Editorial Feature US aggression leads predictably to bad results: Take action to stop the war now
Our country has engaged Iraq in a conquest for power. Some appear to be appalled or surprised by the way the execution of the war has proceeded, but in fact, no one should be surprised by the devolution of the situation, as a simple review of the facts of the situation will show. We subjected Iraq to repeated bombings, laid waste to their national infrastructure, starved their children with sanctions, and poisoned them with depleted uranium, among other egregious things. Then, after using the UN to emasculate their military, we took our exit and preemptively(*) invaded their country with an aim to throw down a sitting head of state and conquer their cities, ports, and oil fields. After all of this depraved behavior on the part of the US, we expect the people of Iraq to welcome us as "liberators". Bah! Hats off to the Canadians, who opposed this outrageous US action. Recently, I heard the pledge of allegiance and the words "under God" spoken with vicious malignity at a so-called patriotic demonstration. My heart sank. It is the speech of a people under the sword of wrath, unless you had any doubt already. In the execution of this war the US appears as the national equivalent perdition's son and a whited sepulchre, vacuously quoting scripture as we kill proudly. I am not giving up, but I now dread to say that our country may be past redemption. At least, tribulation is in our future, and too bad, because we had such better potential than this. Saddam is certainly a bad governor, but he was also established, propped up, and deliberately genocide-enabled by the US. It only recently appears that he has lost favor with the oilygarchy, who has taken it out on the people of Iraq, a tragedy all around for sure, and a US instigated downward spiral of misery. Moreover, Before US intervention, Iraq was a secular modern state and friends of the US, not terrorists. The US may have been a liberator in past wars, but that does not justify the current one. Mr Bush, a weak president, unsupported by a democratic majority, presumes to lead the US into an unpopular war against the wishes of our closest friends. One might expect him to know better, but instead we are subjected to even more lies from his frenetic and untrustworthy administration. It is our duty to express our opposition by taking action against this outrageous war. For example, The GNU-Darwin Distribution is observing the anti-war moratorium by displaying an anti-war message on the home page. No one could really believe that the GNU-Darwin anti-war blackout could end the war by itself. Rather it is a statement and demonstration against the war. It is a signal to let people know that it is important to stop the war. If GNU-Darwin were joined by many other websites, then it could possibly have a major impact, with coverage in the media, and an example of the anti-democratic nature of the Bush administration. This is only one action, such as it is. If you feel strongly against the war, then you should do something about it now, even if the impact is low, because it adds to what others are doing. For example, many people are boycotting US corporations. If everyone does everything that they can, then the situation will become even more intolerable, and the US will withdraw. The truth is that the people of Iraq are defending their homeland against an un-provoked act of aggression. After we have killed all of their brave fighters, then there may indeed be some Iraqis remaining who in their defeat will welcome us into their cities, but given our abysmal performance, even such subjugation is seriously in doubt. Our dubious leaders are misusing the armed forces our country. The best way to support our troops is to bring them home now, safe and sound, which will have the added benefit of sparing the people of Iraq any further misery at our hand. US out! Stop the conquest of Iraq now! Dr. Love is a staff scientist at MacCHESS, and a post-doctoral associate at Cornell University. As founder of The GNU-Darwin Distribution, he is attempting to advance supercomputing and free software on the Apple platform for the benefit of the user community at large. Does your opinion differ from that of Dr. Love? Submit an editorial to
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