Mr. President, did you do everything to avoid war? (Memorial Day Part II)

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Wednesday May 31, 2006 · 10:35 AM PDT

2006/05/31 · 10:35

Memorial Day ceremonies are so full of pomp and grandeur and while I do understand the necessity of so much ceremony, I wonder if at times we couldn't do better as a nation to reflect in silence.

Mr. President, I watched you this past weekend laying the wreath on the Unnamed Soldier and I listened to some of your speech and to be fair I thought you were no worse than many other Presidents.

However, your presence at the ceremony was poignant of course because of the war you have sent our soldiers to wage, a war in which many who wage it are trying desperately to believe has a purpose.

Mr. Bush, did you reflect on this at all?

Do you recognize that the number of crosses in this photo represent only TEN PERCENT of Americans who died in Iraq?

Many accuse you of being impervious to the consequences of your actions and that is something no man should ever ignore - especially the leader of a country on whose shoulder life and death sits.

Mr. President, instead of insulating yourself from hard questions with our Flag, don't you think you need to reflect carefully on what you have done?

Note: This is Part II of a Memorial Day-Iraq War Series. Please view the first in the series: Memorial Day Part 1: Of all days, Mr. President, you needed to reflect on what you have done. I ask this sincerely b/c it sets the tone for the series. This didn't fit in Main box.

A Vietnam Veteran who attended the Memorial Day ceremonies perfectly summed up IMHO what Memorial Day is about:

"Whatever your politics, the lessons of Vietnam and the wall are very clear: Make sure you do everything to avoid sending our servicemen and women to foreign soil," said Vietnam veteran William Frank. "But if they are sent and when they are in harm's way, do everything, everything to support them and let them do their mission.
"And when that mission is complete, get them home as soon as possible. And finally, when they do come home, respect and honor them and thank them and do not forget them."

What an incredibly beautiful statement - and dream and with your permission, sir, I'd like to use this veteran's statement to reflect on your actions. I hope you will join me.

Thinking about the Vietnam War, in which we lost almost 60,000 soldiers - and in which we lost the war itself - is most humbling indeed. But if we choose not to think of that war, then the deaths of those heroes who fell in Vietnam will truly be in vain and the mistakes we made then we will make again.

Let us never make our memory of our soldiers be tied to whether or not we won. Each of those 60,000 dead and 153,000 injured soldiers were heroes. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.

What if, Mr. President, we reflected on these questions and became a nation worthy of the sacrifices our soldiers have made?

Would it be better than waving a flag, sir? Let's then use the Veteran's words to reflect on your actions, sir.

Do everything to avoid sending our servicemen and women to foreign soil.

Make no mistake, I supported the counter-attack on Afghanistan & still believe that was where our war should have remained.

We were attacked by Afghanistani militants and religious zealots, and we had the moral authority and strategic need to hit back.

The Taliban were easy to hate. Aside from murdering thousands of innocent Americans in NYC and DC, many of whom were devout Muslims, their regime was a brutal religious state in which women had no rights & were attacked if they did not dress in a burga, men were required to adhere to strict Islamic law, and all free speech and religious tolerance were literally destroyed.

Well before 9/11, everything could be understood about them IMHO in one incredibly cruel and senseless act: their deomolition of the tallest known Buddha statues in the world built in the 3rd century.

What madness! I mean even if you don't believe in them, there were sceintific and archelogical value to those statues.

For godsakes, they could bring in tourists & foreign money to your country!

Furthermore, the world was united with us and even most Muslim nations understood that we were not the instigators of this fight.

This above everything else is perhaps the greatest tragedy of the Iraq War IMHO.

For a very short time, the world was one.
For a very short time, the billions of people around the world were shocked into silence and for the that short moment were listening.
For the first time since perhaps WWII, the world was united as it had not ever been and had there been strong, unifying leadership the world perhaps could have done miracles.
Can you imagine, Mr. President, what we could've accomplished?
Can you imagine what they would have said about you in the History books had you unified the world - instead of taking it to the brink of war?

At the least, you could have finished the job in Afghanistan & become America's hero.

But you & your advisors were determined to take the fight from Afghanistan to Iraq and you justified the invasion of Iraq on three major positions:

Iraq had something to do with 9/11.
Iraq and Al Qaeda were working together
Saddam had WMDs and would sell them to terrorists.

Iraq's connection to 9/11. NONE.

I am not sure if you believed Iraq had something to do with 9/11 or if you and your Vice President mislead us to sell an invasion of Iraq, but the Iraq to 9/11 connection has been completely demolished.

The panel said it found "no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."
Bin Laden had in fact at one time sponsored anti-Saddam Islamists in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Iraqi-Al Qaeda Network. NONE.

Your second justification to invade Iraq - which was championed by Vice President Cheney - was that Saddam Hussein had extensive ties to Al Qaeda and it was too dangerous to let them link up.

That again was simply not true.

The Sept. 11 commission reported yesterday that it has found no "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al Qaeda, challenging one of the Bush administration's main justifications for the war in Iraq.

Saddam's Weapons of Mass Distruction. NONE.

Your third major justification to invade Iraq was the threat of WMDs, which you claimed Saddam Hussein had in large quantitises and was ready to sell to the terrorists.

That too has been refuted.

The Iraq Survey Group report said that Iraq's WMD program was essentially destroyed in 1991 and Saddam ended the country's nuclear program after the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
After [Charles A. Duelfer, who headed the Iraq Survey Group's search for WMD in Iraq,] delivered his Iraq Survey Group's report to the Senate, Bush acknowledged that Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction at the time he ordered the invasion

Three major reasons - all of which IMHO are acceptable strategic reasons - to attack Iraq and ALL THREE OF WERE GROSSLY WRONG.

There were no connections between Iraq & 9/11.

There were no connections between Iraq & Al Qaeda - they seem to have been enemies.

There were no WMDS in Iraq. NONE.

How could you have been so grossly wrong? Even if we believe you did not mislead us, don't you think this is grossly incompetent?

If a CEO ran his company this poorly, wouldn't he have been fired?

And can you understand why so many of us wonder if you did mislead us?

Mr. President, you have shrugged, ignored, and to date denied us a thorough explanation and discussion of why we - YOU - invaded Iraq.

Don't you think that the veterans you spoke in front of & the millions of Americans who are affected by this war, deserve a full explanation?

This is photo of a Texas mother lying on the ground in front of her son's grave who was killed in Iraq - in your war. She looks peaceful but I doubt that she will find rest in her lifetime.

She deserves thought, sir. She deserves he son back.

Mr. President, I have accused you of many things but honestly I don't know for sure what you are guilty of - only you can know that. But I do hope & pray that you are capable of reflecting on the consequences of your actions - b/c you are the only one right now who can right this ship we call America.