One Hand Clapping....

Lord knows, I try to stay out of American politics. At this point of my life, I couldn't care less about the individuals involved. George Bush, Dick Cheney. Who cares?

Griping about them does no good because they are beyond our grasp. They are the new despots at the head of an illegal and immoral regime.

Okay. I've said it all before. Blah blah. So, what?

This weekend marks five years since the US invaded Iraq. During the past five years, we've learned that the majority of the justification was based on deception and lies. Most of us knew it from the very beginning.

Here are a few facts for your perusal:

Over 31,000 soldiers have died since the beginning of the war. These are mostly minority and working class kids who had to join the military because there were no other available options for them in their communities.

Over 55,000 have been injured. They come back to this country where treatment is sadly lacking. Often their lives have been permanently altered, if not ruined, and yet they can't even get decent medical treatment from the VA. Note the recent news stories about treatment for VIPs vs military personnel from the ranks at Walter Reed.

Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed, either by American military action or by insurgents, products of the civil war created by the invasion.

For those interested in the financial aspects, this war costs 8 billion per month, 280 million per day, 12 million per hour.

Can you imagine other uses for that money? How many people would get needed medical care? How many affordable housing units can be built? How many homeless people fed and housed? How many jobs could be created? How many social issues could be addressed and possibly solved with that kind of funding?

There will be marches throughout the country today, the largest being the March on the Pentagon which has already begun as I write this.

I debated whether to attend any here locally. My involvement in American politics is practically non-existent. My concerns are elsewhere. Yet as a citizen of the world, if nothing else, I do believe it's important to make a statement that this war for greed and oil must end now.

No more excuses. It's immoral. War for no higher purpose than continuing to enrich the already-rich is immoral. The continued feeding of greedy corporations and the business aristocracy is immoral. We might not be able to stop it but if nothing else, we can make enough noise to make it uncomfortable.


Peace,


~Chani