I've been out of commission for a while, so today's post will catch up on a few recent news stories. Let's start with this one, from The Guardian: 'Bring us home': GIs flood US with war-weary emails The article is about US soldiers and their families becoming increasingly angry about the way the Iraq situation is being handled. Said one mother of a soldier: "I want them to bring our troops home. I am appalled at Bush's policies. He has got us into a terrible mess." Even the Army Times has started to criticize the Bush administration on its editorial page for cutting combat pay and veterans benefits. I guess "support our troops" doesn't mean what it used to. Interestingly, The Guardian is a British newspaper. I have yet to see this covered in the American press. Closer to home, the Toronto Star has an article about what has been happening to Americans who speak out against the Iraq war: Americans Pay Price for Speaking Out You will have to read the article to believe it. Remember when America was the land of the free? Again, that article is in a Canadian newspaper. I have seen very little coverage of attacks on anti-Iraq-war activists in the American press. Last but certainly not least, here is an article from the New York Times about our old friend the Halliburton Corporation. If you've been paying attention you know that the federal government awarded Halliburton (Dick Cheney's former employer) a wide-reaching contract to secure oilfields in Iraq after the invasion in a questionable deal in which no other companies were given an opportunity to bid. As if that giveaway weren't enough, now some of their competitors are complaining that the Army Corps of Engineers is structuring new contracts in such a way that only Halliburton would qualify for them. Rivals Say Halliburton Dominates Iraq Oil Work (this is actually the Yahoo feed from the New York Times; free registration may be required). At this point it should be obvious to every thinking American that the invasion of Iraq had nothing at all to do with terrorism or a near-term threat to the United States. The president and the administration lied outright about Iraq's potential for chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. This war is nothing more than a scheme to use American taxpayer dollars, and American blood, to secure business opportunities for Bush and Cheney's buddies in the energy and defense industries. But the American press is barely saying boo about it. When Clinton lied about his sex life the press and Congress were on him like ugly on a mule. Bush lied in order to justify a war, in which Americans died and are still dieing, and the press is looking the other way. Congress, meanwhile, is busy trying to decide how to turn Medicaid into a corporate welfare program for pharmaceutical companies. Wake up America!
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