COMMENTARY:
Some Dare Call It Treason: Wake Up America!
by Dr. Robert Bowman, USAF Ret.
| We [who protest the Iraq war] are
upholding the spirit of the American
Revolution. We are preserving the freedoms
that the troops in the desert have a right
to come back to. |
|
I am a member of Veterans For
Peace, an organization of thousands of combat veterans. All
of us have put our life on the line for this country. Most
of us opposed the recent invasion of Iraq. We also opposed
the first Gulf War, and the sanctions that followed. We
opposed the slaughter of fleeing Iraqis on the Road to
Basra. We opposed the use of Depleted Uranium munitions. And
we opposed the lies upon which the first Gulf War was based.
But there was one good thing about that first Gulf War. It
ended. And without a wholesale invasion of Iraq. Why?
Here's what the first President Bush wrote about that in
his memoirs:
"Trying to eliminate Saddam would have incurred
incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him
was probably impossible. We would have been forced to
occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. There was no
viable exit strategy we could see, violating another of
our principles. Furthermore, we had been
self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling
aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and
occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United
Nations mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of
international response to aggression that we hoped to
establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United
States could conceivably still be an occupying power in
a bitterly hostile land.
My brothers and sisters, it is just too darn bad his son
can't read!
I've been severely criticized for speaking out in
opposition to this war. So have you, probably. We're told
that we're aiding and abetting the enemy. We're told that we
should support the president no matter what. We're told that
patriotism demands that we support the war. They say that
we're abusing the freedoms that our troops are in the Middle
East defending. They say we should be ashamed to be
protesting while the troops are in the desert protecting our
right to do so.
Well I say, Hogwash!
| I joined the Air Force to protect our
borders and our people, not the financial
interests of Folgers, Chiquita Banana, and
Exxon. |
|
I feel an affinity for the troops over there in Iraq.
They are my comrades in arms. I admire their sense of honor
and sacrifice. I understand why some of them believe they
should be there. They have neither the experience nor the
wisdom to see past the lies they have been told. The truth
is, they are not over there protecting our freedoms. Our
freedoms are not under attack from Saddam Hussein or the
remnants of his Baathist party. Our freedoms are under
attack by John Ashcroft. They are threatened by John
Poindexter. They are trampled by Donald Rumsfeld. They are
disdained by Dick Cheney. And they are not even understood
by George W. Bush. The battle to preserve our freedoms is
not taking place in Baghdad and Tikrit. It is taking place
in Central Park in New York City, in Lafayette Park in
Washington DC, in Ghirardelli Park in San Francisco, and in
River Front Park in Melbourne, Florida. The front lines go
right down US 1 and up New Haven Avenue.
It is we, here at home, who are the foot soldiers
battling to preserve our cherished freedoms by exercising
them, in spite of opposition and ridicule. It is we who
protect our civil rights through speaking out. We are the
Minutemen sounding the alarm against tyranny. We are
upholding the spirit of the American Revolution. We are
preserving the freedoms that the troops in the desert have a
right to come back to. The troops getting shot at in Iraq
are not protecting us. We are protecting them, and their
honor and their freedoms. We have just completed a forced
march through hostile territory to defend their freedoms and
ours, and the ideals America was founded on. We are
protecting this nation by speaking truth to power. Let us do
it loudly and fearlessly and courageously and joyfully, for
we are the true patriots!
| As a pilot who flew 101 combat missions
in Vietnam, I can tell you that the best
thing our government can do for its combat
veterans is to quit making more of them.
Peace is patriotic; a preemptive war is
immoral, illegal, unconstitutional, a war
crime, and TREASON. |
|
Here is the truth that we proclaim. This war has nothing
to do with national security or freedom or democracy or
human rights or protecting our allies or weapons of mass
destruction or defeating terrorism or disarming Iraq. It has
to do with money. It has to do with oil. And it has to do
with raw imperial power. It is based on a pack of lies. And
it is wrong. Those who forced this war on an unwilling world
are guilty of flagrantly violating the US Constitution, the
UN Charter, and international law. What they have done is
illegal, immoral, unconstitutional and TREASON.
It's been said that somewhere in Texas there is a village
looking for their idiot. Now that may be funny, but it
misses the point. George W. Bush is not an imbecile. He is a
TRAITOR.
Before this war started, we knew it would fracture NATO,
split the United Nations, separate us from our allies, and
destroy the great nation we inherited from our fathers who
died in World War II. And it has. We knew it would make our
beloved country feared and hated, an outcast from the world
community, a pariah among the peoples, and the number one
rogue nation on earth. And it has. It has done so based on a
pack of lies. My sisters and brothers, that is not
stupidity. That is TREASON.
We knew this sadistic corporate war would incense the
Arab world, provide thousands of new Osama bin Ladens, and
enormously increase the terrorist threat. And it has. We
knew it would further endanger the American people and
destroy our national security. And it has. That is not
stupidity, it is TREASON.
The cabal of neoconservatives at PNAC who planned this
war (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Libby, Perle, Jeb Bush)
even before W became president, knew the American people
would not stand for it unless there was a new Pearl Harbor.
9/11 supplied that. Our government was warned. They were
warned by the Clinton Administration. They were warned by 11
other countries. And they were specifically warned by an FBI
agent that one of them was planning on flying a hijacked
airliner into the World Trade Center.
They not only ignored the warnings, they made sure no
fighter jets were scrambled to stop it. If they had just
done nothing, and allowed normal procedures to be followed,
the Twin Towers would still be standing and thousands of
dead Americans would still be alive. This is not stupidity,
it is TREASON.
As a combat veteran, I will not stand idly by and watch
our security destroyed by a president who went AWOL rather
than fight in Vietnam. Honor requires that I call this by
its right name. It is TREASON.
As one who has devoted his life to the security of this
country, I will not stand by and watch an appointed
president send our sons and daughters around the world to
kill Arabs for the oil companies without calling it by its
right name. It is TREASON.
I joined the Air Force to protect our borders and our
people, not the financial interests of Folgers, Chiquita
Banana, and Exxon. We've had enough corporate wars. No more
Iraqs. No more El Salvadors. No more Kosovos. No more
Colombias. These are not isolated incidents of stupidity.
They are part of a long, bloody history of foreign policy
being conducted for the financial benefit of the wealthy
few. It is a new colonialism. It violates our Constitution.
It endangers our people. And it is TREASON.
As a pilot who flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam, I can
tell you that the best thing our government can do for its
combat veterans is to quit making more of them. Peace is
patriotic; a preemptive war is immoral, illegal,
unconstitutional, a war crime, and TREASON. I swore to
uphold the Constitution of the United States against all
enemies foreign and domestic. That includes a renegade
president. Wake up, America! It is time for George W. Bush,
Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and the whole oil mafia to be
removed from office and indicted for TREASON. We are the
people. We are sovereign. We are the patriots. The whole
world is with us. Never allow anyone to intimidate you into
silence. Wake up, America! It's time to speak truth to
power. God bless America, and God save us from the traitors
in our government.
Dr. Robert Bowman was a Col. in the USAF and was
Director of Advanced Space Programs Development under
President Jimmy Carter. He is Presiding Archbishop, United
Catholic Church. He has been president of the Institute for
Space and Security Studies since 1982. Before that he was
vice-president of Space Communications Company; manager,
Advanced Space Programs for General Dynamics; and director,
Advanced Space Programs Development for the Department of
Defense, directing the "Star Wars" programs. He is also a
progressive populist candidate for President of the United
States. He may be reached via email at:
isss@rmbowman.com,
See also his web site:
http://www.rmbowman.com.
http://baltimorechronicle.com/041704reTreason.shtml
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