General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNAILED IT: Absolutely Nothing: A Veteran’s Savage Indictment of the Iraq War
All we fought for in Iraq. All we fought for in Iraq is on the cusp of vanishing. Thats what Mitt Romney says.
Oh, so its we now, is it, Mitt?
I must have missed you over there, but it was a busy place. We. The guy who helped set up pro-draft rallies and yet somehow managed to avoid service in Vietnam is upset about losing what we fought for? We.
Yeah, fuck you, Mitt.
And youre all welcome to quote me on that.
Somebody stepped into my office yesterday and asked how I felt about it. He wanted to know how I felt about losing Iraq.
How do I feel about losing all we fought for?
I dont know.
First, Im going to need somebody to explain to me exactly what it was that we were fighting for.
What was it? What is it that we gained, according to Mitt Romney? And what is on the cusp of vanishing? What is that? No, really, somebody please explain it to me.
Because Id love to know.
The Wikipedia says Operation Iraqi Freedom started on the 20th of March, 2003, which is just another reason why you shouldnt believe anything you read in the Wikipedia (dont, just dont). Thats not correct, the war began a day earlier. See, I was there on the night the war really started, at precisely 2200 hours, on the 19th of March in the Northern Arabian Gulf. I was there when US Navy SEALs and Polish GROM stormed the MABOT and KAAOT oil terminals a full day before Saddam Hussein discovered that his time was finally up. In point of fact, I had arrived there four months before, a few days before Christmas in December of 2002. From the day of my arrival (and before that really) to the day the war started, and for months after, I was a Navy intelligence officer working in support of the invasion force. Theres not much I dont know about the events leading up to war and the aftermath of the invasion.
Well, not much except for that one little detail.
Why.
All these years later, and I still dont know why.
Oh, I mean, I know what they told us, sure, Saddam Hussein attacked America on 9-11. Right? Thats what they said, thats what the Commander-in-Chief told us. Saddam Hussein was in league with Al Qaida, remember? The son of a bitch and his stinking nation of terrorists attacked us. The Iraqis had it coming. And Georgie Boy was going to finish what his daddy started. Hooray! Right? Thats what they said.
Except those of us in the professional intelligence community looked at each other and thought, wait, what? How the hell did we miss that? Saddam and Osama bin Laden are working together? Buwah? But Rumsfeld, he had his own little extra-constitutional intelligence outfit staffed with his simpering cronies who he paid to blow smoke up his pinched grey ass until his colon resembled beef jerky and he sure didnt have much use for us after all, we were just the military he had.
Ours, as they say, is not to reason why, ours is to but do and die, right? At least thats what Rummy told us and you know, you go into war with the Secretary of Defense you have, not the one youd like to have. And if Rumsfeld says hes got the real scoop, it must be true? Right? Sure, that justifies his contempt for us, sure it does.
Except, Rumsfelds little masturbation fantasy turned out not to be the case.
But hey, never mind that, Saddam Hussein was threatening us anyway, wasnt he? Sure he was, in fact, thats the first time you heard the phrase Weapons of Mass Destruction isnt it? The bastard had nukes and germs and war gas and he was just itching to use them on America, wasnt he? Heck we even had pictures of mobile weapons labs to prove it, isnt that what Colin Powell told the UN and the world? And by damn Saddam had been buying Yellow Cake uranium from Niger, right? Colin Powell wouldnt lie to us, would he? He was a hero, a general, he wouldnt send his comrades into war on a lie now would he?
Except all that turned out to be bullshit too, and Colin Powell was either a dupe of staggering proportions or he was the kind of Soldier who would fuck his buddy right in the ass without so much as a reach-around and Ill leave it up to you to figure which one is worse.
But by the time we figured out wed been ass-raped by Colin Powell, we were shoulder deep in Iraq, Baghdad was burning, Iraqs army had thrown down their weapons and taken off their uniforms and had melted into the population, Saddam had vanished and his sons were dead, and the President of the United States had already declared victory from the deck of an American aircraft carrier.
And so, the objective became
what?
Hearts and minds and freedom and democracy and nation building and magic bunnies who fart sunshine and rainbows.
Unfortunately, it turns out were real good at the blowing shit up part, not so good at the magic bunnies part.
Which in retrospect, shouldnt be all that surprising given that in order to build a civilization it helps if you actually have some vague familiarity with the people involved. Needless to say, we didnt. And we didnt care. To America, they were all little brown towelheads, sand niggers, raggedy-assed camel jockeys who ought to be grateful to America for burning down their shitty country. Sunni? Shia? Turkman? Baathists? Whats that? What do you mean they hate each other? Theyre all Muslims arent they? Theyre all Aayrabs, right? What do you mean they hate each other? And it all fell apart, disintegrating into insurgency and murder and bloody civil war just exactly as anybody who actually knew something about the region and its people and its history could have told you it would. We lost less than a hundred soldiers in the actual war, the peace cost us nearly 5000 more. And the Iraqis? Who the hell knows? A hundred thousand? A million? Its impossible to tell.
And it turns out that freedom and democracy and magic flying bunnies were as elusive as Iraqs supposed WMDs.
So, what was it again that we were fighting for?
They had no idea what we were fighting for, those saber-rattling Chicken Hawks, the cowardly connected wealthy weasels whod managed to avoid serving in their own war, who kept their children out of uniform, but just couldnt wait to send us into one of their own making. They sent us off with parades and marching bands and cheering crowds
and brought the bodies home in secret, hidden away from the TV cameras and the public.
They had no plan and no idea what we were dying for, but they assured us what the war wasnt about it wasnt about religion.
Oh no, sir, we werent fighting to eradicate Muslims, it wasnt about Islam.
The Evangelical Christian religious extremists who started this war told us it wasnt about religion.
Heh heh, riiiiiight. And Vietnam was really about containing communism. Sure.
Maybe they should have had Colin Powell tell that wopper to the UN, but hed quit by then and was suddenly as invisible to America as those flag draped metal boxes arriving at Dover Air Force base in the middle of the night.
Americans who a few years before had been proudly waving their little flags as Johnny marched off to war were suddenly all shifty-eyed, they slapped a $5 dollar made in China magnet on the bumper of their giant gas-sucking SUVs, Support Our Troops, and with sardonically raised eyebrows complained to each other over the pumps about the immorality of a war fought for oil.
But that wasnt true either, was it?
Iraqs oil fields, the ones we fought and died to preserve on orders from the White House, the off-shore terminals the SEALs and the GROM risked their lives to save on that night back in 2003, the precious Iraqi oil that was going to pay for the war and pay to rebuild the country wed blown up, well, that oil is nowhere to be found today, is it?
So, tell me again, what exactly is it thats on the cusp of vanishing?
I mean it sure isnt peace.
Its not freedom for the Iraqi people, despite the wars idiotic name.
It sure isnt regional stability.
Its not the end of terrorism or the near universal hatred of America in the Middle East.
And now that Halliburton and KBR and Blackwater and Dick Cheney have made their billions and cashed out, it isnt even about long-term economic investments and American business.
Hell, its not even about cheap gas.
So, go on, enlighten me. Because even though I was there, Ive got no goddamned idea what it is that weve lost in Iraq beyond the 4,487 men and women we shipped home in metal boxes, beyond the 32,223 wounded and maimed, beyond the trillions of dollars we spent in our rage and our drive for revenge and our lust for blood.
Today, John McCain and Mitt Romney and the rest of the conservative war machine are railing against the President.
McCain stirred from the yellow fog of his bamboo cage and proclaimed in his best Old Man Yelling At Clouds voice, We won Iraq! Obama lost it!
Really Johnny Walnuts? Tell me, what did we win? And what have we lost? Please be specific, because Id really like to know.
We no more won Iraq than McCains own father won Vietnam.
McCain claims he predicted the sectarian violence now tearing Iraq apart. Really? Where the hell was clairvoyant John McCain back in 2003 when he voted along with the rest of them to send us into war? And later, where was his great predictive ability when Iraq began tearing itself apart? I guess he was at a Dixie Chicks concert, he must have been out in the lobby ordering a plate of Freedom Fries when his pal George W. Bush let Iraq disintegrate into civil war.
And so here we are.
The same old motley cast of characters, the warhawks and the chickenhawks and the billionaires and the simple-minded saber-rattlers and the same old hate-filled pundits, they just cant wait to jump back into Iraq.
Mitt Romney, John McCain, one who never served and one who damned well ought to know better, men who both wanted to be President of the United States and who both lost to Barack Obama, they just cant wait to send other peoples kids back into the meat grinder.
Heres my question.
Why?
Why, John McCain?
Why, Mitt Romney?
Why, conservatives?
This time you fuckers goddamned well tell me why.
Whats the goal? Whats the objective? Is it to end terrorism? Is it to enforce peace at the muzzle of a gun? Is it it to make defense contractors rich? Is it for jobs? Or is it for magic flying bunnies who shoot rainbows and cheap gasoline out of their little assholes to the sound of Yankee Doodle Dandy?
Or, or, is it just because you hate Barack Obama?
Thats it, isnt it?
It is.
You sons of bitches one and all, you simpering capering madmen, this time at least have the courage to face the cameras, to look into Americas eyes, and tell them that their sons and daughters will be dying because you John McCain, because you Mitt Romney, because you Dick Cheney, because you Donald Rumsfeld, because you George W. Bush you lying bastard, because you conservatives hate Barack Obama
and for no other reason.
Go on, tell us, go on. Wave your little flags and beat your fleshy chests, roll out the marching bands and tell us just how many more American soldiers should die. Go on, put a number on it. Ten? A hundred? Fifty four thousand? How many of us have to die? How many more bodies will it take to satiate your mindless hunger for blood and revenge? How many more American lives are worth your insane hatred of the president? How many? How much further into debt should we drive our nation, another trillion dollars? Two? Ten? A hundred? Put a price on it you insane sons of bitches, go on, give me a number, write me a check. Tell me how much youre willing to pay, show me the goddamned money. How many more years? How many? One? Five? Another decade? Fifty? What is it? Dont wave your hands and make some vague prognostication, give me a number, how many lives, how much money, how many years? You look us in the eye and you fucking tell us.
Ill tell you what, lets go back to Iraq.
Oh, yes, let us do that.
Ill dig out my uniform and strap on my pistol and gird up my sword and ride into battle yet again.
Just so long as Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, Paul Ryan, Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, and every single one of those powdered, Botoxed talking heads at Fox News are in the vanguard. Thats right, you cowards, you put on a uniform and you lead the charge this time around. The Koch brothers and Mitt Romney can pay for it, every goddamned penny, well bleed them until theyre dry and then well pull the gold fillings from their teeth to pay for it right along with the rest of their Wall Street cronies. You fuckers got rich off the last one, you can damned well pay for this one. And when you run out of money, well take your blood, fairs fair.
Strap John McCain into the cockpit of an A-4 Skyhawk and let him fly air cover.
If he gets himself shot down and taken prisoner again, well, you know what? Fuck him, leave him to the enemy because frankly his hate and bile and raging insanity have done more damage to this country than Bowe Bergdahl ever did.
The terrorists can keep him.
http://aattp.org/absolutely-nothing-a-veterans-savage-indictment-of-the-iraq-war/
Lenomsky
(340 posts)first word in my head after reading.
Wouldn't it be awesome if this made the front page of a News Paper ... hopefully this will go viral on the interweb.
erronis
(15,170 posts)So damn good.
monmouth3
(3,871 posts)MindPilot
(12,693 posts)Those who ignored the thousands upon thousands of voices telling them exactly why invading Iraq would be a really dumb idea and yet they voted for the IWR anyway.
Baitball Blogger
(46,676 posts)Theyletmeeatcake2
(348 posts)Long one but spot on!!!
geomon666
(7,512 posts)And should be plastered all over Facebook, Twitter, and every other social media outlet you can possibly find.
ballyhoo
(2,060 posts)MynameisBlarney
(2,979 posts)This going on my facebooks as soon as I get home.
This needs to be spread far and wide and repeated loudly.
smallcat88
(426 posts)It's one thing for those of us sitting safely at home to condemn the war but we don't carry nearly as much weight. This is an irrefutable case from one who was actually there. We should all email this to every righty responsible for the war. As well as those calling for us to return.
progressoid
(49,932 posts)Amonester
(11,541 posts)Well, more like the 0.00001% to enrich themselves more, more, and more, because they never, and I say never have enough.
That's what the Capitalist system is for, don't you know it already?
democrank
(11,084 posts)This post makes all the war enabler excuses sound like utter tripe. Pure crap. No, worse than that....despicable lies that killed and maimed and ruined people. Actual people.
I`d love to see some of the Sunday Program Chickenhawks wander around the VA with my other half and I. They`d learn a thing or two about who fights wars and who pays the price for them. It certainly isn`t the lounging chest beaters like (5 deferment) Dick Cheney.
What a shallow, ugly thing it was ....when so-called leaders insisted they were "proving" love of their country by wearing cheap, Made-in_China flag pins. "With us or with the terrorists" became a handy sound bite. Imagine....sound bites used to fool citizens about a war that killed or maimed their sons and daughters.
Unforgivable.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Stainless
(718 posts)This OP should be required reading for every RW moron who believes that any of the leftover, Bush-era, war pigs are even relevant.
Mitt Romney deserves an extra special 'fuck you' for his hypocritical interjection into the dialogue. He should keep his ignorant opinions regarding the war for his 'family home evening' circle jerk.
dhill926
(16,307 posts)from one who WAS there .
UCmeNdc
(9,600 posts)K&R
Shrike47
(6,913 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)so far yesterday, was William Crystal itching for MORE war, and not just with Iraq this time, but with Syria and Iran. Because according to Crystal it is the fault of this president that we didn't crush Syria the same way we supposedly crushed Iraq.
The lies will continue until someone has the guts to put an end to them, and the ONLY WAY to do that is to PROSECUTE THEM. But now it may be too late.
As always, the Left was right. And as always, the Left was attacked, I remember 'you are politically naive, you can't prosecute them because it would 'look political'. Well I don't see THEM worrying about 'looking political'. In fact they are blatant about it.
toby jo
(1,269 posts)with sees it, too.
If we had a righty in office we'd be over there already. Hell, we would've been in Egypt, too, and then Syria.
dionysus
(26,467 posts)santamargarita
(3,170 posts)albino65
(484 posts)and ask them to e-mail it to every person they know. This should be posted to facebook and shared with everyone we know. I have copied and pasted this to a document on my computer in case it is "disappeared". I will print this so I can read it over and over. This is truly a "lest they forget" piece. This man is a hero.
Moostache
(9,895 posts)Alex P Notkeaton
(309 posts)Best fucking thing I've read this year!
(I'm surprised that Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton, and Bill Kristol aren't included in his proposed vanguard of reentry, but that's a minor point.)
I hope Wright has a Twitter account, 'cause he is someone I'd like to follow. Hell, I'd like to put him in the Oval Office!
raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)All for the Wall St cronies and the remorseless masses pumping money into them daily.
If you can't beat them, invest in them!
davidthegnome
(2,983 posts)Absolutely brilliant, justified, awesome. One of the best rants I have ever had the privilege to read. Huge K & R.
Laughing Mirror
(4,185 posts)I would rate it right up there with Harold Pinter's Nobel Prize (2005?) magnificent denunciation of the lies of the war and of the liars ... another one for the ages.
+1,000,000
tweeternik
(255 posts)brer cat
(24,513 posts)redqueen
(115,101 posts)phantom power
(25,966 posts)Fucking A.
bluesbassman
(19,358 posts)malaise
(268,664 posts)Great rant!
Rec
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)by killing more people.
It's not going to work. War is not going to resolve anything in Iraq.
Nor will money.
Allowing the country to divide itself might help, but then what do I know?
But based on our experience in Iraq in the past -- we fought there twice, first under Bush I and then under Bush II -- our taking on their battles has not helped anyone at all.
N_E_1 for Tennis
(9,661 posts)benld74
(9,901 posts)DocMac
(1,628 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Tarheel_Dem
(31,220 posts)Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)They "served" in their own special way. Ya know, in the way that benefits only them and their cult.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Thank Heavens someone learned some lessons from this war. Only a few of us learned anything from the cluster that was Vietnam. There are still people who believe that we accomplished something there. At least with the communications and internet that we currently have, more people like this will get the word out. The losers that are "in charge" of this country have plundered so much already that it is hard to believe they would want to go back for seconds. They don't care as long as it is someone else who is bleeding and dying so that they can steal a few more bucks.
I wish that there were more people who are as articulate and passionate as the author of the above. Perhaps they could wake some of the brain dead public up. It is too late, but it might help the next generation if we actually had some real facts and thought about it before starting another war.
ChiciB1
(15,435 posts)Loved reading this! EVERYONE should have to read it, but well too many won't even dare! Explained it all!
Whiskeytide
(4,459 posts)... in ... in.... well, ever. Thanks for posting this. Well done.
JEB
(4,748 posts)3catwoman3
(23,943 posts)...Willard and John "Crash" McCain try to spout their BS to this gentleman's face? I would.
Well said, sir, well said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
missmo1951
(21 posts)Thank you for the most powerful words I have read since the Declaration of Independence.
Iwillnevergiveup
(9,298 posts)hearing the audio of our first night of bombing in 2003..."shock and awe" Rummy called it. I'd call it murderous brutality, not to mention terrorism.
K&R
intaglio
(8,170 posts)Who was the yapping chihuahua at Dubya's heels and who is again trying to sell the UK into war.
Petrushka
(3,709 posts)K & R