The war in Iraq

I really hope that the March on Washington this weekend will have a good turn-out, because it is a key opportunity to show our new Congress that we are serious about bringing our troops home, and that we are expecting them to take a stand and. At the very least, we expect them to stop the recently proposed escalation. (Everyone knows Bush isn't listening to anyone anyway, so let's talk to the people we elected in November.)

It truly frightens me that there are people out there that still believe that 9/11 was an Iraqi conspiracy, and that that's why we need to be there-- to fight terrorism.

Get it straight: THEY WERE SAUDIS.
Yes, SAUDIS-- as in the best friends of Shrub & Co. I once asked a supposedly educated person why the neocons, for all their screaming and yelling about spreading freedom and democracy around the world, were not particularly interested in helping oppressed people in a place called Rwanda. "Well you know," he said, eying me as if I were a complete and utter moron, "it's not as though an airplane full of Rwandans flew a plane into the World Trade Center."

HELLO? Anybody home??

Another thing everyone should know: there were no weapons of mass destruction.
Yes, this was investigated. Thoroughly. And they found nothing-- nada-- zero--zilch.
Yes, we were lied to. Repeat after me: "The President of the United States lied to us."
And the fact of the matter is: changing the justification for going to war-- i.e. talking about how we are spreading democracy, trying to "liberate" oppressed peoples, and fighting a war against terror--cannot and will not change the fact that the premise for getting the ball rolling in the first place was a big, fat lie.

As if that weren't scary enough, there is no end in sight.
More than three thousand Americans are dead. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead-- many of them civilians.

And here comes Bush, talking about "sacrifice" and our commitment to democracy and freedom and-- my personal favorite-- "winning the war against terror." Why doesn't he remember what happened in Vietnam?

Oh wait, that's right. Hmm.

Well, can't someone TELL him about it? Can't someone explain to him that it's not a good idea to keep sending more and more brave men and women to die for a cause that is about, well, who knows anymore? Is it pride? Is it about the Republicans (and some Democrats), needing to justify to themselves how they've voted in the past?

I don't even want an answer to that. I just want people to stop dying. Young people join the armed services to serve our country, and all they really ask in return is that we don't send them into harm's way unless it is absolutely necessary.

Please-- tell your senators and representatives that it's time to end this senseless war.
If we don't stop it, who will?