Country’s Problems Go Beyond Iraq
Mike Pulaski
November 21, 2006
I am a veteran of two voluntary tours in Vietnam, serving as a commissioned infantry officer. I was wounded during the first tour but volunteered to go back for a full second tour. I am and have been an American Patriot. I am a Goldwater conservative and have been a registered Republican all my life. As such, I offer these thoughts to my fellow citizens.
The United States needs to pull its troops out of Iraq as quickly and as reasonably as possible. This withdrawal will be accomplished with the greatest of military tactical strategy, safe guarding our troops and the Iraqi citizenry, using every reasonable and ethical means necessary.
If the President had any moral courage, he'd drop his macho man "Top Gun" impersonation and arrange for this pullout of our troops in favor of a UN sponsored multi-national peacekeeping force compromised of Muslims from neighboring countries. We are the wrong ethnic group to be the occupation force. Peace will never happen as long as we are present in Iraq.
This peacekeeping force would provide shelter for the many sects involved in civil conflict so they can eventually settle themselves into a number of different countries. Historically, there are three distinct ones indicated – Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra.
Consider the historical origin of Iraq. It was the brainchild of a nameless British bureaucrat who defined entities for English colonial governance after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The bureaucrat created Iraq quickly, with no forethought given to racial or religious sects in determining its sovereign boundaries. Until the removal of Saddam, Iraq was held together by colonial rule and brutal dictatorships. The civil war that has erupted due to our removal of Saddam is no surprise. It has been formulated to occur since British rule in the mid-1920’s.
It is only our leaders’ arrogance and ignorance that has enabled this civil war to happen. It is they who are responsible for so much human death and disability to American soldiers and Iraqi citizens. Donald Rumsfeld's resignation is only scapegoating the real issues. He was “sacrificed” as the fall guy after the midterm election results demonstrated the public’s dissatisfaction with the Iraq war.
Getting to where we are today in Iraq was a team effort from the President on down. It is a much bigger problem than the incompetence of one man. The core issue drills down to the heart of what we are as an American society.
Today, we Americans are reaping the ill effects of our leadership’s dishonesty and moral corruption, which led to our Iraqi presence in the first place. Frankly, I don't like what we've become as a society. It saddens me greatly. I love my country's founding principles but find they have been totally corrupted by a crazed and greedy element in leadership positions today.
This leadership element is plunging us into an astounding national debt and a low international reputation. Meanwhile, the war's drain on our treasury causes wholesale cuts in basic social services and programs now as well as into future years.
However, there are beneficiaries to this situation brought forth by our political leadership. The income tax revisions passed by Congress have enabled the rich to become super rich and the middle class to pay for it.
The energy and resource extraction industrial interests, which have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to our politicians’ political campaigns, continue to plunder and foul our land. In the process, these industries are making record-breaking profits.
How do you like the $10+ billion dollar quarterly profits of Mobil/Exxon, while pumping $3 a gallon gasoline into your car?
How do you like the evisceration of the EPA Superfund so that heavy industrial polluters who are also heavy political contributors don’t have to pay for the toxic mess they make?
How do you like having increased amounts of mercury and arsenic permitted in our drinking water? The recent relaxation of the Clean Water Act was a payback to polluting industry campaign contributors who gave multi-million dollar donations to political parties.
Do you see the distortion we have let happen?
Doesn't it make you angry? Do you want to change it?
Think about it.
It is time to put a stop to this madness, my fellow citizens.