Today’s Topic: Using Democracy and a Militia
This is going to be a short one, I hope.
I have to admit that I was finally impressed with the people of Iraq when they stood 10s of thousands strong against the occupation of Iraq by American forces.
Now I know that the Bush administration has turned the spin towards something positive of the efforts to provide democracy to Iraq, but the fact is that the positive spin actually comes from the people of Iraq in recognizing that democracy means taking matters into their own hands to redress grievances against the power in control.
What this equates to is the people of Iraq redressing grievances against the United States of America, and it is most certainly time for a couple of things to happen.
One is that President Bush needs to forget about the idea of a "surge" being a change in strategy. It is only a change in tactics. One actually has to have a strategy in order to be able to change the strategy.
Two is that if the American people are to accept the protests against American occupation then Moktata al Sadr must make up his mind about how he’s going to play this.
Using the people to protest the occupation whilst still wielding guns to kill Sunni and even Shia who oppose more secular violence must stop.
Either Sadr has the will of the people for his heart felt convictions or he has the fear of those who would oppose his actions. This is a case where one circumstance cannot be consistent with the other. If the Iraqi people don’t like America bringing democracy at the end of a gun, then obviously Sadr cannot do the same. So either the Iraqi people marching in that protest were coerced into an action that assumed a democratic platitude, and they did so in fear of their lives, or they truly believe in the message, ipso facto Sadr no longer needs weapons and a militia to support his vision of a future Iraq.
The only way to know the truth about the situation is for Sadr to eliminate the militia and allow the world to see what the Iraqi people actually want. Without eliminating the militia even the world will ignore the rights of the Iraqi people to a life of freedom of expression and a voice in the operation of their government.
And the Bush administration needs to heed that voice if it is given under a true choice just as it needs to heed the American people who have said in very loud terms that his decisions about the American efforts in Iraq are not supported by a vast majority.
If somehow the people of Iraq can throw down their weapons and tell George W. Bush that they aren’t going to allow the fighting of this war anymore, and the American people tell George W. Bush that we will not allow the continued killing of innocent civilians and active patriots (insurgents), then if this President doesn’t listen, I pretty much guarantee that the process of impeaching the entire Bush administration will begin.
The solution is so simple as to be oblivious to most. If all sides stop fighting of their own free will, and this administration becomes obvious in their desire to continue fighting, then the bad guys become known. If it turns out to be our government, then the American people need to know this right now. And the positive is that if the foreign nationals fighting America in Iraq continue, as they will, then those people become known. If they go away, then what concern are they?
War is the concept that America is fighting to support. Peace is a concept foreign to the contractors and military industries that require war to make a profit. These corporate managers have no reason to desire peace.
The peaceful end to the Iraq war is to simply lay down the arms and stop fighting. At that point the Al Qaeda operatives will become highly visible and Iraq might be saved from years of religious civil war and America might just get out of this quagmire intact.
The extrapolation of this is that people like Dick Cheney and Richard Perle can’t continue to operate on the ideological basis that America has to be preeminent in the world in order to maintain security for its citizens. Once we swear off attacking the world’s individual countries as prizes in the scope of imperialism our enemies have the option to become our allies. If we cannot find it within ourselves to forego preemptive war as the only option, then only the corporations win because they are the ones that want war to go on perpetually. That’s how they make their money and earn dividends for shareholders.
If this war didn’t make money for Halliburton, KRB, SAIC and numerous mercenary groups, there would be no war. If peak oil wasn't a concern amongst these corporations then war wouldn't be the focus of their industries. Finding alternative fuel sources isn't a just a problem for the United States. It is a problem which has enveloped the world and it is a problem that requires the good things that America represents in the ability to come up with new technologies which alleviate the problem. The elimination of staid fuel sources such as oil and natural gas as points of conflict would eliminate war on a massive scale. Finding new sources of fuel would allow the world to come together to the betterment of all of the people, and troglidytes like George W. Bush would fade into the past.
So for the people of Iraq, I applaud you for standing up en masse and telling the world that you want America out of your country.
For the people of America, I implore you to stand up for the innocent Iraqi people and demand that America withdraw as soon as possible in order to give the Iraqi people some breathing room to discuss their differences.
And for Moktada al Sadr and other militia leaders, you have the only key to open up Iraq for your people. Put your weapons down and refuse to fight. If you have the conviction to fight, then have the conviction to stand strong against the invading force of America with no weapons and dare us to shoot you dead for no reason. The whole world is watching. You have the better hand in this game of three card monty. Bet the ranch.
Use it and truly win your freedoms. A military defeat at the hands of this administration guarantees you 50 years of occupation. A moral certainty that you can provide freedom and peace for your people without weapons will win the hearts and minds of the world.
Put down your weapons of war and embrace peace. Then peacefully demonstrate against a country that invaded yours without cause and plead your case before the people and courts of the world. And let it be known that the people of the world include the people of the United States of America because we voted out the dogs of war and have voted in the prosecutors of peace. There is only one man in this entire country that has the power to ignore the American people and he is doing it right now, and he’s using you, the Iraqi people, as his scapegoat.
Drop your arms and refuse to fight your neighbors. Drop your arms and refuse to mount a continued insurgency. The whole world already knows that the Iraqi people have been wronged, but as long as the slaughter continues, the United States can claim having a stake in the outcome. So design your own outcome and shortchange the Bush administration’s designs on your country. Tell them you will not be held hostage by the dogs of war because you will not fight a war against your own people. Tell them that to suggest a war against one’s own is against any precepts of freedom that one could conceive, and tell us to get the fuck out of your country.
But do it without weapons. Allow yourselves the dignity of discourse in your differences without fear of retribution. This is what is known as true freedom, and something that our military forces haven’t told you about.
10:21:22 AM 
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