BLACK TIE AND BODY BAGS - Iraq War

Obama: Iraq war over, US troops coming home

ABC7Chicago.com eTaiwan News - 9 hours ago
"Over the next two months, our troops in Iraq, tens of thousands of them, will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home,"

Obama said

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This is a bittersweet time, the troops in Iraq are finally coming home but we all can't help but feel the sorrow about a war that never should have been. It made me think of an essay written in 2005 when Bush&co were getting ready for their second Inaugural Ball while body bags were returning home from Iraq. I found the page and updated it for both a pleasant (The Troops Are Coming Home) and painful (or regretful) memory. tb

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War is sometimes a necessary evil. If we were to be invaded, we sure as hell would have to protect ourselves. But Bush’s war was for greed or retaliation to Avenge His Daddy or (THE REAL REASON) The PNAC'S pipedream - "New Pearl Harbor" Rebuilding America's Defenses, entitled "Creating Tomorrow's Dominant Force", includes the sentence: "Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event––LIKE A NEW PEARL HARBOR".

PNAC members used the events of 9/11 as the "Pearl Harbor" that they needed––that is, as an "opportunity" to "capitalize on" in order to enact long-desired plans. (9/11 GAVE THE PNAC WHAT THEY HAD PLANNED, FOR MANY YEARS PRIOR.)

(BUT THE PNAC WERE) Inexperienced in realities of war Former US Congressman Lionel Van Deerlin and UK Labor MP Tam Dalyell, criticized PNAC members for promoting policies which support an IDEALIZED VERSION OF WAR, even though only a handful of PNAC members have served in the military or, if they served, seen combat. (ARMCHAIR CHICKENHAWKS) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century

Thus, Cindy Sheehan’s son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, became the 714th to die needlessly in a war that should never have happened. I’m so glad the troops are finally coming home but it is so a bittersweet event, for sure.

Below is a page I did after George W. Bush was elected to a 2nd term (actually it was his first elected term since SCOTUS appointed him the first time). I used an extremely intense article written by Susan Lenfestey of the Minneapolis Star Tribune The beginning of 2005 and Bush&co's 2nd term was a very sad time for America and the writer's mocking words implicating those (uncaring individuals) responsible for the illegal war in Iraq rung so poignantly clear. I started it with a small simplistic poem of tears. thinkingblue

Tears Fall FOR A LIE!

The tears fall each time young soldiers, die.
For a lie…
The tears fall as last breaths whisper, goodbye.
For a lie…
The tears fall, as exploding bombs, fill the sky.
For a lie…
The tears fall, filled with hate, questioning why?
FOR A LIE!
By Carolyn

This melancholy essay speaks volumes of the audaciousness of the 2005 Inauguration and the inequities between those with too much power and those with none. A very sad story, indeed. thinkingblue

BLACK TIE AND BODY BAGS

Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 12:12 PM

Subject: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Article startribune.com

Some in black tie; others, body bags
by Susan Lenfestey

It's time to party!

As the families of bomb-flattened Fallujah huddle in make-shift refugee camps, drinking from sewage-filled streams,

Iraqi policy mastermind Paul Wolfowitz fastens the last stud into his starched collar.

As the Iraq Survey Group ends its search for WMD,
concluding that there was no imminent mushroom cloud or even a smoking gun, Condi Rice draws herself a hot bath.

As Sgt. Kevin Benderman, an Army mechanic with nine years of service, refuses a second deployment to Iraq, saying,
"You just don't know how bad it is," Colin Powell pours himself a drink.

As Specialist Charles A. Graner, miscreant and major-domo of Abu Ghraib, shuffles off to prison,
Donald Rumsfeld straightens the black tie of his tux.

As the 9/11 widow tucks her children into bed, wondering why the recommendations made in
"The 9/11 Commission Report" weren't implemented, Tom Ridge tightens his cummerbund.

As prisoners charged with no crimes, and given no recourse, languish in the hellhole of Guantanamo Bay,
torture apologist Alberto Gonzales clicks his cufflinks into place.

As Dan Rather retires in disgrace over forged documents, former CIA Director George Tenet,
proponent of forged documents about Iraq's nonexistent nuclear program, adjusts the Medal of Freedom around his neck.

As the working mother in Chicago wonders how to keep her child from being left behind
now that her special-ed program has been cut, Armstrong Williams polishes his shoes.

As Valerie Plame walks away from a distinguished career as a CIA "operative,"
destroyed when her identity was revealed by columnist Robert Novak, Mr. Novak walks to his limo.

As Osama bin Laden chuckles in his cave to see America's fortunes sink
in the morass of Iraq and as fresh recruits to his cause multiply like flies,
Dick Cheney pops the cork on a bottle of Dom Perignon.

As America's trade gap surges and the red ink in the national debt bleeds to a record level,
Treasury Secretary Paul Snow finishes shaving and dabs at a spot of blood on his chin.

As the Republican Congress gets ready to underfund everything from Head Start to veterans'
benefits, Speaker Dennis Hastert checks his profile in the mirror.

As Pfc. Francis Obaji, oldest son of an immigrant Nigerian family,
is zipped into a body bag for the sad journey home,

And as his corporate pals slide their millions across the table to dance at his ball,
forgetting for a moment the bottom line that forces them to ship jobs overseas,
George W. Bush pulls on his snakeskin boots.

It's time to party!

Susan Lenfestey is a Minneapolis writer.