Circuitous Noodle: 4,000 DEAD in Iraq Quagmire

US military Iraq toll hits 4,000
BBC 24 March 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7310924.stm

I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.
Vice President Dick Cheney, On March 16 2003

comma

Republican chicken hawks are asking a small group of others to bare the burden of making them feel safe and secure. Their only contribution is to feign support by flying the flag in front of their homes or placing the yellow ribbon on their cars. When I see it there I wonder what's truly in their heads and whether they are only flying it because they've been possessed by extreme right wing nonsense willingly voiding their brains of any idea of what the flag really stands for. Our fathers and grandfathers fought under this flag in WWII defeating fascism in Europe. They were truly supported by sacrifices from everyone at home; industry included.

"VFP" Veterans For Peace

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
G.W. Bush

Bin Laden is still free and we’re bogged down in a country that didn’t attack us and was no threat to our national security. Our military does not deserve to be run into a pit because this administration refuses to admit they were wrong. This occupation is making us weaker. I believe they know it, too. It seems that they would prefer to do our military great harm and our nation as a result in order to protect their sad mistaken choices.

The Bush administration is saturated with lies that are harming all Americans and the Middle East. They have been the best friends of those who attacked us by making the United States weaker and reviled in the world while boosting Al Qaeda recruiting and prestige. They hijacked the criminal pursuit of Al Qaeda in favor of their own misguided desires and against the interests of the American people and those of the Middle East and they continue to do so. Their lying tongues like the 9-11 terrorists are drenched in the blood of the innocent. They truly belong on trial for the crimes they’ve committed against the citizens of the United States and Iraq and whatever else is uncovered.

All sides want us out; they believe its okay to kill our men and women and they are all going after us with great relish. Our troops are stuck in the middle of a multi-faceted civil war where all sides are shooting at them and the enemy can not be easily discerned, if at all. They do not belong in the middle of this and it’s an illicit misuse of the military to expect them to.

There's no success in Iraq without a political solution and reconciliation between all groups including rights for women that keeps them from extremists fundamentalist oppression.

Majority of Iraqi Lawmakers Now Reject Occupation
By Raed Jarrar and Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted May 9, 2007

More than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected for the first time on Tuesday the continuing occupation of their country. The U.S. media ignored the story.On Tuesday, without note in the U.S. media, more than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country. 144 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal, according to Nassar Al-Rubaie, a spokesman for the Al Sadr movement, the nationalist Shia group that sponsored the petition.
more at...
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/51624/

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.... The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Martin Luther King jr.

When we made these same arguements before the current occupation of Iraq we were called un-American and traitors. We were right then and we are still right now about the warnings we are raising about an ill-advised attack on Iran.

Cheney '94: Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire

Schwarzkopf & Gates on why we DIDN'T invade Baghdad in 91

Everything these guys said was wrong at best but most commonly were lies mixed with distortions. The people against this war were right in their characterization of what the outcome would be. They were ignored and called traitors and cowards when they should have been listened to. Listen to them now when they speak against current and future military misadventures (Iran) because their voices carry more truth than the voices of the egocentric chicken hawks in the Bush administration.

Is It For Freedom?