Friday, December 17, 2004

Season’s Gratings

There is such hypocrisy in being an American celebrating Christmas this year. I feel sick at heart, for all of us. If you’re anti-war/anti-Bush (good for you, but...), what’s to celebrate? Peace On Earth, Goodwill Towards Men are not part of the apparent ‘mandate.’ If you’re pro-Bush and for his corrupt Iraq war of choice, how can you celebrate when this is the status quo:

* Over 100,000 mostly innocent Iraqis dead. How is this better than Hussein’s Iraq? It took him 18 years to kill 300,000. And let's not forget the hundreds of innocent Iraqis we tortured and humiliated.

* Nearly 1500 US soldiers dead; half of which could still be alive now, if our troops had been properly equipped with vehicle and body armor.


* 7,500 US soldiers wounded. 15,000 more 'unclassified wounded;' meaning, injured in some way other than by enemy fire. 80% of them were injured so severely they never returned to their units. But the Pentagon doesn't deem them worthy of inclusion in the official count.

* American soldiers in Iraq are having their limbs amputated at double the rate of previous wars.

* Army suicide rates are up 40 percent in the past year.

* 20% of the nearly 28,000 Iraq war vets have been diagnosed with a mental disorder, including major depression, anxiety disorders, panic attacks, emotional numbness and violent outbursts.

* Iraq war vets are already starting to turn up at our nation’s homeless shelters.

* The government refuses to pay for long-distance phone calls, from wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Hospital. See the DfA initiative to get the vets phone cards, so they can at least call home for the holidays.

All this, for what? We, the pampered, are not any safer this year - we're not safer from terrorist attack. Those in the Red States, does it worry you that the major attacks you have experienced have been from home-grown terrorists (Oklahoma, anthrax, even Columbine, etc...)? But that's not all. Isn’t it weird how there is no major reporting that China and Russia have agreed to conduct joint military activities, in China, in 2005? Season’s gratings, fellow Americans.

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