The Chimperor's American Legion speech: my LTTE

[Martin Eden]

This probably won't get published in the Chicago Tribune because of its length, but I really couldn't bring myslef to pare it down. Nor could I not get this off my chest after hearing chimpy's latest lies.

The speech president Bush gave at the American Legion in Salt Lake City on August 31 is a continuation of the false rhetoric that got us into Iraq in the first place. Iraq was never the “central front” in the war on terror. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. We supported his horrible regime before the first gulf war because his secular dictatorship was a bulwark against the Islamic revolutionaries of Iran. Above all else he was interested in maintaining his power, which was threatened by the likes of Osama bin Laden who want to establish theocratic rule in the Muslim world.

The vast majority of the people we are fighting in Iraq are Sunni Iraqis who want to regain their former power and drive out the foreign invaders. President Bush says “we will face the terrorists in the streets of our own cities” if we leave now. This rhetoric is a gross distortion and a blatant attempt to manipulate the public through fear. Iraqi insurgents want to recapture their own country and have no means of invading ours. Our presence has helped recruit and attract foreign jihadists to Iraq, but this tiny minority has no chance of exerting control over the Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish sects. Our efforts have placed in office the majority Shiites, whose leadership is largely comprised of religious clerics with close kinship to the mullahs of Iran. This result is hardly worth the sacrifice of thousands of American troops and hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars.

The Bush administration’s policies in Iraq have failed because ideology and politics have consistently been placed ahead of consensus and careful planning, and because the rhetoric behind the war was false from the start. They conjured up the worst case scenario of an Iraqi threat, acted upon a best case postwar scenario, and were wrong on both counts. This modus operandi has not changed. A peaceful democracy in Iraq is much to be desired but has little chance of being achieved while this administration continues to deceive the American public and itself. The essence of our democracy is the informed consent of the governed. What chance do we have of implanting a friendly democracy at the point of a gun in a bitterly hostile land when our own government consistently misinforms the people they are supposed to represent?

[Monkeyman]

The Legion is going to hurt for awhile

85 members of the Legion in IL left and said they won't be back until the Legion starts fight for their rights. I hope this happens across the country

[babylonsister]

1. I think your letter is spot on; I hope they print it!

:thumbsup:

[Martin Eden]

2. Thanks, we'll see

On the front page of today's Trib is an article titled Democrats return fire over Iraq. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[opihimoimoi]

3. The poor Pubs, trying their best to confuse and fool us but it ain't

working as it did.....the Peeps have begun to stir and smell the coffee.