Surging Soldiers into Iraq is Simply Stupid!

After 911, we had every right to invade Afghanistan and go after the terrorists perpetrators!  We had a good NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) and there was a “clear and present danger” to be defeated.  We knew many of the key leaders and had actionable intelligence.  There were no further political or diplomatic options – and going to war was our only, and last, recourse!  The Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon had solid plans, led by SOCOM (Special Operations Command) units, to be followed by regular units – and we had the support of nearly the entire international community!

“Operation Enduring Freedom” in Afghanistan is, unquestionably, a “Just War” as laid out by our Founders – but, Bush has been wrong on Iraq from day one, and the insanity of the “Unjust War” in Iraq must be brought to an end as quickly as possible – I mean absolutely ASAP!

Before our Congress abdicated their responsibility to declare war on Iraq, our General Eric Shinzeki, then Army Chief of Staff, was told, (before he testified to Congress), to be totally candid when asked about how many troops would probably be needed…and to answer without fear of reprisal on his long, honorable military career.  Like a good soldier, he spoke truth to power, saying we would need, at the very least 200,000 to 250,000 perhaps as many as 300,000 troops.  That’s NOT the number Bush and Cheney really wanted to hear – or the Republicans wanted stated on the official record! 

Nearly immediately after, General Shinzeki’s forced retirement was announced – and that sent a chilling message to every leader in our military Chain-of-Command, i.e., “Keep your mouth shut, only say what Bush & Company want to hear, or, plan on ending your military career early!”

Still, dozens of military leaders (with enough years in to retire) have risked their careers, and been retired early, simply for doing their duty and speaking truth to power!  Time, and time again, their words of experience have fallen on deaf ears within the Bush administration.  Countless numbers of military professionals have been retired early, the vast military leadership brain trust of our most experienced warriors have begun a sad exodus!

Dozens and dozens of retired military leaders and civilian experts have continued to be ignored – and, our numbers of dead American soldiers, and Iraqi civilians, and the terribly wounded, have continued to increase over nearly four years of ferocious foolishness that goes beyond folly!

As of this writing, we have now lost over 3,000 of America’s best and brightest, and more than 25,000 have been wounded!  On the Iraqi side more than 6,000 Iraqi allied soldiers and police have been killed and estimates of some 38,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed!  The situation is so bad and out of control, there is no accurate estimate completed on how many civilians have been wounded!  (Note: see source, icasualties.org website).  Some of these estimates are as high as 150,000 innocent civilians wounded.

We still have about 140,000 military personnel dedicated to OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and Bush is contemplating “surging” by sending another 20,000 to 30,000 more – it is simply stupid!  NOTE: Bush wanted to send as many as 50,000 – but, the sad reality is, we simply do not have that many soldiers remaining in our reserves or national guard units!

What many American civilians may not realize is that our Reserve forces were never intended to be sent off to war for more than 6 months, or a year, at a time, and our National Guard was designed to be a military force within the CONUS (Continental United States) – guarding the nation!

Many soldiers are now on their third, fourth or fifth rotation into Iraq and there is no end in sight!Bush has nearly broken the backs of our Active Duty military and, now, nearly exhausted our Reserves and National Guard!

Sending the last of our best young people, into the meat grinder of Iraq will not help, substantially, and will only put more American troops at unnecessary risk for no worthy result – it is worse than irrational – it’s nuts!

A recent survey, conducted by the parent company of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Times series of newspapers, tallied that a growing majority of our military members no longer support the war in Iraq and a dwindling minority support Bush – that is a terribly telling reality!

To make matters worse, over the past 6 years under Bush the Veterans Administration has been under-funded, or, had their budget cut to where it is now nearly 60 Billion dollars short!  That’s NOT “Supporting Our Troops!”

How much longer will too many Americans remain silent?  How long will our troops be left to suffer soldiering hopelessly in the “Unjust War” in Iraq?  How many more Americans will die, or be disabled for the mistakes of OUR madmen?  It makes one wonder if someone else ought to be hung?

Don’t get me wrong, Saddam Hussein was a terrible dictator that, I believe, America should never have supported, and, sure the world’s always better off with one less dictator – but, he wasn’t worth one drop of blood from an American soldier!  Let alone, billions and billions of American tax dollars when we have a real Global War on Terror to fund in Afghanistan!

We owe the International Community an apology for such a gross error in allowing Bush to abuse his power, and we, also, owe the poor Iraqi people every type of assistance with reconstruction – but, the Iraqi people must, first, find their peace in their own way!  There is no reason to waste resources rebuilding when new construction keeps getting blown to bits!

It’s time to tell the Iraqi people, “America is ready to leave - now the Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds must begin supporting their new government by working together to end the violence and advance their future together!

America should immediately begin re-deploying our soldiers out of Iraq, back into Kuwait to re-supply, and, then back into Afghanistan to go after the terrorists and Osama Bin Laden who are responsible for 911!

Here at home, it’s time to get to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth – by impaneling a grand jury, investigating how America was misled into this costly, international travesty of an “Unjust War”, and indict and impeach both Bush and Cheney – and anyone else found guilty of lying!