My LTTE - Any suggestions?

[kitkat65]

President Bush’s speech on Iraq last night was revealing, only for the fact that we know what we can expect from him in the future and that is more of the same empty rhetoric about freedom, liberty, terrorists, 9/11, terrorists, stay the course, 9/11, terrorists, and oh yeah, bin Laden.

We will not be getting an exit strategy, nor a timeline, nor hope.

And we certainly won’t be getting any insight into the Downing Street documents that officially reveal the Bush administration’s plot to wage war on Iraq using bogus intelligence, despite public claims that war was a last resort. We now even know he was routinely bombing Iraq in the months before war was officially declared.

I would expect that Congress would be outraged over such a campagin of lies. I mean after all, their approval to give Bush the power to take military action was based on the same lies the American public was fed. Congress has shown us in the past that it has no tolerance for lying when it impeached Bill Clinton for lying about the Monica affair.

But Congress stands mute over this lie. Why is that? Is it that this country is in such a mess right now that they figure things can only get better? Let’s all pray that it doesn’t get any worse because here’s a list of what the Bush administration’s myopic march to war has brought us so far:

• Almost 9,000 American soldiers dead, and over 16,000 seriously wounded, according DoD lists currently being very quietly circulated. Unfortunately, it’s unclear what the actual number is since the Pentagon has decided to not include in the official numbers the soldiers who die on the way to hospitals for treatment.

• Almost 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead, according the the Red Cross;

• An over stretched, under supplied military;

• Alienation of would-be allies;

• A loss of faith in our leaders to keep our soldiers out of harm’s way unless absolutely necessary;

• Dwindling numbers of new military recruits;

• A growing national debt;

• A tarnished human rights record;

• and quite probably a whole new generation of terrorists who see the Iraq war as evidence that America is intent on militarily dominating their part of the world

Watching Bush’s speech last night I couldn’t help but wonder if during the time they were lying to the public about the facts of Iraq, if they actually started believing in those lies themselves. What else could possibly explain the extreme incompetence and mismanagement that is the Iraq occupation?

Now we hear reports of possible actions involving Iran. Can this country afford another invasion? Where does Bush think the money and the manpower is going to come from?

To make a crude analogy, folks, this is no longer the elephant in the room. It’s the elephant droppings in the room and half of our Congress is spraying air freshener while the other half is trying not to step in said droppings lest they track it back to their side of the aisle.

How many more American soldiers and innocent civilians need to die for this Congress to take a stand and say enough already? How many more reports of detainee abuse is it going to take for Congress to realize that our nation’s moral compass is in danger of becoming permanently askew?

And how many more reports of fraud and fund mismanagement from Halliburton and other no-bid contractors is it going to take before we get the real answers about why this nation was led into an unprovoked, illegal war?

It’s a pathetic state of the union when we no longer have a government for the people, but merely politicians. And, it’s even more pathetic when the American public has no expectation of justice or concrete answers because politicians would rather have more soldiers and innocent civilians killed than take a stand against someone in their own party.

One could feel overwhelmed by such a situation but I would like to point out one little nugget of hope. In the months to come, we will be able to tell the politicians from the true leaders by their action or inaction towards the Downing Street documents. And come November 2006, we will have no doubt which Congresspeople put their constituents well being before their political affiliations.

And that information you can take to the polls.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

1. Probably too long...

Most local newspapers limit LTTE's to 250 words. Unless your paper has other criteria, they probably won't publish.

Good letter, though!

[wryter2000]

2. It's way too long

Unless your newspaper is radically different from mine, this is too long for a LTTE. I suggest you find one or two points you want to hit and write about those.

[DisassemblingHisLies]

3. The problem with writing an LTTE on this administration

is that there are far too many important points to make. It's extremely hard to keep it short & concise like the editors' prefer.

[kitkat65]

4. No kidding - This IS the short version n/t

[donkeyotay]

5. It's impossible to express what's wrong with Bush in 250 words or less

So, take your excellent material and break it up by topic: maybe one letter on why isn't congress mad now that we know he lied to us and them, another on the costs of war, another on the contractors and corruption, etc.

Your paper probably would print one per month. So polish up a summer's worth of stones to throw at the maladministration.

:)