I
am a member of Veterans For Peace, an organization
of thousands of combat veterans. All of us have
put our life on the line for this country.
Most
of us opposed the recent invasion of Iraq. We
also opposed the first Gulf War, and the sanctions
that followed. We opposed the slaughter of fleeing
Iraqis on the Road to Basra. We opposed the use
of Depleted Uranium munitions. And we opposed
the lies upon which the first Gulf War was based.
But
there was one good thing about that first Gulf
War. It ended. And without a wholesale invasion
of Iraq. Why?
Here's
what the first President Bush wrote about that
in his memoirs:
"Trying
to eliminate Saddam would have incurred incalculable
human and political costs. Apprehending him was
probably impossible. We would have been forced
to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq.
There
was no viable exit strategy we could see, violating
another of our principles. Furthermore, we had
been self-consciously trying to set a pattern
for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world.
Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally
exceeding the United Nations mandate, would have
destroyed the precedent of international response
to aggression that we hoped to establish.
Had
we gone the invasion route, the United States
could conceivably still be an occupying power
in a bitterly hostile land."
My
brothers and sisters, it is just too darn bad
his son can't read!
I've
been severely criticized for speaking out in opposition
to this war. So have you, probably. We're told
that we're aiding and abetting the enemy.
We're
told that we should support the president no matter
what.
We're
told that patriotism demands that we support the
war. They say that we're abusing the freedoms
that our troops are in the Middle East defending.
They
say we should be ashamed to be protesting while
the troops are in the desert protecting our right
to do so.
Well
I say, Hogwash!
I
feel an affinity for the troops over there in
Iraq. They are my comrades in arms. I admire their
sense of honor and sacrifice. I understand why
some of them believe they should be there. They
have neither the experience nor the wisdom to
see past the lies they have been told.
The
truth is, they are not over there protecting our
freedoms. Our freedoms are not under attack from
Saddam Hussein or the remnants of his Baathist
party.
Our
freedoms are under attack by John Ashcroft. They
are threatened by John Poindexter. They are trampled
by Donald Rumsfeld. They are disdained by Dick
Cheney. And they are not even understood by George
W. Bush.
The
battle to preserve our freedoms is not taking
place in Baghdad and Tikrit. It is taking place
in Central Park in New York City, in Lafayette
Park in Washington DC, in Ghirardelli Park in
San Francisco, and in River Front Park in Melbourne,
Florida. The front lines go right down US 1 and
up New Haven Avenue.
It
is we, here at home, who are the foot soldiers
battling to preserve our cherished freedoms by
exercising them, in spite of opposition and ridicule.
It
is we who protect our civil rights through speaking
out. We are the Minutemen sounding the alarm against
tyranny.
We
are upholding the spirit of the American Revolution.
We are preserving the freedoms that the troops
in the desert have a right to come back to.
The
troops getting shot at in Iraq are not protecting
us. We are protecting them, and their honor and
their freedoms.
We
have just completed a forced march through hostile
territory to defend their freedoms and ours, and
the ideals America was founded on.
We
are protecting this nation by speaking truth to
power. Let us do it loudly and fearlessly and
courageously and joyfully, for we are the true
patriots!
Here
is the truth that we proclaim.
This
war has nothing to do with national security or
freedom or democracy or human rights or protecting
our allies or weapons of mass destruction or defeating
terrorism or disarming Iraq.
It
has to do with money. It has to do with oil. And
it has to do with raw imperial power.
It
is based on a pack of lies. And it is wrong. Those
who forced this war on an unwilling world are
guilty of flagrantly violating the US Constitution,
the UN Charter, and international law. What they
have done is illegal, immoral, unconstitutional
and TREASON.
It's
been said that somewhere in Texas there is a village
looking for their idiot. Now that may be funny,
but it misses the point. George W. Bush is not
an imbecile. He is a TRAITOR.
Before
this war started, we knew it would fracture NATO,
split the United Nations, separate us from our
allies, and destroy the great nation we inherited
from our fathers who died in World War II. And
it has.
We
knew it would make our beloved country feared
and hated, an outcast from the world community,
a pariah among the peoples, and the number one
rogue nation on earth. And it has.
It
has done so based on a pack of lies. My sisters
and brothers, that is not stupidity. That is TREASON.
We
knew this sadistic corporate war would incense
the Arab world, provide thousands of new Osama
bin Ladens, and enormously increase the terrorist
threat. And it has.
We knew it would further endanger the American
people and destroy our national security. And
it has.
That
is not stupidity, it is TREASON.
The
cabal of neoconservatives at the Project For a
New American Century who planned this war (Cheney,
Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Libby, Perle, Jeb Bush) even
before W became president, knew the American people
would not stand for it unless there was a new
Pearl Harbor.
9/11
supplied that. Our government was warned. They
were warned by the Clinton Administration. They
were warned by 11 other countries. And they were
specifically warned by an FBI agent that one of
them was planning on flying a hijacked airliner
into the World Trade Center.
They
not only ignored the warnings, they made sure
no fighter jets were scrambled to stop it.
If they had just done nothing, and allowed normal
procedures to be followed, the Twin Towers would
still be standing and thousands of dead Americans
would still be alive.
This
is not stupidity, it is TREASON.
As
a combat veteran, I will not stand idly by and
watch our security destroyed by a president who
went AWOL rather than fight in Vietnam.
Honor
requires that I call this by its right name. It
is TREASON.
As
one who has devoted his life to the security of
this country, I will not stand by and watch an
appointed president send our sons and daughters
around the world to kill Arabs for the oil companies
without calling it by its right name.
It
is TREASON.
I
joined the Air Force to protect our borders and
our people, not the financial interests of Folgers,Chiquita
Banana, and Exxon. We've had enough corporate
wars.
No
more Iraqs. No more El Salvadors. No more Kosovos.
No more Colombias. These are not isolated incidents
of stupidity. They are part of a long, bloody
history of foreign policy being conducted for
the financial benefit of the wealthy few. It is
a new colonialism.
It
violates our Constitution. It endangers our people.
And it is TREASON.
As
a pilot who flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam,
I can tell you that the best thing our government
can do for its combat veterans is to quit making
more of them.
Peace
is patriotic; a preemptive war is immoral, illegal,
unconstitutional, a war crime, and TREASON.
I
swore to uphold the Constitution of the United
States against all enemies foreign and domestic.
That includes a renegade president. Wake up, America!
It
is time for George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald
Rumsfeld, and the whole oil mafia to be removed
from office and indicted for TREASON.
We
are the people. We are sovereign. We are the patriots.
The whole world is with us. Never allow anyone
to intimidate you into silence.
Wake
up, America! It's time to speak truth to power.
God bless America, and God save us from the traitors
in our government.
Dr.
Robert Bowman was a colonel in the US Air Force
and was Director of Advanced Space Programs Development
under President Jimmy Carter. He is Presiding
Archbishop, United Catholic Church. He has been
president of the Institute for Space and Security
Studies since 1982. Before that he was vice-president
of Space Communications Company; manager, Advanced
Space Programs for General Dynamics; and director,
Advanced Space Programs Development for the Department
of Defense, directing the "Star Wars" programs.
He is also a progressive populist candidate for
President of the United States. He may be reached
via email at: isss@rmbowman.com. See also his
web site: http://www.rmbowman.com.
Topplebush.com
Posted: May 10, 2004
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