Call me a...

dirty tree hugging, in-bed-with-satan, goat-fucking-liberal but I thought the present situation regarding the U.S. military in Iraq was bad enough. You have an ill-equipped fighting force, being attacked from all sides, never really knowing who the enemy is. Not to mention the ongoing, abduction, torture and murder of non-military personnel, ie. journalists and civilian contractors, who are there doing their jobs.

Now, some of you may say that, "well no one forced them to go to Iraq to work." I'm sure in a good number of cases that's true. However, take into consideration the present state of the economy in this country and the lack of good paying jobs. If you are just starting out or maybe have a family and are tired of not having two nickles to rub together, the sign on bonuses alone are attractive enough to lure some to work in Iraq. People think they will work for a year or two and possibly, after all is said and done, come back a half a million dollars richer. It never does cross their mind that they are making exponentially more money than the civilian reconstruction specialist, doing the same work, being forced to be there by his country.

It never crosses their mind that this is not a safe nor stable region of the world. That we as Americans are viewed as evil (and in some respects I can see why) and we're intruding on holy ground. Americans going to work in Iraq are thinking of bettering their lives and their is nothing wrong with that. It's the American dream. But let's be honest, the United States military is not in Iraq on a mercy mission, Iraq has been liberated from the "great oppressor." They found his ass in a filthy hole in the ground in the middle of nowhere, yet a dude over 6feet tall, who needs dialisis, is harder to find than, "Where's Waldo."

In trying to keep up with current events in the world, one can become flustered. You kind of have to pick and choose whether or not you want to totally side with all of these watchdog sites and in turn take everything with a grain of salt. However human rights are just something I can't compromise on. I have more than a few favorite blogs, I try to check in with at least once a day, if possible.

While stoping by Matthew Good's blog this morning, I found something I can't get out of my mind and there is nothing anyone can say that will be a satisfactory excuse. This should not happen, to anyone...ever. I emplore you to read this short article and really think about who it is we have in office and if our, "total blind support" is what he and the other higher-ups really deserve.

I hope you all are well.

Cheers,
JJ