Entries Tagged as 'War'
A Father's Account of his Son's Deployment in Iraq
A miserable March day, overcast and cold, rain spit on our faces. Parents, spouses, and children all locked in the same nightmare, a bad dream, an insanity sending men and women off to war but somehow we agreed to let this thing happen. Behind our kids, behind our soldiers standing at attention, there is a graveyard. I am not amused by the irony; I am a part of it. This was the first day of what would be a God-awful fifteen months. On Mother’s Day, two months later, our son the soldier and his National Guard unit deployed to Iraq.
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Tags: Essays · War
Making War Cool as Hell
When George W. Bush hitched a ride on a Navy S-3B Viking and landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln to declare an end to major combat operations in Iraq, there was more at work than just slick PR. Bush, who was visibly thrilled by the experience, enabled the American public to vicariously share in the excitement of an aircraft carrier landing. All around the country, viewing audiences reveled in his machismo display of technology. […]
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Tags: Essays · Entertainment · Militarism · War
What's really happening in Iraq... and everywhere else.
Three primates died today while traveling in a motorized vehicle in an arid region between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Although we can state nothing with absolute certainty, the three “humans” — basically hairless, cognitively advanced monkeys with a striking genetic similarity to the common chimpanzee — were most likely killed by some sort of explosive device as it incinerated the vehicle beneath them. Over six thousand miles away, another primate of the same species claimed that those killed were members of a group he called “The United States Army.” Upon further investigation, membership in this “army” is marked chiefly by clothing, as well as by certain behavioral traits. The exact purpose of the army’s presence in the region, called “Iraq” by some, is under fierce debate.
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Tags: Nonfiction · Philosophy · Truth · War
The Senate’s too passive to cut off surge funding. Democrats aren’t weak in numbers – just courage.
The Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing in February on whether certain civilian officials in the Pentagon manipulated intelligence to support the Administration’s decision to go to war against Iraq four years ago. At the end of the hearing, the committee’s new chairman, Senator Carl Levin, wagged his finger at the Pentagon’s Inspector General, calling the report the most “devastating” he’d seen in his Senate career. Levin, it seemed, hadn’t been quite steamed about anything in a while – including the President’s recent unveiling of the troop “surge.” […]
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Tags: Current Events · Antiwar · Democrats · War
A Call for an Immediate Withdrawal from Iraq
Last November, many Americans were celebrating the new Democratic majority in the House and Senate. Outrage and concern over the Iraq War had forced Democratic and Republican candidates to address not only the government’s decision to go to war, but also the handling of the war since 2003. More often than not, candidates who advocated a change in course were elected. These results clearly challenged the Bush administration policy of “staying the course.”
But rather than heeding the voice of the people, on Jan. 11 President Bush dismissed overwhelming disapproval of the war, ignored military advisors’ skepticism over a “surge” in forces, and announced an increase of 21,500 troops in Iraq.[…]
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Tags: Current Events · Antiwar · Protest · War
