This will be short. There is not much to say that is not obvious to anyone with a brain. In 2001 we were attacked by Al Qaeda, a terrorist organization headquartered in Afghanistan and supported by the tribes that encompass the Taliban, a severely strict and radical Muslim group that was in power in much of that country.
We attacked the strongholds of Al Qaeda, and in the process tore down much of the Taliban governmental structure. And we did it in a matter of months, virtually ransacking the place, killing people right and left and driving Al Qaeda into a small, mountainous area adjacent to Pakistan. All that was left was to contain them there, attack their strongholds, keep them contained and eventually kill or capture them.
And what did Dick and Junior do? They punted. I know people like to say that they are both dummies. And maybe some of that is true. But Richard Nixon was no dummy. And he ruined his life. Many people who are smart cannot make the right decision at the crucial time. Cheney, at least, had been Secretary of Defense. Consequently, he has no defense. He cannot say that he is ignorant of how war works. He was in on the first war in Iraq up to his ears. The rest of us now know for certain there was no reason to go to war with Iraq. The point…the legal point in examining whether something is a war crime…is that he knew it when he started the Iraq War.
There is virtually unimpeachable evidence, not only from those in top-level meetings but also the public actions of various Right Wing organizations, that the Cheney-Bush group was rabid to start a war with Iraq, most likely to gain access to the oil fields. Right Wing politicians, and individuals before they were in the Bush Administration, people like Donald Rumsfeld and Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz, were active in promoting a war with Iraq. They ran a full-page ad in the NEW YORK TIMES in 1998, putting pressure on then President Clinton to start a war with Iraq. At that time, Iraq had no air force, no missiles, and every time one of their planes or helicopters strayed out of a restricted area, they were shot down!
The nations of the world had the top nuclear scientists in Iraq on a regular basis, inspecting any potential site that might contain nuclear or other dangerous weapons. Yet, Dick and Junior…and, yes, it is purposefully disrespectful…who could have respect for either of them…made up reasons to go to war. Over 4,000 young Americans died, 30,000 more were wounded, some horribly…and a trillion dollars was wasted…because Dick and Junior decided that they knew more than Congress, more than the military and more than the CIA. Two Chiefs of Staff refused to take us into the Iraq war. One was fired. The next one in line retired before he would do it.
So Dick and Junior set up their own intelligence branch within the Defense Department with the approval of another war-monger, Donald Rumsfeld, and that group made up intelligence that was used to start the war. Impeachable offense? You’re damned right it’s impeachable. They lied to Congress and the American people and used those lies to take us to war.
So how did Dick and Junior get the troops for Iraq? They had General Tommy Franks take them from Afghanistan, thus reducing our efforts, holding up the final push to get Osama Bin Laden, and allowing him to escape into Pakistan…or so we think. The whole thing became so vague at that point…and so many lies have been told by Dick and Junior’s appointees that we have no real idea. The point is that it is now 2009 and we are still fighting in Afghanistan and have been forced to actually send in more troops.
Why are Dick and Junior not under indictment? This is what we need to ask. Why have they not been tried as war criminals? What if you have the power and you lie to the people to used it to start a war that kills hundreds of thousands? Isn’t that enough? We tried those in the Balkans that did similar things. Dick and Junior certainly set in motion events that resulted not merely in our 4,000 dead but also those of many, many more innocent Iraqis, up to three-quarters of a million. They caused the devastation of a country out of their personal desire for revenge on a dictator plus their greed and those of their Texas backers–for oil.
We now will spend another $30 billion at least. Who should pay? Who should be made to stand up as responsible for all this? The man principally responsible is not only at large, but he is still speaking out against the current administration, trying to manipulate the disastrous events that HE created!
Have we gone completely mad in this country? Where is justice? The dead cry out for justice. We know what needs to be done, and it must be done.
