Lately it”s been pretty hard to be proud of being an American, with all that”s going on. After three years of occupying Iraq there is civil war with 650,000 dead, and the Iraqis still have little electricity or clean water. Over 20,000 Americans have been wounded, 2,760 killed, and our Army and Marines are withering. Our military hardware is worn out and in short supply, leaving reserve units without enough gear to train with or equip the guard units that respond to natural disasters like Katrina. It”s not hope that keeps us there, it”s bipartisan cowardice that ensures the carnage will continue until after the election, when a more palatable term for “cut and run” will have to be found.
Afghanistan isn”t much better, as under American control it now supplies 90 percent of the world”s heroin, the fighting is intensifying, and life hasn”t improved for the average Afghan. Even Republican Senate Majority leader Bill Frist recently stated that we cannot succeed militarily there and must begin negotiating with the Taliban. Over a trillion dollars will be diverted from improving the lives of Americans to pay for these failed occupations even if we left today, so the impact will be felt for years to come. All this and the intelligence community says the wars have made us less safe!
At home Congress has legalized kidnapping and torture while gutting the constitution, and overwhelmingly supported Israel as it slaughtered Lebanese civilians at a 20-1 ratio to Israelis in another counterproductive war against Arabs funded by you, the America taxpayer. So when the front page of the Record-Bee recently featured a story about Upper Lake High School students speaking out against these atrocities it was a hopeful sign the next generation of Americans won”t be as uninformed as their parents, and that genuine patriotism isn”t dead.
Philip Murphy
Lakeport
