\tRep. John Murtha, the decorated Vietnam and Korean War Marine vet and conservative Pennsylvania Democrat who stunned Bush administration and Republican congressional warhawks and Democratic go-alongs like Sens. Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden alike with his call for an immediate U.S. pullout from Iraq, left unsaid one important word in his dramatic turnaround announcement: defeat.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tBut that’s the real message of his change of heart from Iraq War backer and booster to peacenik.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tThe war begun by President Bush with such bravado and so little braino, which was designed to convert him from a dismal president to a crisp and awe-inspiring commander-in-chief, has been lost.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tThe nearly 2100 Americans who have died so far to help the president get re-elected, to make him look like a leader, and to provide cover for his criminal executive power grab, have died for nothing.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tAn unorganized bunch of insurgents armed with nothing but raw guts, aging Soviet-era rifles, and home-made explosives, have routed the most powerful military machine the world has ever known.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tThere will be efforts to cover up this astonishing defeat, just as there were efforts made by the Nixon and Ford administrations to hide the fact that the U.S. was defeated in Indochina, too, but the truth is clear.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tAmerican military might can destroy a country. It can kill hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. It can sow terror through the use of indiscriminate use of such WMDs as DU explosives, phosphorus bombs, helicopter and fixed-wing gunships and computerized drones and missiles. But it cannot defeat a concerted popular resistance.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tThe American military, according to some generals, is once again, as it was during the Vietnam War, falling apart. Recruitment is collapsing, both for the regular Army and Marines, and for the reserves and the National Guard. Parts and even ammunition are in short supply. Morale is at an all time low and sinking. \r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tWho in Iraq would want to die for Bush and Cheney at this point? And yet they keep on dying.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tMurtha has it right. It’s long past time to call the whole disastrous thing off. The Bush-Cheney mantra of “stay the course” is the desperate cry of two mad men caught in a trap of their own making--two men who are perfectly willing to send thousands more American soldiers to their deaths, and to slaughter tens of thousands more innocent Iraqis, in order to cling to power and to defer a final reckoning for their crimes.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tThey cannot be permitted to do this.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tThe war is lost. Iraq has been destroyed and will have to be helped for a long time to allow its people to recover somehow from the devastation caused by decades of brutal dictatorship, American-led sanctions and America’s war of aggression and criminal occupation. The broken military will have to be returned home and made into something appropriate for a world that settles disputes diplomatically, not by unilateral acts of violence and terror. Finally, the veterans of this war will need help recovering from the horrors they were forced to participate in and from the physical and psychic wounds they have endured. \r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tMeanwhile, the political leaders who brought all this about must be called to account. Either they apologize, as growing numbers of Democrats (and some Republicans) have begun to do, like Murtha, vice-presidential candidate John Edwards and even presidential candidate John Kerry, have done, or they must be voted out. The criminal authors of this war—Bush, Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and others should be impeached or indicted as appropriate.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tThe first step will be admitting that the US has been defeated in Iraq. Murtha is right that the troops did what was asked of them, but their sacrifices were for naught. The war is lost. \r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\tThen we can begin the blame game in earnest.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>
For other stories by Lindorff, please go (at no charge) to This Can't Be Happening! .\r\n
\r\n<\/p>\n","contact":"dlindorff@yahoo.com","link":"http:\/\/www.thiscantbehappening.net","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"Congressman Murtha is right to call for a withdrawal from Iraq, as no amount of further combat will change the truth. This war is lost. Now it\u2019s time to assign blame for the disaster and to punish the culprits.","numcomment":18,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2005\/11\/139569.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":139574,"heading":"Wrong!","article":"No, Americans haven't been defeated in Iraq .\r\n\r\nThis fascist Bush regime got its frocking Nazi ass kicked by the Iraqi people, yes. These mass murdering baby killers don't represent the American people.\r\n","author":"Fredric L. Rice","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-19 19:35:25","modified":"2005-11-19 19:35:25","fileurl":""},{"id":139577,"heading":"ya friggin spook","article":" You are twisted, Fredric.\r\n"No, Americans haven't been defeated in Iraq . \r\n\r\nThis fascist Bush regime got its frocking Nazi ass kicked by the Iraqi people, yes. These mass murdering baby killers don't represent the American people. "\r\n\r\n1 Bush never had a baby's breath of harm from this mess.\r\n2 'These mass murdering baby killers' were sent into this mess because you let them.\r\n3 You are not the American people, just anther spook ,sewing division.\r\n\r\nFrom one of YOUR betters.","author":"IMOHO","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-19 19:47:57","modified":"2005-11-19 19:47:57","fileurl":""},{"id":139590,"heading":"Pacifist weasels","article":"This is just more of Lindorff's wishfull thinking. He, like most leftist sewage, WANTS America to lose this war. Which is why Leftists are about as useful as tits on a baseball.\r\n\r\nNow, lets see all the pillow biting, pacifist surrender turds on this site jump in here and cheer on the booger eating Islamic fascists that are killing innocent Iraqi's and the troops they profess to care for so much. ","author":"Tramp","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-20 01:08:12","modified":"2005-11-20 01:08:12","fileurl":""},{"id":139651,"heading":"exactly","article":"Lost, or conveniently denied in all of this is that the VAST OVERWHELMING percentage of Iraquis killed have been at the hands of their "peace loving " muslim brothers.\r\n\r\nContrary to standard leftist claptrap we have found countless stockpiles of WMD in Iraq.\r\n\r\nThey're called male muslims.","author":"fresca","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-21 15:44:18","modified":"2005-11-21 15:44:18","fileurl":""},{"id":139653,"heading":"Exactly","article":"\r\n\r\nLost, or conveniently denied in all of this is that the VAST OVERWHELMING percentage of Iraquis killed have been at the hands of their "peace loving " occupying brothers. \r\n\r\nContrary to standard riechtard claptrap we have found countless stockpiles of WMD in Iraq. \r\n\r\nThey're called invaders.","author":"fresca","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-21 20:06:48","modified":"2005-11-21 20:06:48","fileurl":""},{"id":139660,"heading":"face it","article":"For every "innocent" iraqi that's got in the way of one of our bullets or bombs and thus kept it from its intended destination, hundreds or thousands more have been slaughtered by their similiarly unevolved islamic brethren.\r\n\r\n","author":"fresca","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-21 22:14:16","modified":"2005-11-21 22:14:16","fileurl":""},{"id":139661,"heading":"face It","article":"\r\nFor every iraqi that's got in the way of one of our bullets or bombs and thus kept its intended ("innocent" ) destination, hundreds or thousands more have been slaughtered by their similiarly unevolved imperial brethren. ","author":"fresca","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-21 22:24:31","modified":"2005-11-21 22:24:31","fileurl":""},{"id":139695,"heading":"invaders?","article":"Who are the invaders in Iraq?","author":"pete nice","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-22 05:31:42","modified":"2005-11-22 05:31:42","fileurl":""},{"id":139746,"heading":"hoot","article":"Ate you retarded? The Invaders are the ones with the Willey Peter, cluster bombs and the chimp commander in chief back in the USA.","author":"Owl","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-22 09:45:36","modified":"2005-11-22 09:45:36","fileurl":""},{"id":139749,"heading":"Wrong","article":"That's WHISKEY Pete to you sir!\r\n\r\nAnd a very effective munition it is.","author":"fresca","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-22 15:10:59","modified":"2005-11-22 15:10:59","fileurl":""},{"id":139750,"heading":"dorks from the wilderness","article":"No, you simpleton, it;s WILLEY PETER and any combat troop knows what it is.\r\nTry it sometimes.","author":"Willey","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-22 15:13:50","modified":"2005-11-22 15:13:50","fileurl":""},{"id":139759,"heading":"invaders?","article":"I thought the invaders were the Iraqis, the homegrown insurgency, taking potshots at those will a real claim to the land, namely the Americans!","author":"pete nice","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-22 20:16:46","modified":"2005-11-22 20:16:46","fileurl":""},{"id":139763,"heading":"Pacifist trash","article":"We are the invaders, and rightly so. \r\n\r\nWe are the ones who ENFORCED 'international law' by exerting the force approved of in UN resolution 1441. We are the one's who have helped the Iraqi people have their first democratic election. We are the one's who ensured the Iraqi people could vote on their own constituion, for the first time ever. We are the one's who ended the government sponsored filling of mass graves. We are the one's who destroyed Uday's reign of terror. We are the one's rebuilding the 50 year old infrastructure that Saddam Hussein allowed to crumble. We are the one's equiping their schools and hospitals with computers and advanced medical imaging systems. We are the one's refilling their once drained wetland systems. \r\n\r\nPacifism kills. Just ask the Iraqi people. ","author":"Tramp","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-22 21:12:19","modified":"2005-11-22 21:12:19","fileurl":""},{"id":139765,"heading":"tanks...","article":"We are the invaders, and rightly so. ( because they have something we want)\r\n\r\nWe are the ones who ENFORCED ( force being the bombing burning and use of banned weapons like white phosphorus) 'international law' ( except the one about 'acts of aggression that put the Hitler folk on the gallows ) by exerting the force approved ( bribed & bullied ) of in UN resolution ( well not exactly since the security counsel wanted to continue with the sanctions but smarm must be manufactured and then violated as it suits the pentagon) 1441. We are the one's who have helped ( with the use of cluster bombs, DU, incindergel, white phosphorus, fuel air bombs and anything else we could get away with) the Iraqi people have their first democratic ( they get to vote on the very people we selected, how nice, even if gun point elections seem to be coming back in vogue) election. We are the one's who ensured the Iraqi people could vote ( see above about gun point preselected) on their ( okay we wrote it and with [ see above under 'gun point' ] a bit of insistence) ["]own["] constituion, for the first ( okay, for the first time after we had Saddam overthrow their other democraticly elected leader ) time ever. We are the one's who ended the government sponsored ( the government now filling these graves is now American) filling of mass graves. We are the one's who destroyed Uday's reign ( and since nature hates a vacuum, we replaced it with another one ) of terror. We ( okay not really 'we' but stock holders and principles of Haliburton) are the one's rebuilding ( and we all know how well that's going) the 50 year old infrastructure that Saddam Hussein ( don't forget Gulf War 1 when we shot up EVERYTHING and then blockaded any rebuilding materials medical supplies and even pencils for the next twelve years) allowed to crumble. We are the one's equiping their schools and hospitals ( which ones, dickhead?) with computers and advanced medical imaging systems ( and other imaginary upgrades). We are the one's refilling ( with bodies in mass graves as Blackwell Acs.covers up 'indiscretions') their once drained wetland systems. \r\n\r\nPacifism kills ( it just takes less time and is more profitable our way) Just ask the Iraqi ( just the ones who haven't had family members killed or tourtured) people.","author":":>)","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-22 21:46:39","modified":"2005-11-22 21:46:39","fileurl":""},{"id":139771,"heading":":>) is clueles","article":"":>)" clearly isn't familiar with the actual FACTS in Iraq. But that won't stop him from mouthing off. But that's normal from the functionally illiterate Left.","author":"Tramp","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-22 23:36:16","modified":"2005-11-22 23:36:16","fileurl":""},{"id":139773,"heading":"Tramp is clueles","article":"Tramp is clueles\r\n\r\n\r\nTramp clearly isn't familiar with the actual FACTS in Iraq. But that won't stop him from mouthing off. But that's normal from the reactionary, illiterate Riech.","author":":>)","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-22 23:46:53","modified":"2005-11-22 23:46:53","fileurl":""},{"id":139802,"heading":"Real Hypocrisy","article":"The real hypocrisy on the right is the denial of what this war is really about. I don't deny that the Americans are trying to rebuild schools and infrastructure, etc. but why? \r\n\r\nWhy is it in the interest of the U.S.A. that the country with the 2nd largest oil reserves in the world have a stable social and political system, and why now? \r\n\r\nWhy is it not an issue that Saudi Arabia is a monarchy where it's people have virtually no civil rights? Why can the leader of Uzebekistan boil people alive on his whim? Why can Pakistan acquire nuclear weapons? \r\n\r\nWhy do we know so much about Uday? Why do we know so much about Iraqi mass graves yet learn so little about those mass graves filled with victims of the U.S. invasion of Panama?\r\n\r\nCan you say propaganda? Can you say gullible?\r\n\r\nI respect people on the right more if they can admit what this war is really about.","author":"pete nice","parent_id":139569,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-11-23 06:33:45","modified":"2005-11-23 06:33:45","fileurl":""}]}