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Bishop Spong condemns Bush Administration for lies about Iraq war Jane from Adelaide, South Australia asks: "How did you feel when your daughter joined the Marines and was deployed to Iraq during the war, while you were so outspokenly opposed to that war?" Dear Jane, I respect each of our children and trust them to make the proper decisions for their lives. It would not occur to me to try to make my children abide by my convictions or attitudes, even if I could. So I trust them to live as they decide. I opposed the war for lots of reasons that are now, even after the capture of Saddam, overwhelmingly being shown to be right. The war hype was not related to reality. Iraq posed no imminent threat to the United States. Iraq had nothing to do with the September 11 terrorist attack. Attacking Iraq was a policy decision made before the Bush Administration took power on January 20, 2001.
I think the war was fought for three unspoken reasons: 1. The first President George Bush had made a mess of the first Iraqi war. Not only did he not complete his mission but he encouraged dissident Iraqis with promises of help to rebel against what he thought was a crippled Saddam Hussein. They rebelled, received no help and were murdered by Saddam, while that first President Bush stood by meekly, hoping to ride his "victory" to a second term in the White House. He failed. His son, the second President Bush, wanted to clean up his father's mistakes. 2. Iraq had oil reserves, which American oil interests wanted. Neither North Korea nor Libya, both of which posed a greater threat than Iraq to their neighbors and to the world with their known arsenals of destructive weapons were invasion targets. In these places we sought a diplomatic or "negotiated settlement." The difference? Neither North Korea nor Libya has oil. 3. After 9/11, the leaders of Saudi Arabia told the Bush administration that they could not survive politically if American military personnel continued to operate from Saudi Arabia. The U.S. needed a Middle Eastern country to solidify its military presence in that region. Iraq was the choice. These facts mean to me that this present administration has not been honest with the American people. They, therefore, do not have my trust. John Shelby Spong was the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, NJ, for more than twenty years and is one of the leading spokespersons in the world for progressive Christianity. He is the author of 15 books including the bestselling Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, Living in Sin, Liberating the Gospels, and Why Christianity Must Change or Die. Note: I got text because it was posted to mailing list I'm on. It's from Spong's e-mail newsletter. In order to receive the newsletter, one must pay a fee at this site. I'm disturbed that he's selling his ideas for $35 $25 (apparently there's been a recent markdown!) a year... What kind of bizarre money-making scheme is that John? P.S.
George W. Bush
is "a miserable failure on foreign
policy and on the economy and he's got to be replaced."
George Bush Has Got to Go! *** Flush Bush! *** Anyone But Bush in 2004! *** Have you taken a good look at George W. Bush lately? |
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—> All of this rambling is © 2004 Madeline Althoff <—