Tuesday, June 20, 2006

OUR WHOLE NATION SHOULD WEAR BLACK TODAY FOR KRISTIAN MENCHACA AND THOMAS TUCKER

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I had a suspicion when I started hearing about the capture of two young American soldiers in Iraq the other day that the Iraqi insurgents had a point they wanted to make. The only possibility of "good news" would have been if they kidnapped them (as the Pentagon referred to the incident) in order to exchange them for some captured Iraqi colleagues.

Unfortunately, that isn't what they had in mind. Instead, what they seem to have had in mind was revenge for the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. And maybe more. The two young men were beheaded and tortured. Bush's shredding of the Geneva Agreements and his Regime's blithe dismissal of the horrible and criminal use of torture as "quaint" might have also been answered in the minds of these rebels. An Arab website referred to the nightmare as "slaughtering the two captured crusaders," a very emotion-laden word in the Arab world, one Bush stumbled and bumbled into using as he launched his unprovoked attack on Iraq.

The thought of more of our young men being killed in Iraq under any circumstances infuriates me and simultaneously fills me with deep grief. The idea of these two kids being dragged away and abused, tortured a beheaded is beyond my capacity to process calmly. I'm way too empathetic for that. All I can think is "why these 2 brave boys?" Why should these two families be struck so horribly and brutally? And why couldn't it be Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and Frist and every single Republican senator and congressman and Lieberman and all the other Democrats who have acted as a rubber stamp for Bush's criminal agenda in Iraq?

These weak and cowardly men only know how to send other people's children to fight and die in their avaricious quest for more wealth and power. Today my friend Bob exposes their weakness and corruption and their utter incapacity to protect our country from real threats.

If we as a people don't stop them, whatever we get from their policies is what we deserve as a people and a nation. The young men brutalized today and their families traumatized deserve nothing of this tragedy, this inevitable tragic orchestrated by crass, weak con-men.

And keep in mind that Bush's disastrous inability as, Commander in Chief, to complete the mission in Afghanistan, a mission the whole country and most of the world was united behind, is leading to further catastrophe there, a catastrophe that could have been avoided if we had even a minimally competent leadership instead of the human detritus we have installed in Washington.

10 Comments:

At 2:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I admit that I have switched positions on Iraq. I was originally against the war. Once we invaded I thought we should throw everything we had at the situation. Overwhelming presence...300K troops. But, we've missed the boat at this point. We need to get our troops out of there. Now. We are accomplishing nothing. The administration so badly bungled this war that we will end up giving these terrorists some sort of credibility no matter how we leave. Good work guys. Time to get our troops out of there as fast as safely possible.

The murder of these two soldiers is a wake up call. No more F***ing around there anymore. Our soldiers don't deserve to be stuck in that bullshit. R.i.p. young men.

 
At 4:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The thought of more of our young men being killed in Iraq under any circumstances infuriates me and simultaneously fills me with deep grief. The idea of these two kids being dragged away and abused, tortured a beheaded is beyond my capacity to process calmly."

so, i take it you don't want to offer the murderers amnesty?

 
At 4:19 PM, Blogger Scott said...

"The thought of more of our young men being killed in Iraq under any circumstances infuriates me and simultaneously fills me with deep grief."

I agree with this statement but I would add that I feel a deep sense of dread as well about what is going to happen every single day we stay in Iraq.

 
At 4:36 PM, Blogger DownWithTyranny said...

Anonymous, you ask about amnesty? After Bush and Cheney and their henchmen and cronies are found guilty of war crimes I would be very opposed to amnesty or anything that would in any way lessen the sentences they so richly deserve. The most lenient I would be is to agree they should get cigarettes before blindfolds.

 
At 6:23 PM, Blogger Timcanhear said...

There are no words of course. We grieve together friends.
Please allow me to post here, a letter from Robert Fripp. I assume it's him that is to say.
It came from a friend who also works in radio who received it and passed it along.
For you kids out there who may not know of him, Fripp is the framework, writer and guitar player of the English band, King Crimson.

From: Tolliver, Tony
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 8:16 AM
Subject: FW: Iraq Hurts Democrats More






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robert Fripp [mailto:robfripp@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 9:39 PM
Subject: Iraq Hurts Democrats More


Editors,

There is no slick, sellable, campaign-ready solution to Americas war in Iraq. The Democrats cannot point to a course of action that would lessen Iraqi and American casualties, encourage a stable government, diminish sectarian violence and extricate U.S. forces. Well, of course not. How could they? How could anyone? Even God would be hard pressed.

But these days, the Democrats are pressured to be more than naysayers, to not just rehash the Presidents shortcomings. How does the mantra go? "All the Democrats do is complain. Cant they say anything positive?" Not really. Because theres nothing positive to say. If all the violence in Iraq suddenly ended tomorrow, if, by some miracle, Iraq began a peaceful if fractious course towards an inclusive government, it will be weak at best, and Iran is strong. When the dust settles, if it ever does, it will occur to policy-makers that Americas long-favored tactic of using Iraq to balance Iran, is gone forever. Iran won, and without a doubt, the best thing that ever happened to Irans world standing is George W. Bush.

Still, each potential Democratic candidate for president will rush to differentiate himself or herself from the rest of the pack vis a vis Iraq. Some will stoop to "Bring our boys home now," a position which no serious observer of the region advocates. Others will attempt to tackle the intricacies, articulate a nuanced exit policy, and get slaughtered by the press for sounding vague and slaughtered by liberals for insufficient ani-war fervor.

And sadly, the litmus test that liberals will use to chose their candidate is, "Did you or did you not vote for Authorization?" Anyone who voted to give Bush the go-ahead to invade back in 2002 will be persona non grada at the table. That's bad news, because many good people wanted to give Bush the benefit of the doubt way back then, when he still had a bit of post-911 halo. Not everyone understood that he had lied so deeply. But really, is being the first on your block to recognize the ethical depravity of George W. Bush a true test of leadership?

The real lesson is that its very easy to start a war, and once started, the familiar world is gone. The Democrats should not have to pretend that "regime change" in the White House will magically restore peace in the Middle East. Its a tragic and complicated mess that Bush and his Oil Men have instigated over there, and no matter what party wins the upcoming elections, everyone will be paying for their profit-driven adventurism for years to come.

Robert Fripp

note from Tim: buy music from this band of geniouses and thank me later.

 
At 6:29 PM, Blogger Timcanhear said...

Dear Mr. Fripp,
It was with pleasure that I read an apparent letter from you, not knowing
to whom it was sent. A radio friend forwarded it to me.
You're words make great sense. However, I do believe there is a way to
turn this evil around.
The killing and hatred and outright evilness of this human tragedy really does
stem from a fact that oil shieks in the middle east have STOLEN the nation's
natural resource for themselves, f while their people suffer and die in the streets. Their extreme greed for money and gold and palaces and whores is hard not to notice.
My country helped to build this. My country looks the other way while the Saudi fascist regime rapes their women and dogs their men on the streets in public view.
This is my country and I want my country to put pressure on the Saudi regime to give back to the people what is rightfully theirs, the oil and it's profits.
Terrorists are people who have been beaten by the same saudi regime that we support.
They've become animals with no instinct for humanity.
Thanks for your thoughtful letter Mr. Fripp. and I encourage any reader to buy any of your cd's!


Regards,
Tim Hurst
Air America Radio - Cincinnati

 
At 11:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

THE PARENTS OF THESE TWO YOUNG MEN SHOULD BE GIVEN CONGRESSIONAL MEDALS OF HONOR FOR THEIR COURAGE AND BRAVERY. ALL FLAGS SHOULD BE HALF RAISED IN MOURNING UNTIL OUR TROOPS RETURN HOME OR A STRATEGIC PLAN IS IN PLACE TO BEGIN RETURNING OUR TROOPS HOME IMMEDIATELY.

 
At 3:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You write: "All I can think is "why these 2 brave boys?"
I think their deaths are appalling, truly appalling, but how do you know these "boys" (men, I think) were brave?
I don't mean to demean them personally but this is so typical of the mindset that glorifies all our military as heroes and their opponents as mindless committers of atrocities.
The truth is there are heroes on both sides and vicious thugs as well. On both sides.

 
At 2:23 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

To the poster of the quote by Sinclair Lewis...Try this one form C.S. Lewis: Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience".
C. S. Lewis

 
At 8:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

check out this web-site:
www.wearblackuntilweleaveiraq.com

pretty cool.

 

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