanks for indulging me -- I'm not saying anything new.
Bush's blithe this "is a necessary part..." comment necessitated some blowing off of steam.
I'm not nearly as smart or as eloquent as KO.
Whatever delusions I may have are not of grandeur.