Yesterday a very sad milestone was passed and it went by with little or no fanfare. The 2,974th serviceman or woman was killed in the war on terror.
The number of dead servicemen and women now total the number of dead from 9/11. This is disturbing because the greatest majority of those deaths have occurred since the mission accomplished speech by President Bush.
With the passing of this milestone an important question now looms even larger than before. How many more must die for a lie? At what point does this war finally cost more in human lives than it is worth? For many Americans that point is past, but for our leaders, there does not seem to be a point when the war is no longer worth prosecuting.
Then there is the news from the French intelligence service that Bin Laden may be dead. Did we kill him? No, it seems that he may have died of typhoid.
"The chief of al-Qaida was a victim of a severe typhoid crisis while in Pakistan on August 23, 2006," the document says. His geographic isolation meant that medical assistance was impossible, the French report said, adding that his lower limbs were allegedly paralyzed.
The report further said Saudi security services had their first information on bin Laden's alleged death on Sept. 4. Yahoo AP News Service
After five years of hunting and billions of dollars spent, we still could not find Bin Laden and according to this article, our own CIA did not have any information about his possible death. This is disgraceful on so many levels.
We supposedly have the best intelligence organizations in the world yet we cannot find a terrorist living in a cave that is on dialysis due to his failing kidneys. We have the best military in the world and yet we can find Saddam Hussein in a whole in Iraq but we cannot find Bin Laden after five years of searching.
What will be even more disgraceful will be the administration's line if Bin Laden's death is confirmed. The administration will, of course, take the credit for his death. Bush will parade on stage and claim that this was their objective all along, to wait Bin Laden out until nature took its course. He will declare this a major victory for the war on terror, despite the fact that he has claimed in the past few months that Bin Laden was no longer a top priority in the war on terror.
If our objective was to disrupt the terror network and to kill Bin Laden, then our long fight may be over. Does that mean our men and women in uniform can come home? Sadly, no. And they may never come home unless they are in a black bag.
When a loon like Hugo Chavez says that the President of the United States should resign, that should make one sit up and take notice. This is a man that believes in dictatorship and he is even against a man like President Bush. Isn't that ironic?
And despite all this, we may be preparing to repeat the mistake of Iraq all over again, this time in Iran. Can we really afford another failed war? No, but that does not matter to this administration. It is not their sons and daughters being shipped off to war to die.
Thank you, Mr. Bush. Thank you for the extension of our cemeteries. Thank you for all the innocent Iraqi's and Afghani's that have died. Thank you for ignoring those that put you in office. Thank you, Mr. Bush, for nothing.