20, April 2003 The Iraq War
Fortunately,
most young Indo-Americans escaped the horrors of the war in Iraq electing not
to join the military. It is tragic that the
architects of this war, most notably President Bush and his close
advisors (and most members of the House and Senate) have never served in the
military and thus have no knowledge of its
brutality. It is estimated at least 11,000,000 world-wide opposed the
preemptive action of the US. A large number of Americans were opposed to the war before they were
exposed to the barrage of propaganda emanating from the White House
delivered to the American people by a self-serving press who were reluctant to
relinquish their coveted
relationships with the Administration. The democrats were silenced, intimidated by notions of a false sense of patriotism, placing their
political careers ahead of the welfare of the American people.
The myth that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) has finally been exposed. There is little doubt that Iraqi's
forces would have used whatever means they had in their possession to repel the
unprovoked attacks on their people.
It is especially galling that we should we should use
terrifying weapons and claim we are 'liberating' the Iraqi people. This is reminiscent of the crude
language and propaganda used in the Vietnam war, 'we have to destroy a village
to save it". It is
unconscionable that the Bush Administration should exploit the raw emotions of
9/11 to try to establish a connection between Al
Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. This has been strongly rejected by British
Intelligence. 1,000,000 Iraqi's have already perished from our cruel sanctions including
500,000 children. The servile media
gleefully reported that a staggering 12,000 bombs were dropped in the first 12
days in 'shock and awe and ballet style' of attacks. The cameras were
turned away from the terrifying images of
human suffering to insulate the American public from the harsh realities of war
and perpetuate the myth of 'liberating' the Iraqi's and
bolster support for an unpopular war. The depleted uranium used in the manufacture of
these bombs, was banned by the UN as WMD! The clouds of radiation released will adversely affect the health of
Iraqis for decades to come. Gulf War 1 vets
are still suffering from their deadly effects.
Those
who opposed the war have surely been
vindicated by the complete absence of WMD. This is not a period of victory but
of shame and horror.
