Pissed off today

I check my logs to see where people are linking from, and I went to a website that has a bunch of links to various liberal websites and such. I try to keep an open mind, and not buy too much from either the far left or the far right. But This really pissed me off. I wish they’d change the name (hategun – puhleeze!) and the music (a Ministry remix), but the content of the video is potent. And I’m pissed.

In part because it shows IED’s going off, and presumably killing coalition forces. I’ve never seen that before. The first one I saw was in Farenheit 9/11. I wasn’t pissed off that it showed our casualties – I think it’s a good thing that Americans get a taste of the horrors of war. I think Hollywood and video games have glorified war in a really harmful way. (gangster rap strikes a similar chord, but that’s another post)

I’m not pissed off because it is disrespectful – in fact, it shows the intensity of what our men and women face over there and it makes me appreciate their willingness to sacrifice even more.

It pisses me off that this is happening because the richest country in the world, with access to the best technology and intelligence either a) made a monumentally huge mistake or b) ignored reality and truth in pursuit of an idealogical agenda (see The Project for the New American Century

And it doesn’t piss me off (as much) that we’re there in the first place. I’ll give the congress the benefit of the doubt that they believed what the Bush administration was telling them about WMD. It’s a stretch, but I’m willing to go there. But the video (which features news reports and soundbytes from Bush, Rice, Powell and Cheney royally contradicting themselves) lays things pretty bare.

Rice and Powell are both quoted in the clip in January and February of 2001 saying Saddam was NOT a threat. That we have him contained and that he’s not able to get WMD. But then – what do you know – EVERYTHING we knew was suddenly WRONG.

SO wrong, in fact, that we had to go to war without adequate preparation (armor for Humvees, anyone? sufficient troop strength for the mission?) and certainly without any kind of seriously thought-through exit plan. The arrogance of the administration seeped into the DOD’s planning suggesting that we’d just walk in (which we essentially did) and everyone would love us ’cause in stopping Saddam’s newfound capacity for developing WMD, we’d also be “liberating” the people of Iraq. So much for that idea. The Human Rights Watch Reports that torture and abuse continues under the new Iraqi government.

The way I see it, America has been sold a bill of goods, and continues to be each and every time a representative of the Bush Administration starts talking about how we’re just about to turn the corner in the war. I’m tired of hearing it. I’m tired of hearing soundbytes of our troops saying that they’re there to liberate the people of Iraq.

AMERICA: THAT IS NOT WHY WE SENT OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO WAR.

It’s totally dishonest and a disservice to the men and women charged with protecting us to accept this.

When will the American public finally grow weary of this incessant stream of deception?

Enough, already.