25
May
2004
There is a lot of discussion going on today regarding the images of American atrocities coming out of Iraq. Discussions regarding who is to be held accountable, whether it is the active-duty troops, the Army Reserve, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, or President Bush himself.
What a lot of Americans don't seem to realize or perhaps have simply never thought of that much is that "the people" are mainly responsible for the debatable "mistakes" made by the Bush Administration. (I call them debatable because what can be seen as a mistake by one person can be seen as a success by another.) People who quite possibly bear the most responsibility for the current war in Iraq and the performance of the current presidential administration are the ones that you will find in your very own mirror.
That's right, America; We are "the people" responsible for every single action that this administration encroaches upon the world. The blood that liberal America claims is upon the hands of President Bush and his cronies is also upon the hands of each and every taxpaying American in this country. It is upon the hands of every citizen who voted for Bush, as well as every citizen who voted against him in 2000. Why do I say this, you ask?
Simple.
The right to vote in this country is perhaps the most important freedom that "We the People" possess, and so many of us squander that right by not utilizing it. An average of 67.5 percent of registered voters in this country actually turned out to vote in the 2000 election, according to the Federal Election Commission's Web site. And quite frankly, liberals, Democrats, and other Bush-haters, your side of the fence simply didn't work hard enough to keep the Texas candidate out of the Oval Office. So yes, the blame lies with you just as much as it lies with the ones who voted for him.
But going back to the taxpayers and their hand in all of this, it is as much our own fault that the Iraq atrocities have happened and now seen the light of day as it is the Army Reserve weekend warriors who actually committed the crimes. Because it is our own tax dollars, the money taken out of each and every one of our paychecks, that helped to finance this war. Eighty-seven billion dollars and counting, people. How does that make you feel deep down inside?
I'm sure that there are plenty of you out there who were against this war from the start, and who voiced your opinions strongly against it as well. But in the end, you have all the power in the world to practice what you preach and not assist in financing the war. You can quit your job, quit paying your taxes, leave the country and renounce your U.S. citizenship, etc. The choice is all your own. No one is forcing you to pay for the slaughter and/or torture and humiliation of Iraqis over there. Actually, by choosing to make a living in this country, you are choosing to finance our war in Iraq.
I suppose that the point of writing this letter to whomever is to point out that no one is an innocent bystander in this new age that we live in. All Americans are to be held accountable for the war in Iraq, the actions of our current president and his administration, and the overall imperialism that defines American progress in the world today.
Stand tall, America! This war and all the blood that has spilled because of it have been made possible by the toils of all of your hard-working and voting hands.
Roger Bolewicz
East Moline
Voting for al-Qaeda
I am frustrated with the world we live in. Approximately half of this nation's eligible voters just don't understand how the world works. They just don't get it.
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda declared war on the United States by murdering 3,000 innocent Americans. Osama bin Laden and his ilk waged war on us because we showed weakness by pulling out of Mogadishu, a warlord-infested, al-Qaeda-supported base. Running from Mogadishu was yet another of Clinton's follies.
Praise God for the courageous leader currently in the White House. President George W. Bush understands how the world works and immediately sought to rid the world of terrorists and those who harbor them in Afghanistan and Iraq. I much prefer our trained servicemen and -women fight them on foreign soil than to have al-Qaeda bring the terror war to our schools, shopping malls, public events, and churches - a potential reality if we elect the wrong man. It is icing on the cake to liberate 50 million people in the process, no matter if they don't yet understand their newfound freedom or appreciate it.
John Kerry's voting record to date clearly demonstrates what his record, if elected, would be. Based on that record, it would be unreasonable to expect that he would do anything but gut our national defense and outsource our national security to the inept United Nations. In fact, voting against our national defense is one of the few decisions John Kerry has not waffled on.
Nancy Pelosi, House minority leader, stated recently that the war in Iraq is a "mess." Perhaps she was expecting one of those nice, tidy wars in which no one is killed and no atrocities are committed. In a war, people die. In modern wars, as few civilians die as possible, but the death of innocents does occur. Soldiers kill people and blow things up - that is their job, their mission, their duty. Whoever does it best wins. For all of us, I hope the United States is victorious, not the terrorists and their supporting nations.
I hope those who abused the prisoners in Iraq are punished for it. However, our reality is that the media bias in this country thought that prisoners with underwear on their heads were greater atrocities than a young American beheaded on-camera for the world to see. Nicolas Berg's execution was quickly overshadowed by more rambling about Iraqi prisoner abuse in today's press.
I did not take part in abusing Iraqi prisoners, nor did almost all of us reading this. Therefore, I do not own that action and am not shamed by it. ...
We can take the horrifying execution of Nicolas Berg as a foreshadowing of what is to come to our great nation if we are not careful about whom we vote for in November. A vote for John Kerry is a vote for al-Qaeda.
E. Douglas Hanson
Maquoketa, Iowa
What a lot of Americans don't seem to realize or perhaps have simply never thought of that much is that "the people" are mainly responsible for the debatable "mistakes" made by the Bush Administration. (I call them debatable because what can be seen as a mistake by one person can be seen as a success by another.) People who quite possibly bear the most responsibility for the current war in Iraq and the performance of the current presidential administration are the ones that you will find in your very own mirror.
That's right, America; We are "the people" responsible for every single action that this administration encroaches upon the world. The blood that liberal America claims is upon the hands of President Bush and his cronies is also upon the hands of each and every taxpaying American in this country. It is upon the hands of every citizen who voted for Bush, as well as every citizen who voted against him in 2000. Why do I say this, you ask?
Simple.
The right to vote in this country is perhaps the most important freedom that "We the People" possess, and so many of us squander that right by not utilizing it. An average of 67.5 percent of registered voters in this country actually turned out to vote in the 2000 election, according to the Federal Election Commission's Web site. And quite frankly, liberals, Democrats, and other Bush-haters, your side of the fence simply didn't work hard enough to keep the Texas candidate out of the Oval Office. So yes, the blame lies with you just as much as it lies with the ones who voted for him.
But going back to the taxpayers and their hand in all of this, it is as much our own fault that the Iraq atrocities have happened and now seen the light of day as it is the Army Reserve weekend warriors who actually committed the crimes. Because it is our own tax dollars, the money taken out of each and every one of our paychecks, that helped to finance this war. Eighty-seven billion dollars and counting, people. How does that make you feel deep down inside?
I'm sure that there are plenty of you out there who were against this war from the start, and who voiced your opinions strongly against it as well. But in the end, you have all the power in the world to practice what you preach and not assist in financing the war. You can quit your job, quit paying your taxes, leave the country and renounce your U.S. citizenship, etc. The choice is all your own. No one is forcing you to pay for the slaughter and/or torture and humiliation of Iraqis over there. Actually, by choosing to make a living in this country, you are choosing to finance our war in Iraq.
I suppose that the point of writing this letter to whomever is to point out that no one is an innocent bystander in this new age that we live in. All Americans are to be held accountable for the war in Iraq, the actions of our current president and his administration, and the overall imperialism that defines American progress in the world today.
Stand tall, America! This war and all the blood that has spilled because of it have been made possible by the toils of all of your hard-working and voting hands.
Roger Bolewicz
East Moline
Voting for al-Qaeda
I am frustrated with the world we live in. Approximately half of this nation's eligible voters just don't understand how the world works. They just don't get it.
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda declared war on the United States by murdering 3,000 innocent Americans. Osama bin Laden and his ilk waged war on us because we showed weakness by pulling out of Mogadishu, a warlord-infested, al-Qaeda-supported base. Running from Mogadishu was yet another of Clinton's follies.
Praise God for the courageous leader currently in the White House. President George W. Bush understands how the world works and immediately sought to rid the world of terrorists and those who harbor them in Afghanistan and Iraq. I much prefer our trained servicemen and -women fight them on foreign soil than to have al-Qaeda bring the terror war to our schools, shopping malls, public events, and churches - a potential reality if we elect the wrong man. It is icing on the cake to liberate 50 million people in the process, no matter if they don't yet understand their newfound freedom or appreciate it.
John Kerry's voting record to date clearly demonstrates what his record, if elected, would be. Based on that record, it would be unreasonable to expect that he would do anything but gut our national defense and outsource our national security to the inept United Nations. In fact, voting against our national defense is one of the few decisions John Kerry has not waffled on.
Nancy Pelosi, House minority leader, stated recently that the war in Iraq is a "mess." Perhaps she was expecting one of those nice, tidy wars in which no one is killed and no atrocities are committed. In a war, people die. In modern wars, as few civilians die as possible, but the death of innocents does occur. Soldiers kill people and blow things up - that is their job, their mission, their duty. Whoever does it best wins. For all of us, I hope the United States is victorious, not the terrorists and their supporting nations.
I hope those who abused the prisoners in Iraq are punished for it. However, our reality is that the media bias in this country thought that prisoners with underwear on their heads were greater atrocities than a young American beheaded on-camera for the world to see. Nicolas Berg's execution was quickly overshadowed by more rambling about Iraqi prisoner abuse in today's press.
I did not take part in abusing Iraqi prisoners, nor did almost all of us reading this. Therefore, I do not own that action and am not shamed by it. ...
We can take the horrifying execution of Nicolas Berg as a foreshadowing of what is to come to our great nation if we are not careful about whom we vote for in November. A vote for John Kerry is a vote for al-Qaeda.
E. Douglas Hanson
Maquoketa, Iowa
