NO CHILD LEFT ALIVE?
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistFor six years, George Bush and the Republican Congress had spent American taxpayer monies to the tune of $9.3 trillion dollars to date–most of it going to tax cuts for the rich and the wars in Iraq, and Afghanistan.
For six years, Bush had vetoed not one spending bill proffered by the GOP.
But suddenly, Bush is flip-flopping on his 2004 promise to
expand a children’s health insurance coverage plan; known as SCHIP–in an effort to diplace millions more poor children whom otherwise can't receive coverage otherwise outside the current program.
The President is claiming that the program overreaches into the middle-class–and has become too expensive to maintain.
He claims that Democrats are just in it for the political points, but many of his own party whom support the program openly are
dismayed that the President would go against himself and his promise to help expand and continue funding a much needed program for the poor.
A program that currently helps 6.6 million children get the care that they
need.
Ironically, Bush just sent Congress legislation demanding that he gets additional money for the wars in the Middle East–totaling upwards of $245B.
But to spend an additional $35B over the next 5 years to keep those 6.6 million kids from getting sick or
worse–when we spend on average $120B to $130B a year
in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Nah.
Bush just thinks that’s just too
expensive.
After all, with just 15 months left his presidency, W is suddenly
eager to re-establish himself and his legacy as being
fiscally conservative.
Unfortunately for him, it’s come far too late to be anything but a big spender.
All at the expense of our children’s health of course.
But that doesn't seem to bother Bush at all.
And why should it?
He's not paying for it. But our kids are.
Or they will be as soon as Bush vetoes the bill.Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.comLabels: Afghanistan, Bush, children's, conservative, debt, fiscally, healthcare, Iraq, legacy, trillions
MURDEROUS ACTS ARE BECOMING A BLACK EYE FOR U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistLast weekend, a notorious security firm called Blackwater alleged to have killed as many as 20 Iraqis–in what they claimed was a firefight with supposed insurgents; following a car bomb explosion.
As sensational as this seems, there has been some serious deception on Blackwater’s part–a trend which befits their infamous reputation as the military’s “Dirty Harry” apparat.
These people were hired by the U.S.
government to provide security for the diplomat entourages coming in and out of Iraq.
But their dirty little secret had remained in contention over the tactics upon which they used to carry out their jobs:
Firing at Iraqi civilians out of spite, having a complete disregard for the people and their culture, sharing an equal disdain for authority and the Iraqi people, and completely acting out of sheer recklessness.
And now it shows. They claimed to have been fired upon first, but a tape appropriated by the Iraqi government clearly shows Blackwater’s security henchmen firing
unprovoked on unarmed civilians trying to escape and flee their fire.
Does it come as no surprise that Bush recently sidestepped any questions regarding Blackwater and their latest acts of attrition towards the Iraqis?
Because he had a hand in approving the hiring of these mercenary thugs. That's why.
But this debacle doesn’t end there.
In 2004, the US-led coalition passed an amendment which gives
complete immunity to all security firms and US forces–in the event that they indeed killed Iraqi civilians in the same manner they conducted themselves in the Abu Ghraib escapade in 2004 and the Haditha massacre in 2005.
This clears them of any wrongdoing. The perfect “escape clause” from which they freely and openly admitted committed crimes against the Iraqi populace.
Why?
In light of a recent conviction of a 22-year-old Marine involved in the killing of an Iraq civilian in Hamdania in April of 2006, Robert Pennington expressed his squad’s frustration that they could not find a suspected insurgent.
In fact, the murderous act went far deeper than that:
Many combat troops felt that too many insurgents were escaping the justice that they claimed to deserve.
Hence the plot to kill the unarmed man and make it look like he was their man.
Their suspected insurgent.And Blackwater is no different.
The problem is that both the security firms and our military has now deemed the Iraqi people as being nothing more than a minor annoyance in their continued occupation of their country-
not human beings.
So it has become their mission in life to see that this
annoyance is dealt with swiftly and with murderous intent.
Regardless of the consequences for our nation’s future.
Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.comLabels: Abu Ghraib, blackwater, Haditha, Iraqi civilians, Iraqis, murdered, troops
BUSH'S NEW WAR STRATEGY: STAY THE COURSE
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistNaturally, General Petraeus plays the same tune that Bush wants to here: “Stay the course–because we are making progress.”
But unfortunately, the reality on the ground is proving all that more harder to cover up with optimism and political spin:
Just this week, a leading Sunni sheik was assassinated by an Iraqi bomb.
The Iraqi police force needs to be disbanded and started over from scratch.
The Iraqi government is completely dysfunctional.
Only one of the political benchmarks have actually been met. (Or actually not. The meeting--between the leaders of the sects on August 26th--caused the Pentagon to revise that de-Baathification objective from being "unsatisfactory" to "satisfactory".
All because of that meeting! But the funny thing, is that no legislation has been passed!)
The rest have failed.
The Iraqi security forces need another 18 months to be "effective." (Not that we haven't heard
this before...)
And the list goes on.
This is the reality of the war in which we have effectively lost to the insurgents.
No amount of ‘good news’ and spin from the White House can erase what many Americans see now as a lost cause.
You don't hear
victory, just a "redefining of definitions of progress" and goals which can't possibly be met now or in the near future.
Certainly not when Bush leaves office.Things are too far gone to simply turn a blind eye towards our failures and try to start things over--which is what this adminstration has been trying to do.
Try to restart a war in which events of the last 4.5 years never existed at all. In reality, Bush is trying to rewrite history before his term of dishonor completes itself.Sp his idea to bring home the troops is nothing more than an insult, and a slap in the face for our serving military.
Considering that the conditions on the ground mirror a low-level civil war, all Bush is doing is buying time for himself–not the troops. Those troops whom were added to the surge have to be pulled back anyways.
Not because they
succeeded in doing anything impressive, but because they are stretched past the breaking point and have no fresh replacements on tap to replace them.
So they have to come home. But rumors are circulating even now that the President and his military crony advisors are planning on extending tours once more and shortening leaves--to make his surge more
permanent through 2008.
With no stability, unity, or democracy in
sight, Bush is just trying to escape the mess he’s created by announcing that he is indeed the Decider--no matter--and he has decided that no change in course is warranted–until
after he leaves office.
Which begs the question:
Is the Iraq war still worth it?Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.comLabels: Bush, civil war, insurgents, Iraq, stay the course, troops
SUPPORT FOR THE FAILED TROOP SURGE CONTINUES UNABATED
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistIt’s a bit puzzling: Seeing the GOP continue to support a clearly failed Iraq policy.
But that’s what they are apparently content in doing. And the question is
why?
What possible political gain could the GOP hope to achieve by supporting a failed troop surge?
The original premise of the surge was to tamp down violence in Baghdad long enough to give the Malaki government enough reconciliation time and get its act together.
But 8 months later--zero political progress has been made by the clearly
dysfunctional Malaki government.
Does this stop the GOP support?
Nope.
These misguided fools (and their supporters) still hinge on the idea that “it takes awhile for progress to be made”.
Okay…um…8 months have passed and
no progress has been made in political reform, unity, or reconciliation within the Malaki government.
The year before that…?
Nothing. The year before that?
Nothing.So what are the GOP and its war supporters waiting for?
A sign from God?
With limited progress on the ground, the Malaki government clearly has shown that it cannot govern. But does this persuade the Republicans that nothing they do or say is going to change the facts on the ground?
That this surge is a monumental failure?
Sadly, no.
The GOP is inherently blind to reality. They still believe that through some unforeseen miracle–Iraq will somehow
right itself and fly right.
But both war-weary Americans and Democrats are
tired of waiting. And seeing our military abused for clearly selfish purposes.
But take heart. All of this will end sooner than we all thought.
Someone recently said: "When we make a mistake, it is the obligation of the people—through their representatives—to correct the mistake, not continue the mistake. We have dug a hole for ourselves and we have dug a hole for our party. We are losing elections, and we are going down next year if we don't change it."
And that person was none other than Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul
himself.
Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.comLabels: American people, Democrats, GOP, Iraq, Iraq war, Ron Paul, troop surge failure
