iraq war

I honestly don’t even know how a lot of these conservative “pundits” can still have the nerve to get on TV and deliver the kind of lies that we’re seeing. In the 1950’s we overthrew Iran. Why did we overthrow them? Because they wanted to Nationalize their own oil resources. They had become frustrated with the fact that BP was in their country and making all the money. They proceeded to do what any free thinking capitalist would have done which is to aim for their own fair share of the profits. The result of that was that BP “called” up the US and complained how they were losing control. Being the innovators that we Americans are, we went into Iran and said NO PROBLEM - we’ll take care of that for you, because ultimately the UK and US have the same stance on many territorial questions, after all the UK of all countries, has some of the best historical examples to fall back on to that show how qualified they are in making countries slaves of the ‘mothership’.

It’s 2008 and we’re being told Iran is a threat again. How did they become that threat? BECAUSE WE RUINED THEIR REVOLUTION! Instead of making them true allies, we let the Corporations do the thinking on this and we took away their democracy thereby making them enemies of the United States. Iran actually used to be pro Western and as I’ve said in other posts on my blog here, here, we are not only ruining relationships with other countries, we are making them enemies. For me the security question alone flies in the face of everything Conservatives say these days.

Of course we’re playing a game here, which is to pretend that all the BS we’re being fed somehow has validity. We’re actually supposed to believe that the Western Oil companies they are now letting into Iraq are going to simply help their production. Of course they’re going to get a huge shim in the door so when things are running well again, they are right there to take over the next contracts. Remember this -the main reason why we wanted Saddam out of office has nothing to do with human rights abuses. I mean let’s get serious here for one second - we commit human rights abuses right in front of our door step, in Guantanamo Bay so I believe that we could care less about human rights. If we’re so worried about human beings being abused, why didn’t and aren’t we acting in Darfur? In case you really don’t know the answer to that question, it’s again very simple: they don’t have any resources we need. If Darfur had oil you would be reading about it in the news daily.

So after over 50 years of constantly poking into the bees nest I call the Middle East, once again they are feeding us propaganda about Oil companies in Iraq. Condie says that the US government has no involvement in this whatsoever - and Bob Marley never bought a sack of weed, give me a break. Further more she also said that our government also had nothing to do with the whole “no bidding” part. So let me get this straight: Iraq is demolished, their national treasures have been looted, they have over 165,000 occupiers in their country, they can’t guarantee for power but now because of their good business sense they decided to bring in Western Oil companies, without any bids? I don’t know about you, but nothing says “sponsored by the corporate United States” any more clear than a no-bid contract.

While we’re still caught up in a presidential primary, soldiers are still not getting the support they deserve. Please click on the link below and help sign the petition for the GI Bill 2008.

http://www.gibill2008.org

It’s 3:03 am. I’m doing the graveyard shift again and I’m watching PBS Frontline’s “Bad Voodoo’s War”. I’ve done my share of hard work in my life. In my 20’s I was an iron worker in Germany and I know to some extent how it is to share a shitty situation with others. It of course doesn’t compare to the bond soldiers form, but I do emphasize very strongly with the men. I know how it is to be working in extreme conditions, whether it’s the extreme hot or cold - please don’t think I’m comparing myself to soldiers, I’m just saying I can feel for them - I know iron work doesn’t compare to the fear of being blown up daily. The headline of this article is a direct quote from one of the soldiers, SFC Jason Shaw. He had joined the army at age 18 and four years later he was on his third deployment. The crazy part is that he could have opted to stay home, but he volunteered to go back, to accompany his friends in the platoon.

Misery likes company they say, but I think this goes a bit deeper than that. These soldiers on a daily basis go through more crisis, fear and danger to their lives than most of us will ever experience in a life time. The soldier don’t want to go on the missions because they know that every day they leave their camp, death can be near. I can see in the look of the guys that they’re just hanging in there. Toby Nunn, the platoon leader shares his personal feelings and it’s saddening to see that we’re wasting men like him and others. Most of the documentary deals with this platoon doing security details for transport convoys. At some point Nunn describes the convoy and they called it “the lettuce and tomato” convoy. He finished his comment by saying “yeah these supplies are probably going to some private contractor” - that’s something you don’t even want to think about it. While these men are leaving families at home, seeing relationships fall apart, loosing friends in battle and of course getting killed and injured themselves, the men in Washington are saying the surge is working. Ask the soldiers that are on their third, fourth or fifth tour of duty whether they think it’s working. It doesn’t make any difference to them - I’m sure of that.

An argument many republicans will bring up is that “they signed up for this” - let’s be serious here. Nobody in the army currently wants to be at war. Yes of course you have certain people that joined beause they were gung ho for action - however most soldiers don’t see action. They’re in a situation where every one of their move requires careful thought, as to not cause any conflicts with the Iraqi security personell. This reason and others, make it very hard for soldiers to protect each other. I’m an extremely anti-military person but I’ve never had anything against soldiers. Soldiers are guys and gals just like you and I trying to make it in life and not a single one of them wants to be at war for several years at a time.

Of course the people in Washington don’t think about it - I know Donald Rumsfeld doesn’t and never looses any sleep over the fact how many men he will personally have ruined with so very little so show for. Accordnig to recent reports we’re looking at hundreds of thousands of returning service men that are injured physically and mentally. The republican don’t give two cents about you - that’s the sad part. They don’t care about your families, they don’t care how your quarters look like, and they could care less that you’re ill equipped. While our heroes are risking their lives protecting assets for private contractors, those same private contractors don’t adhere to any laws, they get paid 10x times more than our soldiers do and they don’t have to answer to anyone. You can’t even blame ex military men for joining companies such as Blackwater because after all you can make more money and you don’t have anyone to answer to.

What this government has done, is completely demoralize our service men. Just like after Vietnam we’re seeing case after case where veterans are being denied proper care. To top it all off, John McCain the republican presidential hopeful rejects the new G.I. Bill. How do these people sleep at night?

You can check out SFC Toby Nunn’s Website Here: http://tobynunn.net/

Watch the PBS Frontline Documentary: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/badvoodoo/

This is another must see documentary from what I’ve heard. Wasn’t able to watch it yet myself, however I was listening to various talk radio shows this morning and everyone I tuned into made mention of this. I’ve watched many of their films and must say they are a great source of critical information.

PBS Frontline - Bush’s War

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SypeZjeOrY4[/youtube]

It’s kind of hard to stay calm while watching that or is that just me?