Hard Rain Journal 7-10-07: An Update on the War IN, OF, FOR and BY Terrorism
Call it what it is. It is more than just the debacle in Iraq. It is all of it.
It is a tapestry of fraud woven from the thread of treason with the needle of greed.
The Bush-Cheney regime and its enablers in the Cult formerly known as the Republican Party say "We have to fight them over there so that we don't have to fight them here." But the truth is that we will have to fight them here simply because we are there. The US military presence in Saudi Arabia was after all Osama Bin Laden stated reason for declaring war on us (the US bases have been removed).
The Bush-Cheney regime and its enablers in the Cult formerly known as the Republican Party say we can't let "Al Qaeda in Iraq" gain a foothold. But the truth is that "Al Qaeda in Iraq" -- to whatever degree it exists beyond the boogie man that Bush-Cheney has injected into our collective imagination -- is only there because this foolish military adventure opened the door for them.
Indeed, the only quasi-element of Al Qaeda that existed in Iraq before our invasion was Zarqawi and his men, and they dwelled in Northern Iraq under the protective umbrella of the US enforced no fly zone (otherwise Saddam Hussein would have killed them all).
And yes, Bush-Cheney had at least one clear shot at Zarqawi that they did not take, prior to their pre-emptive war with Al Qaeda's mortal enemy.
Make any sense to you?
The US mainstream news media wants you to believe that you feel "safer" with Bush-Cheney in charge. We are told that we believe that Bush-Cheney and their enablers in the Cult formerly known as the Republican Party are "tough on terrorism."
And yet, the 9/11 Commission recommendations are not yet fully implemented, because the the Cult formerly known as the Republican Party has blocked its passage in the US Senate:
A group of family members of September 11 victims today called out Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for blocking legislation that would implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations. The bill has already passed the House and Senate; McConnell is refusing to let it move to be signed by the President. Think Progess, 7-9-07
Make any sense to you?
We are told we feel "safer" with the Bush-Cheney cabal in command of the botched, bungled, misnamed "war on terror," and yet, they not only allowed Bin Laden to escape at Tora Bora, and passed on a likely chance to kill Zarqawi, they also passed on a likely chance to kill Bin Laden's brain, Ayman al-Zawahiri:
The target was a meeting of Al-Qaeda leaders that intelligence officials thought included Ayman al-Zawahiri, the man believed to run the group’s operations, the report said. The mission was called off after then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld rejected an 11th-hour appeal by Porter Goss, then director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the paper said. Members of a Navy Seals unit in parachute gear had already boarded C-130 cargo planes in Afghanistan when the mission was canceled, The Times reported, citing a former senior intelligence official involved in the planning. Rumsfeld decided that the operation, which had ballooned from a small number of military personnel and CIA operatives to several hundred, was cumbersome and put too many American http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.giflives at risk, according to the report. New York Times via Raw Story, 7-7-07
Excuse me? "Too many American lives at risk"?
In a piece on the "Metrics of War," Bloomberg News has estimated some of the price in blood and treasure:
Bloomberg notes, “Four thousand U.S. service members have died in U.S. President George W. Bush’s ‘war on terror’ in Iraq and Afghanistan 5 1/2 years after American forces ousted the Taliban in December 2001.” AP adds, “All told, Congress has appropriated $610 billion in war-related money since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror assaults, roughly the same as the war in Vietnam. Iraq alone has cost $450 billion.” The wars cost approximately $12 billion a month, according to a new Congressional Research Service report. Think Progress, 7-9-07
And the results so far?
Bin Laden, Zawahiri and Mullah Omar are still at large. The US military is strained to the breaking point. Large swaths of Afghanistan are back under the control of the Taliban. Iraq has slipped into chaos, and the entire region has been destabilized. All the decades of work that went into forging peace between Israel and Palestine -- work that Rabin and Sadat sacrificed their lives for -- has been smashed to pieces and swept away. And oh yes, Pakistan, with its nuclear weapons, and its thousands of radicalized madrassahs, is coming apart at the seams.
Do you "feel safer" yet?
You don't.
Well, you shouldn't be surprised when they tell you that you "feel safer" with the Bush-Cheney cabal at the helm; after all, they told you that you voted for Bush-Cheney too, twice -- but you didn't vote for them either time, did you?
Here is the text of the 9/11 family members' letter to all of us:
Dear 9/11 Families and Friends,
The bill implementing many of the remaining 9/11 Commissions recommendations is stalled because Senate Republicans have blocked an important ‘next step’. It is called a conference, where the House and Senate hammer out their differences on bills and is therefore a cornerstone of our democratic legislative process.
The bill in question, (S.4), is called Improving America’s Security Act. When enacted, it will improve security on the home front. It is long overdue for passage and as a consequence, American lives remain at risk.
Please voice your strong opposition to this partisan stall tactic. Call, email or fax Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office. Tell him to stop blocking the Conference on S.4. Tell him to let the bill move forward!
The contact information for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is (202) 224-2541 or McConnell@senate.gov or fax (202) 224-2499.
Thank you for your help.
Carol Ashley
Rosemary Dillard
Beverly Eckert
Mary Fetchet
Carie Lemack
Abe Scott
Think Progess, 7-9-07
Please help them deliver this message.
Click here for a Words of Power Archive of posts on 9/11, Terrorism, Etc.
September 11th, Mitch McConnel, 9/11, Cheney, Bush, Iraq, Terrorism,9/11, Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Zawahiri, 9/11 Commission Richard Power, Words of Power
