My Patriotism
Excuse me, may I have your attention for a minute? Thank you, I just want to remind you of something. Except for in Dick Cheney's fevered dreams, THERE WAS NO CONNECTION BETWEEN 9/11 AND IRAQ!!! Whatever it really was, THE INVASION OF IRAQ WAS NOT A STRIKE AGAINST TERRORISM!!!
Why, you ask, do I bring this up? Because ads prepared by the Republican National Committee accuse those who oppose Bush's policy in Iraq with opposing the war against terrorism.
I can't speak for anybody else and don't want to try to. With my countrymen, with much of the world, I was stunned and horrified by the events of 9/11. I supported Mr. Bush when he took us to war against those who had been identified as the perpetrators of the horror, Al Qaeda, and those we were told were their prime supporters, the Taliban government of Afghanistan.
I quailed at the Patriot Act, however, failing to understand how strengthening our government's ability to spy on its citizens makes us a stronger, freer nation. I got nervous when told of Total Information Awareness, wondering how a failure of our nation's law enforcement agencies to "connect the dots" before 9/11 and identify pebbles of relevant information in a vast mountain of irrelevant information would be corrected by enlarging the mountain. I scratched my head and wondered when I was told that especially in times of war, tax cuts were the most important thing for America. And when Mr. Bush started us down the path of war with Iraq I resisted in every way I could think of, marching and protesting in the street, writing to my local newspaper, to my Senators and Representative, and to Bush himself, urging them not to take us down that path.
Since the war began we have learned that the war against Iraq actually weakened our offensive against Al Qaeda, by drawing intelligence and other units from Afghanistan and putting them into the campaign against Iraq. We have seen the Taliban regain strength in Afghanistan and seen Al Qaeda lash out across the southern Mediteranean and south Asia.
Mr. Bush, through his lackeys on the RNC questions the patriotism of those who oppose and speak out against his policies and actions. We are accused of giving support to our nation's enemies. And often we are accused of hating America.
Again, I speak only for myself, but none of those critics who question my patriotism, who challenge my motivation and my right to question the policies of my nation's government, love my country, the United States of America, more than I do. But my love of my country requires me to stand up and speak out when I believe it is doing wrong. It requires me to try to change my nation's path when I believe it has strayed from that which is right. It requires me to stand up and challenge it when I see it sacrificing freedom, liberty, due process, all the beliefs embodied in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address in the pursuit of naked power and profit. I see a President, working with his allies in Congress and on the RNC, who has used the tragedy of 9/11 to opportunistically ram through a social and economic program that serves only to further entrench and enrich those already in power, while undermining the social programs that Americans have come to rely on since the days of the great depression. Who pursues a foreign policy that purports to promote democracy abroad while he and his fearful Attorney General work to destroy it at home. My love for my country requires me to urge my friends, family, and neighbors to stand up against this administration, to remove these criminals from the offices they have defiled, and to restore our nation's honor.
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