Thursday, May 20, 2004

Collateral Damage In the past couple of days, the American military, in pursuit of Iraqi insurgents, has been responsible for a significant number of civilian deaths. I refuse to believe that our military deliberately targets civilians, but we all bear the responsibility. The reason might be faulty intelligence, a computer malfunction or a command structure problem or that the enemy shields himself with innocents. The details don't matter much. These people are dead. We have to bear, not only these deaths on our conscience, but the enduring hatred of their familes. It is simply another indication that our government does not have the capacity to achieve its goal of bringing democracy to the middle east. They don't know how to do it. They never knew how to do it. They thought simply having superior weaponry was enough to allow them to conquer Iraq and rebuild it in their own image. They still think it. Some writers use the many and various coalition failures as proof that the effort in Iraq is coming apart, as if they expect to see helicopters withdrawing the last troops from Bagdhad as was seen in Vietnam in 1974. This will not happen under President Bush. The dying will continue as long as he is president. If he is reelected it is probable that he will escalate with more troops, but his administration and his military will still not have the knowledge to achieve its goals and will still seek to place the blame elsewhere. I don't know whether Kerry will know any more about how to achieve democracy in Iraq, or how to get out, or how to change the mission to an achievable one, but, if he is elected, he will know that the American people turned out a president who tried to conquer another nation and didn't know how and failed. If any of you would like to participate, here is the URL for the John Kerry for president campaign. http://www.johnkerry.com/ Mel 11:35:18 AM    comment []

Support Senator Warner The smarmy pictures of Abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq have givien rise to emotions from discouragement to outrage. Senator Warner, who is chairing the hearings into the abuse,  has been under political attack by those, like Senator Inhofe and Donald Rumsfeld, who wish to paper over the scandal. I have written to give my support. Like many Senators, he is reachable by email. Below are his Washington address, his office phone number and his email address. 225 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-2023 Web Form: warner.senate.gov/contact/contactme.htm For your interest, A listing of contact info for all U.S. Senators http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm A short note offering your support would help to bolster his position. Mel 9:40:21 AM    comment []