[Vision2020] An Iraq Exit is Up to Us (Molly Ivins)

[Tom Hansen]

>From "Creators: A Syndicate of Talent" at www.creators.com -

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AN IRAQ EXIT IS UP TO US
By Molly Ivins

The president of the United States does not have the sense God gave a duck
-- so it's up to us. You and me, Bubba. 

I don't know why Bush is just standing there like a frozen rabbit, but it's
time we found out. The fact is WE have to do something about it. This
country is being torn apart by an evil and unnecessary war, and it has to be
stopped NOW. 

This war is being prosecuted in our names, with our money, with our blood,
against our will. Polls consistently show that less than 30 percent of the
people want to maintain current troop levels. It is obscene and wrong for
the president to go against the people in this fashion. And it's doubly
wrong for him to send 20,0000 more soldiers into this hellhole, as he
reportedly will announce next week. 

What happened to the nation that never tortured? The nation that wasn't
supposed to start wars of choice? The nation that respected human rights and
life? A nation that from the beginning was against tyranny? Where have we
gone? How did we let these people take us there? How did we let them fool
us? 

It's a monstrous idea to put people in prison and keep them there. Since
1215, civil authorities have been obligated to tell people with what they
are charged if they're arrested. This administration has done away with
rights first enshrined in the Magna Carta nearly 800 years ago, and we've
let them do it. 

This will be a regular feature of mine, like an old-fashioned newspaper
campaign. Every column, I'll write about this war until we find some way to
end it. STOP IT NOW. BAM! Every day, we will review some factor we should
have gotten right. 

So let's take a step back and note, for example, that before the war one of
the architects of the entire policy, Paul Wolfowitz, testified to Congress
that Iraq had no history of ethnic strife. Sectarian and ethnic strife is a
part of the region. And the region is full of examples of Western colonial
powers trying to occupy countries, take their resources and take over the
administration of their people -- and failing.

The sectarian bloodbath we see daily completely refutes Wolfowitz. And now
Bush has given him the World Bank to run. Wonder what he'll do there. 

And let's keep in mind that when the Army arrived in Baghdad, we, the
television viewers, watched footage of a bunch of enraged and joyous Iraqis
pulling down the statue of Saddam Hussein, their repulsive dictator, in
Firdos Square. Only one thing was wrong. The event was staged. Taking down
the statue was instigated by a Marine colonel, and a PSYOP (psychological
operations) unit made it appear to be a spontaneous show of Iraqi joy. 

When we later saw the whole square where the statue was located, only 30 to
40 people were there (U.S. soldiers, press and some Iraqis -- and one of
several U.S. tanks present pulled the statue down with a cable). We, the
television viewers, saw the square being presented as though the people of
Iraq had gone into a frenzy, mobbed the square and spontaneously pulled down
the statue. Fake images and claims have been a part of this fiasco from the
beginning. 

We need to cut through all this smoke and mirrors and come up with an exit
strategy, forthwith. The Democrats have yet to offer a cohesive plan to get
us out of this mess. Of course, it's not their fault -- but the fact is we
need leaders who are grown-ups and who are willing to try to fix it. Bush
has ignored the actual grown-ups from the Iraq Study Group and the generals
and all other experts who are nearly unanimous in the opinion that more
troops will not help. 

So, like I said, it's up to you and me, Bubba. We need to make sure that the
new Congress curbs executive power, which has been so misused, and asserts
its own power to make this situation change. Now.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.