justice again.

Last year, due to increasing and un-relenting pressure from the people of England, and even from his own Labor Party, Tony Blair announced he would resign sometime before September of 2007. The reason the public felt he should step down was largely due to his involvement in our war with Iraq. The British seem to feel Blair had joined haphazardly, backing the U.S. without sufficient weighing of the facts involved, and therefore endangering the lives of British soldiers without good cause. It was bad form to the highest degree. The British appear quite angry their own men and women had been killed in Iraq... specifically when they, the British public, realized there was never any “imminent threat” posed by Iraq against themselves or against us (the U.S.). In fact, one of Britain’s only terrorist attacks to date happened after the Iraqi invasion (the July 2005 London subway bombing).

Now we see another similar case which is currently (not) making the regular news. The people of Israel have called for their Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, to step down. Their reasons? The greatest was that he led them into a summer-long war against Lebanon. The citizens feel that Olmert went to war without a clear-cut reason, without a strategy for fighting, winning, or exiting.

Sound familiar?

I simply do not understand anymore. The people of both Britain and Israel realize that a Commander who leads their country into war without a reason and without a plan, and causes the death of their fellow citizens, no longer deserves to lead, and indeed has shown himself an unfit commander.

How many more American soldiers have to be killed or maimed before the American public wakes up and impeaches George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, and everyone else involved in dragging us into this Iraq quagmire?


Some figures, as of January 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Defense:

U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq: 3,021 (now over 3,500)
British Soldiers Killed: 129
Iraqi Soldiers/Police Killed: 5,965
Iraqi Civilians Killed: 70,100 - 601,000 (estimated)
Defense Contractors Killed: 665
Journalists Killed: 146
American Soldiers Wounded: 23,000

Saddam Hussein was put to death for killing 128 people.

Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” in 2003, with less than 500 American soldiers killed.

That was four years and 3,000 American deaths ago.

who is keeping score?

Something really interesting is happening in the world of political jargon right now, and has been for several weeks. Democrats in congress are being accused of merely “trying to score political points” by attempting to set a timetable to end the increasingly un-popular war in Iraq. These accusations come directly from the President and Vice President, as well as many other high-ranking officials. In fact, President Bush himself has said the words “trying to score political points” countless times when referring to Democratic (and some Republican) members of House and Senate who voted in favor of the recent spending bill with a troop pull-out date included in its pages.

Does the President forget that congressmen and senators are representatives of the will of the people? It is the job of a congressman (or woman) or senator to vote in a manner that they feel will get them re-elected next time around. By seeking re-election, they are submitting to the will of the voters in their district. That is the basis of a congress and a senate.

So maybe Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney are forgetting that it is the job of the House and Senate not to follow the will of the executive office, but rather the will of the people who elected them to their positions. “Scoring political points” with the voters is the point.

And maybe Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney also forget that they, too, are elected officials - charged with submitting to the will of the American public. Very possibly, they forget that they are officials elected by the general public, not kings. Let’s just hope the voters remind them of that in 2008.


Also at: web.mac.com/aploporto

support from all sides.

A few weeks ago I saw a disturbing video of Presidential candidate John McCain singing “bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb-Iran” to the tune of the Beach Boy’s “Barbara Ann”. More disturbing was the fact that the audience applauded him.

What is wrong with people in this country?

I have few close friends, and one of them is in the army reserves. He spent a year in Kuwait, and is now looking at the real possibility of having to return to Iraq this September. he is my best friend.

War is nothing to be singing a jingle about. Even if the need to invade Iran were more than clear cut (in reality, it is as grey as the “imminent threat” posed by Iraq in 2001), I would hope that Americans would take war a little more seriously than that. Even if Hitler’s army were storming the shores of Manhattan island, it would not be something to sing about.

With all this talk about how the Democrats in congress aren’t “supporting the troops” because they won’t give money without a withdrawal date, I find it saddening that many Americans allow, and encourage, the type of thing that Senator McCain did. Does the Senator not remember that people really loose their lives in war? Does he not realize that his “bomb-bomb-bomb” diddy will mean that a child will never see her father or mother again? Or that they might come home so disabled that they cannot hold down even a simple job? It’s obvious that the Senator doesn’t have a best friend who may have to go to Iran if we invade. But I do.

We have to take this country back. It is now or never. Democrats in congress are being accused of letting the troops down because they want them to come home. People who criticize the President’s policies are called “un-American.” This war should have never been started. If this were any other nation there would have been more than an impeachment against the President. He and the people around him have led us into a war that has killed over 3,500 American soldiers, and at least 40,000 innocent Iraqi civilians.

This is so upsetting to me that I honestly find it hard to talk about.