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According to the most recent National Intelligence Estimate, the war in Iraq has spawned a new generation of radicalism and played a key role in the increased threat of global terrorism. Contrary to what the administration tries to tell us, we are less safe because of our invasion of Iraq.

What a surprise! A western government invades a sovereign Arab nation and it spawns terrorism and an insurgency? How could this be true? Say it ain't so.

Well listen up.

According to the UN, there is more torture going on in Iraq now than under Saddam. Conservative estimates place the number of civilian casualties since the invasion at over 130,000. Electricity is still unreliable, fuel (in an oil rich nation) is scarce, crime is rampant, and for all practical purposes we have abandoned half the country to chaos and civil war. Nineteen year old soldiers, plucked straight out of of special ed classes in rural Kansas, hit the ground in Iraq totally unprepared for the cultural landscape. Ignorant of the values and traditions of the Iraqi people, it is impossible for them not offend. Add to that ignorance, the obvious problem with giving a nineteen year old boy a machine gun and unlimited power and you have a recipe for trouble.

Even though a majority of this nation has finally come around to the realization that this was a colossal mistake, our President continues to argue we should remain in this war because it is part of the war on terrorism. While it goes without saying he will dispute the findings in this report, any thinking person knows the truth. And if he does do the extraordinary and acknowledge the catastrophe he has created, he may resort to this favorite line of reasoning to justify our continued exploits in the region:

"But now we can fight the terrorists over there instead of over here."

I hear this line tossed out all the time by supporters of this debacle. Now imagine if you are an Iraqi, living in the midst of this terror, how that sounds? Any wonder why they want us to get the fuck out of their country? Any wonder why they believe that we don't value an Iraqi life as much as an American life? Any wonder why they hate us?

How an entire segment of the population and government didn't see the writing on the wall is mind boggling. Especially since we only had over six hundred years of history (going back to the Crusades) in which to find a dozen previous instances where this type of thing didn't work out.

The entire Middle East was fabricated at the turn of the twentieth century by the British and the French as they carved up the spoils of the Great War and their defeat of the Turks. Lines were drawn in the sand and nations were created with almost no regard for the cultures, tribes, and religions existing within those borders. Many of the disputes that exist amongst these various people were and are centuries old. The only reason they weren't killing each other in Iraq before now was because since their independence (Iraq was freed by the British in 1961) they have been ruled by strong and powerful leaders who didn't put up with any nonsense. Is this the type of country I would like to live in? No. Did Saddam do terrible things to his people? Yes. But the notion that every nation should have a free democracy is naive at best and negligent at worse. Democracy in Palestine means Hamas. Democracy in Lebanon means Hezbollah. Democracy in post-WW1 Germany meant Hitler. Arabs and Jews are killing each other over an argument outlined in the OLD TESTAMENT! Are we so stupid that we think giving people the vote will make all their differences fade away? Voting is not a panacea. The vote can also be used by a majority to tyrannize a minority. History has proven this again and again. Democracy does not work for everyone.

The justification for this war was intelligence that most everyone in the intelligence community didn't believe was true. It is clear that this administration had some other reason to go to war. We will never know what that really was. And so, as much as democracy won't fix things in Iraq - it can be used to fix things here. Approaching these mid-term elections, we need to stand up and vote against ANYONE who voted in favor of this war. Republican or Democrat. Get rid of them. We had a chance after September 11th to rally the world to our cause and we blew it by focusing our efforts against an innocent people: the people of Iraq. The argument that Saddam was a bad guy is an argument that can be levied against at least a dozen other leaders and was not a justification to invade that country. Our own soldiers are dying, Iraqis are dying, and we are quickly turning the entire Muslim world against us. I realize Bush did not have oral sex with an intern, but I imagine that a couple hundred thousand wasted lives, several billion dollars, and the loss of our nation's security is at least as immoral as a blowjob. Urge your Congressman or woman to support articles of impeachment against this administration and let's show the world that while the American government may be arrogant and ignorant, the American people are not.