No, the fact is, I've been trying to scrub this particular blood stain off my hands for almost 24 hours now, and it just won't come clean. Maybe because every time I think it's gone, the blood of another Iraqi appears. This occupation has cost half-a-million of them their lives. We've lost 6000 all in, including 9/11, they've lost almost 100 times that, and for what? So we could hurry up and hang their dictator?
Huffington Post, Charles Karel Bouley Another Dead Iraqi Once, they hailed him a leader, some out of respect, some out of fear. Then, the crowds turned on him, calling for his death. A kangaroo trial took place, one where his homeland didn't really want jurisdiction but the real dictator didn't want his blood on his hands so he kept throwing the trial back at them. Then, in a hurried decision, he was killed, before sundown and right before a religious holiday. No, I'm not talking about Saddam Hussein, I'm talking about Jesus Christ. Of course, the Bush administration doesn't hold history to any regard, nor are they truly Christians, although they claim to be, so how or why would they see the similarities. But I do. Not that the two men are or were anything alike. One was good, one was evil. But the situations seem the same surrounding their deaths. I bring this up out of fear, fear that the most recent murder, that of Saddam Hussein, won't end in the same type of deification Christ's did. So, like Pilate, as we Americans try and wash the blood of Hussein off of our hands (and make no mistake, his death is squarely our doing, and it cost us almost half-a-trillion dollars) we need to ask ourselves, what did this man do to us to deserve this, the ultimate form of punishment? Now, I don't want talking points, I want facts. What did he do to the United States or its citizens to deserve death? Well, let's start with what he didn't do. He didn't attack us on 9/11, nor did any of the hijackers act on his behalf. He didn't finance the Bin Laden construction company or Osama Bin Laden in any way. He didn't give safe haven to Bin Laden or any of the terrorists. He did not condone Al Quaeda. He did not have weapons of mass destruction. He did not have a nuclear program. He posed no credible threat to the safety or security of the United States directly. He never said he wanted us all dead and then followed that statement up by testing a nuclear device. He did not financially support madrases directly, training radicalized Islamic fascists that would later threaten our country (that's Saudi Arabia). He did not cut off the oil supply to the world, or to us. Yes, I can see why we wanted him dead, all the crimes against the United States. And that's my concern right now, excuse me if I'm selfish. I know he did lots of terrible things to his people, I know this because he did some of those terrible things with weapons we helped him get. But lots of leaders do terrible things to their people without us stepping in. The Darfur comes to mind. Rowanda. The Congo. No, the fact is, I've been trying to scrub this particular blood stain off my hands for almost 24 hours now, and it just won't come clean. Maybe because every time I think it's gone, the blood of another Iraqi appears. This occupation has cost half-a-million of them their lives. We've lost 6000 all in, including 9/11, they've lost almost 100 times that, and for what? So we could hurry up and hang their dictator? Saddam Hussein doesn't deserve much, but he deserves the truth. Everybody does in death, and life. And the truth is the only reason I can come up with as to why he is dead is because George W. Bush wanted him that way, and in a hurry. Bush wanted him dead before our new Congress was even seated, odd, don't you think? Hundreds of my listeners do, people that email my radio show on KGO AM 810. The fact that he was killed before our new lawmakers took to their seats was not lost on them. When opening the phones after Hussein's death, the key phrase for the evening was "dead men tell no tales." Because the Iraqis had plenty of time to rise up and kill him and they didn't, and the international community had almost 25 years to take him to task for the gassing of the Kurds, the killings in a village, but instead of killing him they continued to do business with him, ourselves included. And this Al Capone type trial, what's up with that?. Al Capone finally went to jail over taxes. Saddam went to his death over the killing of under 200 of his people, when we know he's killed thousands more. Why didn't he claim they were collateral damage? That seems to be how the Bush administration is getting away with killing so many Iraqis. He should have just thrown up his hands and said, "My bad! Sorry! Sometimes innocent people die in the cause for Freedom." (that last part was actually our President, not Saddam). And what's with his expiration date? He went south faster than Brittney Spear's career. First he was to be killed by January 27, 2007. I'm sure some guard bumped him and saw the little laser tattoo on his neck, "Best if hung by JAN272007." Then all of a sudden it was, sunrise, Friday. Talk about a quick turn around. Not even Texas gets rid of death row inmates that fast. So, who's next? Which dictator do we take out next? Castro? Seems silly, nature is doing that for us. Mugabe for causing such strife in Africa? Adam Yacub Shant, Gabril Abdul Kareem Badr, Gaffar Mohamed Elhassan and Sheikh Musa Hilal for their role in the Darfur? Or, here's a novel idea, how about we actually catch and kill Osama Bin Laden? REMEMBER HIM? Of course you don't, why would you, our President has forgotten him. I will not lose sleep over Saddam's death, but it saddens me that my country condoned, sanctioned, practically arranged his death and most here don't even know why. They take the Bush talking points as fact, don't do any historical research and come the new year will have forgotten Saddam even existed. And now that he's dead, can our troops come home? Wasn't this the goal? To find, capture and kill the evil dictator? Well, we have. So, time to send some boys and girls home, no? No, actually, time to send more over. Because while Saddam's days of killing are over, George Bush's are not. He is about to go against the will of the people of the United States and send more of our young men and women to their deaths in Iraq in a useless and futile effort to stop a civil war we caused and one we cannot end. Saddam got out of Iraq the easy way, at the end of a noose, quickly. Our troops have to wake up each day and wonder if that paper bag aside of the road is going to kill them, if that kid has any explosives strapped to him, or why oh why is he sitting in the passenger seat of an 18-wheeler for Halliburton making 1/10th what the private contractor driver is making? The Iraqis wanted to celebrate the death of Saddam, well, some did, but security is so horrible many won't go in the streets. They would host a feast, but many don't have food, water or electricity. They would thank the Americans for getting rid of him, but they can't get to the Americans because they're held up inside the green zone while most Iraqis live and die in the other 90% of the country. Saddam is dead. Big deal. The war isn't over, and we, the greatest fighting force on the planet have proven we can kill one man. Just not the right one, he's still in a cave at the end of a very long extension cord in Afghanistan. Ask anyone that keeps a tidy home: blood stains don't come out very easily. The one Saddam has left on the U.S. will last a long, long time. Oh, and where was Bush during it all? In some armored vehicle or shelter, avoiding a tornado while on vacation in Crawford. Seems he's always on vacations when big things happen. He launched a war to get this man and when the sentence is finally carried out, he's not even in his office to make sure everything goes smoothly. He's not in the Oval, assuring the American people that what just happened was just, was right, was something befitting American values. Nope, once again, he was cowering in Texas. The people of Iraq found the courage to put a noose around their leader's neck. Maybe we can find the courage to at least draft articles of impeachment against ours. On what crime? Let's start with conspiracy to commit murder. George Bush wanted Saddam Hussein dead for reasons that have never been clear to Americans. He has never stated truthfully why Hussein needed to die to keep Americans safe. He used Iraqis as justifications to carry out something he wanted done. Pelosi, get busy. Do your job. We don't want our leader to go to the gallows, we want him to have to stand on the floor of the Senate, have charges read against him, charges you, the Congress have come up with, and then be told that he has, in fact, been impeached. Maybe he's killed one Iraqi too many in our name without giving us a just reason. I, for one, grow weary of it. I know the Iraqis do. Why haven't you? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-karel-bouley/another-dead-iraqi_b_37443.html
