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October 13, 2003
Still at it
Well, even after admitting there was no connection between Saddam Hussein, Iraq and the September 11th attacks, he's still trying to use September 11th to justify the war in Iraq.
On a day when two U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq, President Bush used a Columbus Day speech Monday to pay tribute to soldiers who have died in that war and others.And people in this administration pretend to be confused when a survey shows that 70% of people believe Saddam was behind the attacks."That's what's happening today: People are willing to sacrifice for the country they love," Bush said at the White House. "They remember the lessons of September 11th, 2001, and so do I."
The war with Iraq has nothing to do with September 11th. The soldiers dying over there are not dying to avenge the thousands killed that day.
They're dying because Bush wanted to see Saddam removed from power in a misguided attempt to "remake" the Middle East in America's image, in which he and his chief advisors have done little but make one misstep after another after another.
They're dying because Bush refused to work with the rest of the world to see Saddam disarmed, because Bush didn't care about disarming Saddam. Only removing him by force was good enough for him.
They're dying because the civilian leadership in the Pentagon used faulty assumptions (especially on how we would be treated by the Iraqis once we'd taken Saddam down) in trying to determine troop strength, tactics, equipment needed and how long the soldiers would need to be deployed.
They're dying because the chaos in Iraq is attracting terrorists to the area - and while supporters of the "flypaper" theory may think this is good, it's really not. There's no limited number of terrorists that we can attract to Iraq and "kill 'em all" there. The longer we stay in Iraq, the more terrorists we help create.
They're dying because people who thought this war was a good idea, including the President (with his "you're either with us or against us" language) and the Attorney General (who reminded everyone that if we spoke out against what the government was doing, we were, in essence, helping the terrorists), decided that rather than listen to the concerns being raised by people opposed to the war - concerns that, for the most part, have since been shown to be valid - they would vilify us as "unpatriotic" and call us "traitors".
So, please, Mr. President. Stop pretending that your war has anything to do with September 11th. You know perfectly well that the war in Iraq has nothing to do with the attacks - you've admitted that there is no evidence that Saddam was involved in those attacks.
Those soldiers are being sacrificed on the alter of your own arrogance and incompetence. Don't try to pretend otherwise.
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Posted by thorswitch at October 13, 2003 06:53 PM
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