Sorry President Bush…I’m just not ready to forgive and forget
President George W. Bush is receiving a lot of praise this week for his video address to the nation, encouraging us to pull together in the face of our current challenges. It appears, after the clown show that is a Trump press conference, people are starving for someone that sounds presidential. I have seen a number of my friends, who very much opposed President Bush and his policies during his tenure in office, share his address on social media. I, like many others, think of myself as a forgiving person that does not hold grudges. But, the crimes (and they are crimes) we are speaking of go way beyond forgiving someone who lied on their tax return or had an extramarital affair. We must never forget that George W. Bush, and those around him, intentionally lied to the American people to justify a war that cost thousands of American and Iraqi lives.
Let’s be clear. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 did not happen because the President, or his advisors, thought Saddam Hussein was a legitimate threat to our national security or part of the 9/11 plot. Mr. Bush cannot sit back today, and claim to be the victim of faulty intelligence or the mistakes of a past president. The overthrow of Saddam was premeditated by those close to Bush that dreamed of a post-Cold War world of U.S. global hegemony, long before the Twin Towers came down. Key members of Bush’s cabinet, and those that had influence over him, were members of a think-tank group before W. was elected called the PNAC (Project for a New American Century). The PNAC, believing it was our country’s mission to dominate the globe as the one remaining superpower, wrote a letter to then-President Clinton advocating for the overthrow of Saddam’s regime in 1997. In the last four paragraphs of the letter, the following was stated:
“It hardly needs to be added that if Saddam does acquire the capability to deliver weapons of mass destruction, as he is almost certain to do if we continue along the present course, the safety of American troops in the region, of our friends and allies like Israel and the moderate Arab states, and a significant portion of the world’s supply of oil will all be put at hazard…The only acceptable strategy is one that eliminates the possibility that Iraq will be able to use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction. In the near term, this means a willingness to undertake military action as diplomacy is clearly failing. In the long term, it means removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power. That now needs to become the aim of American foreign policy…We urge you to articulate this aim, and to turn your Administration’s attention to implementing a strategy for removing Saddam’s regime from power.”
The men that signed this letter, and their positions eventually held under the Bush administration, are as follows: Richard Armitage (Deputy Secretary of State, 2001–05), John Bolton (U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, 2005–06), Richard Perle (Chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, 2001–03), Donald Rumsfeld (Secretary of Defense, 2001–06), and Paul Wolfowitz (U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, 2001–05). Dick Cheney and Jeb Bush were also advisors to this group at the time.
After the attacks on September 11th, the PNAC sent another letter to President Bush on September 20th, 2001. In this letter, the group states the following:
“It may be that the Iraqi government provided assistance in some form to the recent attack on the United States. But even if evidence does not link Iraq directly to the attack, any strategy aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.”
We all know the rest; Saddam’s supposed ties to 9/11, yellowcake uranium, weapons of mass destruction, chemical stockpiles, and whatever else the administration could come up with to justify an invasion. For those of us who took the time to do the research at the time, the claims were not that hard to debunk. One does not have to be an investigative journalist today to know the so-called “evidence” was manufactured. It was all bullshit, and the people who were shoveling it on us knew it!
Unfortunately, those of us who knew it was a scam, watched in horror as public opinion was easily swayed by a corporate-owned media that profits greatly from war, whether from advertising or interlocking directories with defense contractors. Yard signs appeared all up and down our neighborhoods that said, “Support President Bush and our Troops.” Yellow ribbons and American flags were prominently displayed on cars and in public spaces. And, to add fuel to the patriotic fire, the visions of smoldering buildings were still fresh in our minds.
It was a scary time to be an American for those of us that did not agree with the war. When we questioned the motives and evidence behind the impending invasion, we were accosted by friends and family members. We were accused of hating America, being sympathetic to the terrorists, and not supporting our troops. Pundits who hosted news talk shows verbally buried any celebrities or guests that dared question the march to war. Many of us still remember watching the television in utter horror as country music fans burned and steamrolled Dixie Chicks CD’s after their lead singer had the audacity to say she was ashamed that the President was from Texas. Phil Donahue, who hosted a political talk show on MSNBC, was dismissed for having an anti-war sentiment during the lead up to the invasion. It felt like we were living in a bad, George Orwell novel.
Since our illegal invasion in 2003, it is estimated around two-and-a-half million Iraqis have been killed. Over 4,000 American troops have been killed, and over 30,000 wounded. These numbers do not even include the mental toll this unnecessary war has taken in the form of PTSD and suicide. According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, more than 6,000 veterans have committed suicide since 2008. These numbers also do not include the untold number of deaths and suffering that have resulted from the destabilization of the region that opened up a vacuum for ISIS and Iranian militias. These are crimes against humanity that have not been accounted for by Mr. Bush, or those that influenced him. Just like survivors of the Holocaust that plead with us to never forget, we must never forget what happened during the rush to war in 2003. Letting President Bush, Dick Cheney, or any of the rest of the crew that fabricated evidence for an illegal war, sell themselves as the wise elder statesmen today, is letting them off the hook for their part of in this tragedy. I, for one, will never forget.
