August 27, 2006
by James Rothenberg

In your press conference you said regarding Iraq, "Leaving before the job was done would send a signal to our troops that the sacrifices they made were not worth it. Leaving before the job is done would be a disaster..."

Your line of reasoning reduces to appealing to your past failures to justify further ones. Because the first troop was sacrificed then 'n' number of troops must be sacrificed until it reaches a state of "worth", defined by the person ordering the sacrifices. Would you claim that we're still there in part to avoid this "signal" of false sacrifice? I think not.

Then let's take your second sentence. "Disaster" for who? It is now, and has been since our invasion, a disaster for the Iraqi people. A disaster can't become a disaster. It already is. Would you say that it would be a disaster for your administration, what with all the sacrificing having been done?

Mr. President, you said, "You know, nobody likes to see innocent people die. Nobody wants to turn on their TV on a daily basis and see havoc wrought by terrorists." Why is it then that you did not object to our television networks going live to Baghdad on those memorable March nights of Shock and Awe terrorism? Was it because you can't really see the innocents from 30,000 feet?

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And Mr. President, you mentioned the ".trouble in a part of the world that had so much resentment and so much hatred that people came and killed 3,000 of our citizens." Where do you suppose all that resentment and hatred came from in that part of the world, and what are you doing to make it go away?

Mr. President, a few years ago you told people that they were either with us (meaning you and yours) or with the terrorists. But don't you see - it doesn't have to be either/or - it can be both if we act like terrorists ourselves.

Mr. President, I don't wish to see you removed from office. I wish to see you punished. Punished for the war crimes you've committed, punished for the crimes of commission and omission against the American people, and punishment for all the influential and subordinate people who helped you.

Since an outcome of this type is most unlikely, a thorough and permanent reckoning of misdeeds would at least provide an example for future generations of what can happen when power rests in too few hands.

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James Rothenberg [send him email] is a writer and activist.