Who Killed More - Bush or Newsweek?

Read this column from Juan Cole, professor of modern Middle Eastern history at the University of Michigan. (Go Blue!)

Now that the Downing Street memo has become public, we know with absolute certainty that Bush was lying to us when he said every step would be taken to prevent war. We know with absolute certainty that he knew the intelligence was weak on Iraq. We know with absolute certainty that he came into office planning to attack Iraq come hell or high water, and on September 11, 2001 he was probably a little tingly with excitement.

The question is, why doesn’t anyone care?

Think about it. He lied day after day after day to ensure that he would entangle us in this deadly quagmire. Over 1,600 soldiers have been killed in Iraq. Some 15,000 of our soldiers are wounded, many seriously. Over 100,000 Iraqi civilians are dead and the violence continues every single day. We’ve been torturing innocent people in Saddam’s old torture chambers, in Syria, in Cuba, in Egypt. Everyone in the world hates us. Osama bin Laden is all but forgotten by BushCo, but not by the Muslim world. Over there he’s a hero on the order of Superman and his recruitment is through the roof.

We’re so broke, we can’t afford to protect our borders, our chemical and nuclear plants, our trains, our ports. The dollar is falling like Wile E. Coyote off a cliff; our debt is exploding. And it’s all due to this war. This war is an albatross that Bush eagerly reached for and placed firmly around our necks. God knows that it won’t be over by 2008, so someone else can pay the piper on his administration when we finally cut our losses and pull out of there. It’s always someone else with Bush, isn’t it? Cut taxes, pile up a huge debt that our children can pay. Start a war that we can’t win, and our children can die. Eliminate social security so that our children won’t be protected. Cut funding to our schools so our children can’t compete in the global marketplace. Cut Medicaid so our children don’t have insurance. Refuse to do anything about our disgusting polluting ways, so our children can live (or maybe not) in the steambath that will be the future. As long as Bush is riding high politically, the next generation can suck it.

America doesn’t start wars. This is not what our country is about. And this is why. North Korea and Iran are looking at our pathetic attempt to keep order in Iraq and they know a) we don’t have the troops to attack them, and b) even if we did, we wouldn’t be able to beat them. So they’re like, “fuck it – let’s get some nuclear weapons. Now’s our only chance!” And once they do, we definitely can’t attack them. Shit, they’d take out Seoul or Tel Aviv.

Why does no one care about this? How can we pay more attention to some guy’s source in Newsweek than to Bush’s lack of sources on Iraq. Look at it this way – at least the Newsweek guy tried to find a source. Bush couldn’t have cared less. Just convince the American people that we need to start a war, the truth is irrelevant.

The truth is irrelevant. That is our president. 51% of you voted for him. And you’re probably still happy. You should all be ashamed of yourselves, and as far as I’m concerned, the blood is on your hands as well.