Ding! Dong! The Bitch Is Dead!

Less than three hours ago, less than three days before the end of the year, probably the most imfamous Iraqis in world history was executed. At 6:05 am, on December 29th, the fromer president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was executed by hangging. And, unfortunately, Iraq was no different than it was at 6:04 am. Iraq, as content and jovial the Iraqi people may be, his death did not, will not and has not made Iraq a better place. If anything, everyone agrees that Saddam's death will not mean peace for Iraq, as if it was the picture of Woodstock to begin with.

On March 20th, 2003, the United States invasion of Iraq culminated with the fall of the Iraqi government and the capture of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. That day has been marked visually throughout history with the tumbling down of the statue of Saddam Hussein. That crumbling statue had more signifigence than a simple statue. That statue for all intent and purposes marked the end of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Nearly four years has passed and during the meantime, tens of thousand of Iraqis have been killed, nearly 3,000 American soldiers have been killed and the nation of Iraqi itself has struggled and struggled to unite their government, protect it's people and to provide for them welfare and security. But now, Saddam Hussein has been executed and the best I can describe this is a moral victory for the Iraqi people. Many Iraqi's will die tomorrow. More American soldiers will be killed. Many Iraqis still don't have adaquate electricity. The streets reek of trash, sewage and burnt rubber. Gun fire in Baghdad is just about as normal as it is in any ghetto across the nation. Regardless of the fact that Saddam is dead or alive, the fact remains, Iraq still faces a dire situation that is not getting any better.

And as I sit here, I hear of the stories surrouding his execution and cannot help but to be disturbed. It's been reported that those present at his execution danced and celebrated, not just at the fact that he died, but at the fact that they dance at his body. Now, I know this death carries a grave signifigence, but I've never killed anyone personally. The bodies of the deceased that I've given me a wide range of feelings, celebration is not among them. What's worse is the fact that Hussein kept his people in fear by publicily broadcasting executions, even on holidays. Oddly enough, the same thing has happened here.

Fact of the matter is, Saddam's reign ended inMarch of 2003. His death now is nonconsequential. Actually, this was a fore gone conclusion waiting to be reached since that time. After all he's done in Iraq, those people could not wait to get their hands on him. His trial was theater. Like they were actually going to find him not guilty. He received one appeal and security of the former president was given up for less than 30 minutes before he was executed. Thirty minutes. I can make a grill cheese sandwich during that time. They wanted him dead. The lack of a coherent legal system didn't matter. Lack of due process did not matter. What mattered is Saddam Hussein dead. And to what end? Everything he was died nearly four years ago.

Away/Forward?

A Way Forward?

The Iraq Study Group was formed back in March of 2006. It consist of 10 persons from different background, ideology and philosophy led by former Secretary of State, James Baker and former congressman, Lee Hamilton. This bi-partisan group, over the course of the ensuing nine months consulted a number of governmental leaders, former and current as well as other pertinent notables. Together, they published a report, The Iraq Study Group Report. This report is is the comprehensive opinion that is held in reguard by both sides of the pendelum because of the make up of the group, which includes cabinet members and advisors from previous three presidential administration, former senators and a Supreme Court Justice. All of this was in a vain attempt to recommend a course of action that President Bush should take to complete his war.

Their report to the president: FAILURE!

George Bush has failed and he has failed misreably. He has failed the Iraqi people. He has failed the American population. He has failed our military. He has failed our government. He has failed his own party and he has failed himself. That is pretty much a sumation of what the report has given. This foolish, idiotic crusade of an errand is the biggest folley this nation has faced since Vietnam. You would think that ever since that war over three decades ago, our leaders would have learned a damn lesson, but wait a damn minute; George Bush only decided to step foot in Vietnam last month. Why would he know any better? I mean, what better way to built support for an unpopular war by traveling to VIETNAM! I'm sorry, I cannot blame the troops in the field. They are trying their best. They are doing the best of a bad situation, taking the peanuts from the shit, but there's only so much you can do. Our fearless one's leadership has failed.

If this was a cartoon, George Bush would be about as competent as Cobra Commander. This guy has done nothing right but to continue to lead where it has been well established that his leadership is inefficent. What makes matters extremely worse is the continued and perpetuated lie he and his adminstration fed the American people for the whole time. All we heard from him, his adminstration and the talking air heads is how good things are going and how much better they are getting and how much better things are than under Saddam Hussein. THERE WAS STABILITY WITH SADDAM HUSSEIN. THERE WAS A STANDING ARMY WITH SADDAM HUSSEIN. THERE WAS POWER, JOBS AND RUNNING WATER UNDER SADDAM HUSSEIN. HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WERE NOT GETTING BLOWN TO BITS ON A WEEKLY BASIS UNDER SADDAM HUSSEIN. It doesn't take an idiot to see which one is better and which one is worse. So evidently, our fearless leader must be worse than an idiot for not seeing that.

And the only they they could tell us was how good it was going in Iraq, of how good it was that the Iraqi people are coming out to vote for a government(that we gave them). First of all, it's a damn problem when Iraqi turnout is better than ours. Secondly, what is the purpose of these people voting? Are they voting for the same things we vote for in a government? Are they voting to establish justice? To ensure domestic tranquility? To provide for the common defense? To promote general welfare? To secure the blessings of liberty and posterity? Well, if that's their goal, here's their report card: FAILED. FAILED. FAILED. FAILED. FAILED. And their failure is not in their hands. It lies in the hands of our nation. You can't expect a pre-schooler to do calculus? So why in the name of the Lord did we expect this expierment in construction this nation in our image would work? Only a fool would expect as much. Hell, even a fool would know better. Our leadership did not.

So why did we do it? Other than the facts of oil, previous beef and a hard-on for legacy, we involved ourselves in this mess because we could. Who would stop us? We thought we could want into Iraq, depose the government, decimate the army and control the populace. Well, it turns out we were wrong. Or were we? Our goal was to remove Saddam Hussein, to install a democratic government and to leave peacefully. Well, considering that last goal is obviously not going to happen, we've done all we ever thought we had a mandate to do. Everyone's worried about winning the war and securing our objectives and truth be told, we've already done it. As painful as it might be, it's time to let the training wheels go. We can't hold Iraq's hand forever. They are going to have to learn on their own. It's going to be tough, but how else are they supposed to do it? Unfortunately, they were not strong enough or willed enough to lead in the command of their freedom and democracy, like we were, which is why they cannot succeed. Our presence is not helping them, it's hurting them. Yes, in the long run, the U.S. presence in Iraq is doing more harm. The longer we are there the less effective we are. Our presence there is nothing more than a damn, a blockage from something that needs to flow freely. As rough the waters might be, it's going to flow reguardless of what we do so we need to remove ourselves as an obstruction. The only reason why the United States of America is the United States of America today is because we took command of our own destiny and took our freedom and took our democracy. We did not wait for France or Russia or anyone else to give it to us, nor did they have to step in and say King George is a failure and America is ripe for regime change. We did that. And becasue we did that, we had the strength to continue. Iraq does not have that. Iraq has an enabler called the United States army. As long as we are there to be their crutch and to hold their hand, they will never be able to have the strength to soverign and that's real.

And this foolish thought of a continued armed combat is foolish. Again, it's beyond foolery. This cannot turn into a battle of atrition because again, VIETNAM, we've seen that will not work. Unfortunately this seems like the only thing the president knows and now we're paying for it. He seems to think that armed combat against terrorist and insurgency in Iraq will work, when any military leader will tell you if you want to win a battle you are going to have to think like the enemy thinks and we are not doing that at all. If we were, we'd see how futile military combat is against much of this element. They are fighting for a way of life. We are not. We cannot grasp that they are fighting for something far greater than themselves. Their future and entire being is at stake and we are threatening to take that from them. The first thing that comes to my mind when you realize what we're fighting is a similar will, the will the Black Americans had to obtain our civil rights and liberties in this nation. Those like Martin Luther King Jr, Medger Evers, Emmitt Till, Linda Brown, Rosa Parks and the rest of those who came before me, they fought against a juggernaut that was steadfast in denying them their future, their way of life adn their entire being. Did they give up? Did they retreat and say, the U.S. government is too strong, let's bend to their will? No. They fought. The harder the U.S. government fought to deny them, they fought twice as hard, until the government did something unprecedented for someone like George W. Bush and actually turned to the people and LISTENED. And that's the same thing we'll go through in this current crisis. Taking up arms and killing these people has done nothing more than the strengthen their will. And that's all we are doing, which is just another reason why we should leave.

If you don't want to leave. If you are still one of those who believe our military presence is a good thing and beneficial to Iraq and it's people, I feel sorry for you. But please do not deny the power that is gained when you listen. When one is listening they are learning. When one is learning, they are understanding. When one understands, they are accepted. And that will help both sides. Not entirely accepted for a better relationship, but accepted for knowing where you stand. Because right now, we're doing nothing but proprogate slaughter.

And so now, the adminstration has not taken this report as a report of failure but has taken it as a report of new opportunity. The new monniker is "A way forward". Even dispite all evidence on the table that he has failed, that the reality that has smacked him in the face, he still thinks he can take advantage of this situation. He doesn't understand that it's far, far too late for progress. Not that progress can be achieved, his mentality will not allow it even if it were possible. From day one he has made up his mind about Iraq. No matter what this report says, George W. Bush will do what he wants anyway, reguardless all recommendation, realization and repudiation. He has claimed a stake on A way forward, but has demonstrated a clear lack of vision, integrity and trust, I am entirely confident he does not know of A way forward more so than away/forward. Because for every step forward he thinks he takes, he takes three steps away. Away. Foward. Away. Forward. Now because of his will of force and foolery and lack of a sense of direction, we will pay dearly.

So, in the end, the faults of this man does not fall upon him. Those who are the real failures are us, the people. We elected him. We elected him again. Before we knew how strong his grasp was on the world around him and we elected him. Then we knew how badly he failed us and we elected him again. Now, we bear the fruits of what has blossomed from our ignorance and divison. We, the people of the United States, have failed ourselves. We allow for this to happen. We allowed for him to be in office. Now we have failed him. We have failed ourselves and the opposing ideology. We have failed the Iraqi people and we have failed our government and our democracy. And the Ambush of George is complete.

F-

The Friendly Skies

Just got wind of an on-going investigation involving a group of Muslim Imam's seeking passage from Minnesota to Phoenix, Arizona just before Thanksgiving. These Imam's, who boarded an American Airlines plane, where alledgedly seen praying loudly and talking of Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein all the while taking part in questionable actions, were escorted off the plane before take-off and questioned by the FBI and local authorities. Remarkably, even after they were questioned by the authorities, they still were denied passage to their destination. So appearently since then, they have been involved in an dispuited case in court for discrimination practices and are on Sean Hanntity's hit list.

Now, this event was unfortunately sandwiched in-between such vivid stories of "Kramer" Michael Richard's racial head fart and O.J. Simpson's latest attempt to cash in on his wifes murder(you guys will never get over that) and in a vain attempt to garner some sort of care, the Imam's and Mr. Hanntity haven't been able to scare the rest of the public much more harshly then a few ignorant Den Mothers and Soccer Moms. Fortunately, it'll take a lot more than this small sect of the electorate to break the endless nonchalant fever most Americans enjoy. I can only begin to imagine why this would make news. Seemingly it's only another sad attempt for Americans to justify their contempt for all things un-American, or at least what this sub-heart of America considered to be un-American. We've seen how during the election they want to legalize their contempt for gay people and hispanic Americans and they'll continue to find their shots at every other ethnic and religions minority in this country and this isn't much different.

Now, I don't want to say I don't understand what's their problem or what all the fuss is about. People are scared. They are scared that everyone in a beard and bedsheets want to kill them, which is highly unfotunate and just about as ridiculous. You have this culture of people in America who seem comfortable with doing all they can to get everyone in the country afraid of muslims because Islamic extremist attacked our nation proper years ago. Now, I'm not one to say we should forgive and forget, but we should forgive any quick resort to ignorance and not forget sight of perspective here. Okay class, can anyone describe to me what the individuals who hijacked four airplanes in 2001 look like? Did they wear beards? Did they have turbans? Were they even wearing dishikis? No. Let me repeat: NO. For those who are keeping score, any hijacker wishing to do this nation any harm wouldn't openly broadcast who they are to a plane of crowded people. Especially nowadays where people are easily caught up in a rapture of fear. The hijackers back in 2001 wore dress pants, button-up shirts, clean-cut, wallstreet haircuts and followed the letter of the law... up to the point they acted upon their zeal to kill people. So despite any clear evidence that anyone wishing to do harm to this country or its people would, I don't know, actually try by not sticking out like a sore thumb, these Imam's were still the object of people's fascination with fright of the unknown. And to top things off, after they were extensively questioned, they still weren't able to travel.

What get's me is the frightened who call radio talk shows and profess their fears of any muslim praying or doing anything relating to their own freedom and business. !!! They were praying on the plane and I were scared they were going to kill me! ??? They're muslim. That's what muslim's do. They pray. Just like us christians should, but religion is something people take a lot more seriously than us Americans. To them, it's more than a Sunday morning excursion. On any given day, a muslim is probably praying once every three hours. Coming across one praying is to be expected. Duh. But unreasonable Americans still find room to be afraid.

Now I can blame these fear-mongering talking (on) air heads for scaring people into being afraid and consequently suspecting every muslim that catches their attention, but really it's the people who give these airheads power. Their willingness to ignorances and readily lack-luster mis-informed opinions is what is turning reasonable and rational people and situations into something more than what it's not. It is these same people that seemingly want to forget that hijackers wishing to harm this nation did not come here illegally. They did not fly previously praying as loudly as they can. They were purposely unassuming. They purposely did not raise any flags. They purposely followed the law so any foolish laws of racial profiling or suspicious Den Mothers would not be any the wiser. The truth is we are truly vulnerable to any attack and if the commitment is there, which is sustain by headstrong motivations of eradication by our government, we will fall victim at their will. The truth hurts, one way or another.