Iraq IS About Oil…

…Alan Greenspan said so in his new book.     

Alan Greenspan said so in his new book.  Iraq is about Oil.  Gee, thanks for finally clearing that up!  Mighty kind of you, Sir.  May I ask, though, why in the hell didn’t you come out with this years ago, before the war actually started?  You could have done a lot of good, saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives if you had opened your mouth and told your truths before now.

One has to wonder if Mr. Greenspan didn’t hold on to this little tidbit of information so he could write a book and garner millions of dollars for doing so, thus making himself even richer off of the lives of dead American sons and daughters – not unlike so many other former government officials have done.

The news is not surprising to those of us who have worked in the peace movement to end this war.  And it does not bring even one little iota of happiness or joy to know that we were right yet again.  Now the TV talking heads are asking their “guests” if from now on the lives lost in Iraq are for nothing…

But hey, we have our war and we are killing those terrible, dirty Muslims, right?  We are making the world a safer place.  We are fighting terrorism “there” so we don’t have to fight it “here”.  Hell, it’s in another country far, far away and we good Americans can go on with our lives uninterrupted, business as usual.

In the meantime, those of us who have been branded “left-wing nut cases” have been right time and time again about this war.  When we said there were no WMD’s we were called unpatriotic.  When we insisted that Iraq had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda we were insane left wing Liberals.  When we told you that the facts were trumped up to Britain to make the case for going to war, that they were wrong, that all we were told was wrong, we were made fun of and told we should love or leave our country.

The thing is, we were right all along, every single step of the way. 

I wish I could feel good about that, I really do.  But I cannot.  This country has become a country I no longer recognize.  Our elected leaders are not doing anything to change the current status quo and it breaks my heart. 

I hope we are wrong about other things we have seen and believe will happen in the future because it is a scary place to think about.  I only hope…

In other news, Gold Star Father Carlos Arrendondo was assaulted Saturday while marching in the protest in Washington D.C.  In the words of Melida, Carlos' wife:

"Carlos Arredondo, 47 year old father of two sons, arrived in the nation's capitol on Monday, 09/10/07 to share a memorial he has made to honor for his eldest son, Alex.  Carlos has visited thirty of the United States with the traveling memorial to his son Alexander.  Lcpl. Alexander S. Arredondo, USMC was killed on 08/25/04.  He was 20 years and 20 days old.  The memorial consists of a casket, poster- size photographs of Alex when he graduated from boot camp, before his second tour in Iraq, lying in state at his wake, and a photo of Alex with his younger brother Brian. 
 
Saturday, September 15, 2007 consisted of first a rally, a march towards the capitol and then a die-in.  Carlos pulled the memorial along the march route approaching the rotunda near the capitol building.  Several of the marchers requested for him to speak about the memorial where a crowd gathered around him.  After finishing, several people walked with Carlos as he pulled the memorial.  Several pictures of Alex dressed in his blues were attached to the display. 
 
As Carlos passed counter protesters, one man ripped a picture of Alex from the memorial.  Carlos leaped on the man to retrieve the picture.  It was at that point that approximately five others all began to attack Carlos by kicking him in the head, legs, stomach and back. 
 
The Capitol police bicycle patrol then appeared to break up the fight.  Several officers including a female officer were engaged in breaking up the fight and were able to stop any further injuries from occurring.  Hannah Jones who was walking with Carlos was also assaulted.
 
A bystander named Ramesh witnessed the whole encounter and also retrieved the picture of Alex for Carlos.  He was quite distressed at how he watched the men follow Carlos as he pulled the memorial, purposefully yelling epiphets and eventually taking Alex's photograph.  Soon, an ambulance showed up as well as many concerned activists.  The paramedics provided first aid to Carlos but he did not seek further medical attention.  Carlos sustained bloody cuts on his shins.  He also reported bruises all over his torso and head where he was kicked.
 
I will send updates on Carlos and his work in DC as I am able.
 
Mélida Arredondo"