JMO - Revisit the past

I saw this poster in an article about show of posters by Shepard Fairey. It reminded me about the talk over discussing the period of late 2002 to March 2003 when George Bush and company - I would say his administration but Cheney, etal. are running the White House like a corporation than as the President and the Excutive Branch of the government - made the case for the invastion and occupation of Iraq. And the role Congress played in passing the war authorization bill which started the whole chain of events we now live with here in the U.S. and with our international reputation for democracy, civil rights and human rights.

And while I agree we need to focus on the ways to resolve the dilemma we're now stuck in Iraq, no thanks to both sides - the President, etal and Congress, I feel we need to always revisit that period and determine what happened, what went wrong and who did what and why. It's the old adage, if we don't learn from a review of this we'll do it again, and the next President will have the lessons and tricks of Bush to use for their case for war, much of which may be wrong, unethical and/or illegal.

So there is meit to looking at the past and there are valid reasons to be more hesitant the next time, if not staunchly against it without clear and overwhelming evidence, and not imaginary, manipulated or falsified information. And while much of my anger is focused at Bush and company, my real anger is aimed at congress and the media. Congress in the shadow of 9/11 was bullied into a war that has far exceeded the cost in lives and resources than the act of 9/11 itself and the media in fear of their own shadow was bullied into following lock step with the President and not doing their job of questioning the facts and story.

I think everyone of those in Congress who voted for the war not only owes the people of this country an apology, and especially to the families of the dead and injured soldiers, but owes us an explanation why they didn't stand up and ask questions. This was not something that should have been secret, they used our money and lives to fight a war that has proven now to be unjust, illegal and flat out wrong for the American people and in the fight against terrorists.

Every member of Congress who voted for the war failed to do their job representing the American people. They chose the route the President handed them and acquiesced their power to the war mongers at the White House and the President who was driven by religous fervor to wage a war against Muslims. The members owe us the right to ask them to resign in their failure to do their job. I don't care how long they have served or how well they have served, the honor of being a representative of the people was neglected and they should ask us for the right to stay on this one subject alone.

And I don't mean an election but a referendum about their role in the lead up to and vote for the war. Nothing else. What did they know, and if they didn't tell us everything, why not. We demand honesty from them than politicial rhetoric or lies. And next time a President asks Congress to wage war, follow the advice they give us about drugs and/or almost anything else, just say no. No, empathically until the American people have been give the facts and reasons, and allowed to express their views about committing American lives again in the name of something.

We all are patriots, let's not forget that fact. And being patriots, we're owed the truth and the right to say no unless we're convinced of the rightness of the act to go to war.