Stop the War!
Do you believe that the US military involvement in Iraq
has anything to do with the events of September 11, 2001? Do you believe that
Osama Bin Laden is hiding in Iraq? Do you believe that our purpose for being
in Iraq is to free an oppressed people? Some of you will probably be to young
to remember the President Dwight D. Eisenhower, but the internet is a wonderful
research tool. 
President Eisenhower witnessed the expansion of the US military,
and the expansion of the defense industry and before he left the office of
President of the United States, he gave a public address to the people of this
nation warning everyone about the dangers to liberty that the Military Industrial
Complex posed. He went on to tell the people of the nation that they must be
vigilant to ensure that these things never come to pass. We have failed.
The Military Industrial Complex has become a raging rabid animal that is spreading imperialism worldwide. It is the Bush legacy. The New World Order. If you believe that the world hates the US now, just wait, it is going to get much worse. The world does not want to be just like the USA, but our government and corporations are force feeding capitalism to them. This isn't about democracy, it is about destruction of governments that don't cooperate and setting up governments that do cooperate thereby creating new markets for corporate goods and services, in short it is about opening new markets forcefully, and it is about securing dwindling global resources forcefully. It has absolutely nothing to do with the events of September 11, or freeing oppressed peoples. If you want something to fear, don't fear the people of far away places, fear the corporations and unchecked government in your own back yard. Fear the politicians who sell OUR souls to corporate interests. Fear the people who would give away our constitutionally GUARANTEED freedoms for an illusion of safety.
Our Foreign Policy should be to love our brothers and sisters all over the world and to quit trying to manipulate them. We should cherish and accept their cultures, beliefs, and other differences and stop trying to force them to be just like us. Helping them is ok, teaching them is good, but the military invasion and occupation of sovereign nations is not. The United Nations is the global democracy. The United States, of all nations, should work inside the system and accept the decisions of the majority. Unilateral, strong-arm tactics around the world do not make us safer. These kinds of tactics just make people all over the world angry and add fuel to the fire of hatred directed towards the US.
The cost of the US government's capitalistic war in human lives is staggering. So far, (as of Feb 6, 2008) 3,948 of America's promising young men and women have lost their lives in Iraq. 29,038 of our youth have been wounded, some of these will be unable to live normal lives ever again due to the loss of limbs or other medical trauma. 1,173,743 Iraqis have lost thier lives due to the US invasion. How many more will we allow to die or be crippled so that the rich can get richer? Every US citizen should be screaming as loud as possible for this crime against humanity to end NOW. Write to your Senators and Representatives and tell them you don't give a damn about defense contracts and that you want the war to end NOW. Tell them you want the soldiers completely pulled out now. Tell them to adopt and ratify a 'No Soldier Left Behind' policy. Tell them that it is time for peace and time for humanity and the day of corporate rule is over. Tell them that they continue this course of action at their own peril. Tell them we will NOT tolerate their greedy self-serving interests anymore. Remind them they are glorified public servants and nothing more.
The US does not hold the moral high ground in this struggle. We are not fighting this war for the people of Iraq. In 1990, before the Gulf War, that nation had an infant mortality rate, for children under 5 years of age, of 50 deaths per 1000 live births. This was one of the best rates in all of the arab world at the time. Following the bombing of Iraq in the Gulf War, and the sanctions placed against the people of that nation in the following years, and now the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the infant mortality rate for children under 5 has skyrocketed 150% to an obscene 125 deaths per 1000 live births. This doesn't even take into account the babies that never make it full term due to stress and shortages of clean drinking water, shelter, medical supplies, and medical facilities. Babies are dying needlessly because of our capitalistic war. According to a SaveTheChildren report conservative's estimate Iraq's infant mortality rate increased 37% between 2003 and 2005 alone. That is a huge increase in the span of just 2 years. Some proponents for the war state that more children are going to school now because of the US invasion. Well if there is a higher percentage of kids in school then maybe it is because there are significantly fewer kids to count. Remember the poorest always suffer the most.
Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson