Thursday, February 22, 2007

Angry voices?

Where are the angry voices?

Over 3000 Americans have been killed in a country on the other side of the world. The President started the war using faulty reasons, based upon inaccurate and contrived information from his own advisors. He probably lied in order to cover the true reasons for invasion.

And not only are there few angry voices. But we elected the same guy to a second term as President.

Over forty years ago, another pointless war was launched with the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. We now know that was a lie.

Déjà vu. There are so many things wrong with this picture. We were attacked, but it was not the act of a specific country – so it was harder to identify a boundary to cross, a capital city to capture, an army to defeat. We picked Afghanistan because we believed their management was of the same ilk as our attackers. Or, at a minimum, they were harboring the enemies that planned the attack.

Our military made quick work toppling that government. We never found our quarry, but few people seemed to mind. We gained some amount of vengeance.

It apparently was not enough for our own leaders. We flexed our muscle across another border, toppled another sectarian autocratic government – and set off a firestorm that has killed thousands, displaced more thousands, and created geographic chaos in an area that can ill afford more instability.

To what end? I see none. I see no end, because a weak man such as George Bush cannot back down. I see no end, because Iraq is torn into at least three pieces and American soldiers are the only buffer. I see no end, because our political and economic leaders fear losing access to a large pool of oil.

Vengeance, money, power, and oil. For this to accrue to the few, many must die.

Where are the angry voices?