The Liberal Patriot

“The president of the United States and the secretary of defense would not assert as plainly and bluntly as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it was not true and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it.” ~~Press secretary Air Fleischer, December 5, 2002

Righting the Fight

Bridget Gibson - July 4, 2005

A bit more than 18 million viewers (compared to the 30 million that watched the last episode of American Idol) watched George Bush on Tuesday, June 28, 2005. Perhaps this was because most people knew that what he would say was not new, they had heard it before in every speech from every corner almost daily since September 11, 2001.

I felt compelled to watch, to listen, to see if anything would be said that was relevant. I was not disappointed. What I saw was that this president doesn’t have a clue about the war that he started. The war he started was not in Iraq. He started this war in America. The prize was “hearts and minds.” Yours and mine. And he has lost it, now more obviously than ever by continuing to try to press the buzzwords that have triggered Americans into rallying around the flag.

We are learning that believing the lies that fall from George Bush’s lips (Iraq/9-11) is a very dangerous proposition. As his newly appointed military Chief of Staff told the mothers and fathers not to dissuade their children from signing up to go to Iraq and be maimed and die, Mr. Bush stood before our honorable soldiers and dishonored them by lying to them and everyone else.

On Friday, I learned that Bart Tucker, a 19 year old boy from Sioux City, Iowa, lost BOTH OF HIS ARMS in Iraq last week, joining the more than 12,000 boys and men, girls and women hideously maimed and wounded. Last Tuesday night, George Bush had the audacity to tell us all that the “sacrifices were worth it” in Iraq. Then I remembered the vicious smears and lies that were told about Max Cleland who lost BOTH ARMS AND A LEG in Vietnam on April 4, 1968. Ann Coulter called Max Cleland a traitor and accused him of being soft on terrorism and a supporter of Osama bin Laden because he questioned the war policies of George Bush.

The 1956-1973 conflict in Vietnam (never declared a war) has caused decades of problems and divisions in our country. We lost so many good boys and men (and good women, too). We will never know the depth of that loss because those lives were never lived, their children were never born, their dreams were never fulfilled. Today, we still have those walking wounded among us, many sitting on curbs begging for money, all dealing with the scars that are deep within their hearts and minds. All those young men and women were forever changed by their experiences in that faraway and now almost unmentionable place.

Today we are grappling with the realities of what our current government’s actions are creating for our country and the world. Every action in life creates an equal and opposing reaction - for every push there is a shove or a resistance. For every slap there is a cheek that bears a mark. For every insult there are ears that hear and minds that reel. Like a Frankensteinian monster, this war that was created in the Oval Office in our nation’s capitol, will rise and devour our future.

The loss of military lives as of June 30, 2005, in Iraq is 1,746. The death toll is escalating. More of our troops have been lost in the past 12 months than in the 12 months preceding them. Donald Rumsfeld stated last week that this war may go on for a dozen more years. If true, this could bring our military death toll to a mind-boggling number; over 400,000. The death toll will rise until the cost becomes unbearable. I felt that one death was too many, but I and many others like me were in the minority. No more should die for George Bush’s lie.

There were no Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction! There was no connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11! Iraq had no part in the “War on Terror” until George Bush ordered more than 3,000 bombs to be dropped in one night, on the city of Baghdad, on March 20, 2003.

Ours is a country of law, honor and truthfulness. We must not allow George Bush to rewrite history. His continuing lies and his need to divide us can destroy the very moral fiber of our country. It is now time for all the rest of my fellow citizens to rise up to join me and demand the return of our sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and friends. We must stand together to honor the sacrifices that have been made by our soldiers.

Hold George Bush and his administration accountable.

USC: TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 118 > § 2441

§ 2441. War crimes

(a) Offense.— Whoever, whether inside or outside the United States, commits a war crime, in any of the circumstances described in subsection (b), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death.
(b) Circumstances.— The circumstances referred to in subsection (a) are that the person committing such war crime or the victim of such war crime is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States or a national of the United States (as defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act).
(c) Definition.— As used in this section the term “war crime” means any conduct—
(1) defined as a grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party;
(2) prohibited by Article 23, 25, 27, or 28 of the Annex to the Hague Convention IV, Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, signed 18 October 1907;
(3) which constitutes a violation of common Article 3 of the international conventions signed at Geneva, 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party and which deals with noninternational armed conflict; or
(4) of a person who, in relation to an armed conflict and contrary to the provisions of the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, BoobyTraps and Other Devices as amended at Geneva on 3 May 1996 (Protocol II as amended on 3 May 1996), when the United States is a party to such Protocol, willfully kills or causes serious injury to civilians.

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