I Pray

I awoke this morning and bleary eyed turned on the television first thing. It has become my habit for the last 18 months, since the invasion of Iraq, to see what is happening in the world. I was greeted by a clip of the absolutely devastated, hopeless and helpless family of Mr. Bigley the British hostage. I am more and more angry each day that GWB,( I refuse to refer to him as President) and his ilk have set in motion the most self promoting, ill conceived, stupid, dangerous stance on foreign policy that I could ever imagine.

American citizens, our soldiers have paid dearly with life and limb, Iraqi men, woman and children have paid with blood, humiliation, grotesque abuses and death. GWB has said that he answers to a higher power, he’s right, Jack Daniels is top shelf in most bars.

This man, this swaggering, snickering, simple son of privilege has decided along with his posse that he and he alone has the answer to the war on terror. Yep, invade an entire country that has nothing to do with the issue at hand and somehow this will protect the United States from further terrorist attacks. What you do is embark on a proxy war for Israel,(compliments of Paul Wolfiwicz, wonk in chief) disguise it as an altruistic voyage to promote democracy, alienate our allies, run up the deficit, lose jobs, give tax cuts to the rich, push people (mostly woman and children into poverty) ignore the needs of our own citizens and then say really helpful things like “we’ll get the thugs”, we’ll cram democracy down your throat after we lay bare your country, your lives, your collective soul.

We’ll blame Saddam Hussein not for being evil but for hiding invisible WMD’s, promoting terrorism in yet another invisible program for training invisible terrorists. Like Saddam would have ever let anyone into Iraq that would in any way be able to challenge his absolute control/authority.

I want to get back to Jack Daniels though. GWB is an alcoholic, that has power, abundant power and that makes him dangerous, very dangerous. Although he is not currently imbibing he is nevertheless on a bender of massive proportions. All is black and white, no gray. My way or you pay and I have the means at my disposal to make you pay. No humility, no ability to be truly accountable, little insight. And in the end, taking from the serenity prayer. No serenity, no courage, no wisdom.

I pray for this person, after I pray that my anger be cooled, that the lives of Iraqi citizens be made safe, after I pray for the souls of the soldiers and citizens who have lost their lives, been injured or maimed, after I pray for collective forgiveness for the horrific abuses in Abu Graib in the name of GWB’s war on terror, after I pray for Americans who have lost their jobs, after I pray for the elderly who cannot afford their medications, after I pray for the poor and disenfranchised in my own country, after I pray for the children who are not receiving an adequate education, after I pray for the removal of GWB from the office of the presidency. Please make sure you vote.

Joan
Age 54
Syracuse, NY