WMD Hunt Ends

I remember watching CNN prior to the invasion. Colin Powell was addressing the UN to describe evidence of the weapons-of-mass-destruction in Iraq. He held up a vial of anthrax. He showed blurry photos of "de-contaminant" trucks. He described all the different sorts of nerve agents, and chemical and biological agents Iraq had.

Now.. 2 months after the election, the Administration has finally called off the search and admitted Iraq had no WMD's, and had not even made any after 1991. The news report is here.

The WMD's were the justification of why our military was sent to invade and conquer Iraq. Iraq was supposedly an "imminent threat". Iraq supposedly had something to do with 9/11 and terrorism. Every single justification has been proven wrong. So, now what?

Nobody cares.

I see people driving around with yellow ribbon stickers on the backs of their SUV's. They would say we need to "support our troops". Ask them what that means, and they give you a blank stare. I would suggest that "supporting our troops" means exacting a price from those that sent them into the Iraq meat grinder for absolutely no reason. Sure, we need to be supportive of the men and women in our military. We need to provide them the best equipment, and medical care. To me, those are basic things the military takes for granted. To the yellow-sticker crowd, I say to them, DUH! The reason you put that sticker on your car should be common sense. That is the least that could be done.

But, why are we not supporting our troops by exacting a price on the politicians who get people killed? What is going to be the deterrent for the next President to not send the military off on a senseless crusade, if we do not punish the existing President?

It is patently illegal for one sovereign nation to invade and conquer another. It is a violation of international laws. The head of the United Nations, Kofi Annan has said the war was a violation of international law. Even the President now admits that every single justification for the war turned out to be wrong. Does that somehow get him off the hook?

Really think about that. It has been estimated that over 100,000 innocent Iraqis have died as a direct result of the war. Thousands more not-so-innocent Iraqis have been killed. There are 1300+ dead American soldiers, with over 10,000 more injured. Many of the injured have lost limbs and worse, due to the use of kevlar vests that prevented what would have been a fatal injury in a previous war.

What does Bush say? Oops? These people are fucking dead as a direct result of his recklessness. I say, put him on trial for war crimes. Put him in a fucking jail. How is he any different than a mass murderer?

This is my favorite part:

Bush has appointed a panel to investigate why the intelligence about Iraq's weapons was wrong.

So what does Bush do? He blames the intelligence. Does anybody actually believe that the intelligence given to the Administration was anything other than what they wanted to hear? Does anybody actually believe that the Administration didn't tell the CIA to emphasize the WMD reports, and de-emphasize the real reports?

But.. does it matter? Who is ultimately responsible? We wonder why so many nations were against the war. We wonder why being an American is something to be embarrassed over, instead being a symbol of pride like it used to be. And.. once again, there is no consequence for Bush. He just smirks and says that God told him to invade Iraq. I'm not kidding. He says he actually heard God talking to him and God told him to invade Iraq. Proof here.

Why is it that nobody thinks it's strange to have a President that is hearing voices? Most medical professionals would call that a psychosis.

So, Bush did what he did. Who is ultimately to blame for the total lack of consequences for his actions? The man is not sitting in jail, he got fucking re-elected! The fault is, once again, with the American public. Why?

Some 53 million people, give or take, voted for Bush. I don't believe they did so because they support illegal wars, with the associated death and destruction. I don't believe it's a mean spirited thing. What has American culture become? We have become exactly what the French say we have become. Arrogant. Honest to god, we really don't give a shit about other people in the world. We are selfish. We are materialistic, and, we are really fucking ignorant.

I don't think the human being, as such, has changed much in the last few thousand years. It's just that our values are really nuts. We value celebrities, athletes, the wealthy, and beauty. Which do you think got more press coverage in the US, the tsunami in Asia that killed 150,000 people, or the Scott Peterson murder trial?

The answer is obvious. The answer is why we don't care that Bush presided over a war just as illegal as the German invasion of Poland in 1939. It is why he got re-elected. The reason - money. American's work their asses off. It's all about the car, and the boat, and the house, and the TV. We spend so much time working that we have little time for anything else. People are too tired to read the news. They are too exhausted from dealing with kids to try and be informed. In short, the typical American lifestyle creates really dumb people.

So, what is the solution? I don't know. I have a job so I'm not smart enough to figure that one out. I just don't see how our culture is going to stop the slide into total ignorance. As long as people go home from work and watch Paris Hilton on TV, we'll never care about the thousands butchered for absolutely no reason.

/end rant