JMO - Why war and Iraq is wrong

Remember it's just my opinon, so take it accordingly. "And?", you ask is my opinion about war and Iraq?

Well, did you know there are more private contractors in Iraq than US forces? Yup, upwards of 130-140,000 supporting US troops with logistics, rebuilding the infrastructure and providing private security to various entities in Iraq. This isn't my point but it shows why we have overstretched our military with the occupation there. If we had done this war as the military normally does, there would be 200,000 or more troops in Iraq, something they can't support and we wouldn't accept. And while some argue it's cheaper for taxpayers, it's not because many are earning 3-5 times the salary and benefits as soldiers and the overseeing the contracts costs money.

Anyway, my point is about war. I was at the University bookstore yesterday to find a book, Brian Turner's Here, Bullet. It's a book of poetry about his service in the former Yugoslavia and the first Gulf war. It's about life in a war and and war zone, and war is about life and death where choice isn't an issue but a reality.

If you can read this book and not hate war, you're stronger than I am about it. I was against the Iraq war from the President's January speech in 2003. I'm a skeptic and knew he was lying about the facts, and history has shown he has lied continually about the facts for the war. He's danced too much and too far, and we're seeing the reality of his stupidity. And many young lives have died or permanently injured and many more Iraqi citizens have died or emmigrated too. We have destroyed a country for what?

We don't need this anymore, and it's time to have an exit stategy that works for both sides, but leaves Iraq to the Iraqis in whatever form they decide is right for them, and unfortunate as it may be with a civil war, the best we can do is prevent it from unraveling. The simple reality and truth is that while we can win the peace, we can't hold it throughout the country without staying there for years on end with no end in sight, and the Iraqis have their own agendas at our expense and checkbook, So it's time to step aside.

And I'm against the whole rationale about the war on terrorism. I read a review of Schwartz and Huq's book Unchecked and Unbalanced, and plan to read it. But it's clear it establishes our democracy has been hijacked by a small group of zealots, and in my mind, terrorists, to steal our civil liberties at our expense. They talk about fear, and they'll secure us from terroists, but it's a sham, plain and simple.

This small group has long wanted to established an isolated, independent Presidency at the sake of the people, Congress, courts, and the Constituion. It's time to reverse this and take back our democracy. I hope the Democrats and activists do their work to undo many of the illegal work of these zealots and restore our democracy. I've longed believed we didn't need the Patriot Act. All the failures in the agencies to stop the 9/11 terrorists was due to communications and people, not laws.

It's time for a change, not small, but a complete reversal of our direction. It's time for the return to civil rights and liberties, and stand up to the terrorist saying we won't give anyone our freedom to live in this country. It's time for our government to do its job and serve us than we give them unlimited power over us in the name of some lie.