Newsweek Article: THE WAR IN THE WORDS OF THE DEAD

A few key quotes from this article tell the truth about the war in Iraq. These quotes are from a letter home.

Maj. Michael Mundell told his 17-year-old, Erica (nicknamed “Eddie”), on Friday, Oct. 27, 2006. “It’s a fight of 10 man squads in the dark, of ambushes and snipers and IEDs. When I go out to fight, it’s usually with less than 20 men … And I go out to fight almost every day.”

In another letter he writes,

“Folks, I am very tired. We seem to be doing little, the city is mostly trash, rubble and AIF [Anti-Iraq Forces], and frankly I am tired of being a walking bull’s-eye for anyone with an AK and nothing better to do, which includes most of the populace, apparently. We have found three IEDs before they could explode under our trucks.”

See the full article on MSNBC

This is a war where the objective has changed from weapons of mass destruction to getting Saddam to being targets in the middle of a religious war. How can we “win” as Bush says? How many armies have ever won a war by engaging in the type of combat our troops are fighting in Iraq? On top of this, Bush threatend to veto a bill to get our troops out by September of 2008, which is far too long if you ask me. If we are going to leave, then what is the point of throwing lives and resources away? Imagine if we put the resources we put into the war into rebuilding New Orleans?

Current Events: Bush is not getting the message!

House approves 2008 deadline for war pullout
Bush calls it ‘political theater’ and vows to veto bill

Updated: 7:39 p.m. ET March 23, 2007
WASHINGTON – A sharply divided House voted Friday to order President Bush to bring combat troops home from Iraq next year, but the president reiterated his vow to veto the bill, saying the House had “abdicated its responsibility.”

See the full article on MSNBC.

Hmmm, lets review the situation.

• Public opinion is in favor of ending the war in Iraq.
• Americans voted to put Democrats in Congress in hopes they would get us out.
• The Bush administration seems to be the only people in support of our current course.

More people want to get out than stay. What part of this does Bush not understand? At this point I don’t think we are helping the situation by keeping troops over there. It just seems like we are bomb targets most of the time.

In the big picture, I think we expect too much by forcing them to build a democratic government modeled on ours. The Middle East is not the United States. Let them use whatever form of government works for them and protects basic human rights and religious freedom.

And that’s my rant for the day. 🙂

From the news: War bill includes tempting projects

This is the major flaw with our law making system. Some things should be voted on without “pet projects” added in. At a minimum, we should write and bundle line items in a bill differently.

“House Democratic leaders are offering billions in federal funds for lawmakers’ pet projects large and small to secure enough votes this week to pass an Iraq funding bill that would end the war next year.

So far, the projects — which range from the reconstruction of New Orleans levees to the building of peanut storehouses in Georgia — have had little impact on the tally. For a funding bill that establishes tough new readiness standards for deploying combat forces and sets an Aug. 31, 2008, deadline to bring the troops home, votes do not come cheap.”

See the full story on MSNBC.

OK thats my political rant for the day.