As
The 13th Anniversary Of The (Second, The 2003 One) Iraq War Is Upon
Us-No New War In Iraq! Down With The War-Monger Obama
From
The Pen Of Frank Jackman
[No this writer is not lost in a time warp, nor is he suffering from a senior moment in continuing
to note the anniversary, the 12th anniversary, of the ill-fated,
ill-advised, ill, well, let’s just keep it as the previous two ills, of what
seemed last year to be the end of the seemingly completed fiasco in Iraq. However
although American troops have mainly been withdrawn many thousand American
bought and paid for “contract” soldiers are still operating in that theater.
Moreover the wreckage from the huge American footprint (bootprint, really) is
still wreaking havoc on that benighted land from lack of electrical power to
unexploded bombs to speak nothing of the current constant political turmoil
between the myriad factions struggling for power. Then there is the question of
those tens of thousands of soldiers who had been switched over within a
heartbeat from benighted Iraq to benighted Afghanistan. The call for immediate
troop withdrawal from Afghanistan of that last ten thousand troops if not
drawing much support in these back- burner concern days is still a necessary
call. Finally, if there is a modern example
of the follies of war, of a needless imperial adventure, of flat-out
American imperial hubris to do something explosive (in more ways than one) then
the ill-famed Iraq invasion started on March 19, 2003 should be etched in every
leftist militant, hell, every thoughtful citizen’s brain. Yet President Obama
seeks on his hands and knees if you can believe this new authorization to send
the Iraq War into overtime with this alleged existential threat by ISIS or
whatever initials those insane butcher terrorists are running to these days.
Make no mistake we have no truck ISIS and whatever alphabet soup organizations
spring from, are associated with, or are successor organizations to that one
but to go along with the bloodied-handed imperialists who brought forth these
demons who want to get more deeply involved in a sectarian conflict with no
“good” sides is rich, very rich, indeed. No way. ]
Here part one of a little cautionary tale to commemorate
this sad occasion (see this blog for parts two and three dated March 20 and
21):
Tim Reid was sure where he stood, stood on the impending war
in Iraq, on that cold February 2003 New York City Saturday morning as he noted
many, many people walking in the opposite direction headed toward Union Square
or somewhere around there carrying signs and banners calling for No War In Iraq, Stop The War, and other more politically direct ones aimed at
President Bush. Tim knew for sure was that he was not going to be among those
who were heading in that opposite direction that day ready to clog up the
streets of Manhattan to make their point. Not that he wished them ill, not that
war was not a terrible way to deal with issues, not that he was unconcerned
that American sons and daughters were going to be put in harm’s way again in
bloody Iraq but 9/11 had changed a lot of things since he had been out front
against the first Iraq war back in 1991.
Yes the world had changed since then, had changed in ways
not favorable to the interest of the United States, and so while he was against
war like any reasonable man (or woman) he was backing President Bush on this one.
At least until he saw what those weapons of mass destruction were that that
bastard Saddam Hussein had brewing in those damn laboratories that he wouldn’t
let inspectors see. Yes, in case anybody was asking, any of those peaceniks
that were passing the other way, he had voted for George Bush in 2000 something
he never thought he would do after his father dropped the ball in that first
Iraq massacre. He had voted for Bill Clinton with both hands in 1992 against
the old man. But like he said things had changed in the world since that
dastardly deed on that sunny September morning. Stuff that no New Yorker alive
should forgot, especially if like him, that citizen of this fair city had lost
someone close to him or her. So it was personal too.
Maybe too, and he would not discount it if pressed, Tim had
changed too, older now, with kids, with responsibilities to take every effort
to make sure those kids were secure in a dangerous world. Any father would. The
thing that had tipped it for him though was when Secretary of State Colin
Powell gave the green light, declared that mad man Hussein was doing nasty
stuff against our interests over there in the desert. Some of Bush’s people,
frankly, seemed kind of weird when they talked about war but General Powell was
a solid, no nonsense guy and that made the difference. So damn yes, until
somebody proved otherwise, he was sticking with the President and his people
who knew lots of stuff maybe he and those protesters did not know. He hoped
so…
No comments:
Post a Comment