Okay, so we're in a make-or-break war for nothing less than the future

[smoogatz]

of America; our national fucking survival is at stake. So says Our Great Leader. If we lose in Iraq ("if"--I know, I know), we are screwed six ways 'til Tuesday, the terrorists get the oil, the sectarian fight spreads, gas will cost $97 bucks a freaking quart, the earth will crack open and swallow Nancy Pelosi and you and me down into the flaming pits of hell, etc. Okay. Got it. So why the fuck are we sending 21,500 guys? 21,500? The fucking army says they've got less than half that number of combat troops ready to go--they've got around 9,000 trigger-pullers trained and equipped. Nine fucking thousand--that's it. That means the other 12,500 are going to be reservists--non-combat-ready diesel mechanics, data entry clerks, dishwashers and trombone players--who are going to get shipped to Bag fucking Dad to ride around in Humvees, break down doors and get their asses blown off, three or four at a time. If this is the existential battle Bush claims it is, why isn't there a draft? Why aren't we buying war bonds and rationing gas? Why is there no sense of national urgency coming from the pinheads in charge? Why aren't Jenna and Babs lining up to enlist, for fuck's sake? Why? Because it's really about the oil, that's why. It was from day one, and it still is, and it's got nothing to do with terrorism or any of the rest of the bullshit rationales they've tossed out over the past three years for the dumbass media to gnaw on. It's all about the oil--220 billion barrels, maybe, of black gold, Texas tea, enough to fuel every SUV in the US of A for thirty years or so, enough to lubricate the wet-dreams of the CEOs of Exxon-Mobil, Gulf and BP from now 'til judgment day.

But here's the REALLY fucking crazy part--we don't even need it. All that Iraqi oil? It was off the market, essentially, all through the 90s, when oil was selling below $10 a barrel. Saudi Oil may have peaked, but there's no indication of any decline in production, and no reason to think that once it starts it'll be steep. Then there's Venezuelan oil and Canadian oil, which combined make up the lion's share of our oil imports--from right here in the good old Western hemisphere, of all places. And hey, if Al Gore gets elected in '08, we'll be off the oil tit in ten years, anyway--and good riddance to all that CO2. No, they want it (and they want it BAD) just because it's THERE, and somebody's going to get it, so it damn well better be US, even if some of "us" have to die for the getting of it.

But of course they can't ever, ever say that. No they can't. They have to try to sell us this bullshit war with a lot pf platitudes and fear-mongering and the language of apocalypse. Because if they told the truth, nobody would sign up to go. Nobody. Would. Go. Because going would make you nothing more than a paid killer for Exxon-Mobil, if you knew the truth. So they're not ever going to come right out and say it's about the oil, because they can't. But it's obvious at this point that they don't believe their own bullshit, either. Nobody does--least of all the cynical radio blowhards and their fluffy-haired TV infotainoganda cohort--nobody except that delusional 12% who think sending a bunch of dishwashers and trombone players to get their asses blown off is a cracklin' good idea.

As for the rest of us, we can sit back and wait 'till 2008, or we can push and push and push our congress-critters and MAKE THEM TELL THE TRUTH about what this war is, and what Bush is doing, and in so doing make the media tell the truth, and in so doing ultimately force Bush and Cheney and Condi and the rest of the soulless ghouls who've taken over our executive branch to slink back to the pig farm or their massive compound in Paraguay wreathed in the humiliation and disgrace they deserve, reviled by everyone with more than a half-dozen functioning neurons. Don't wait. Don't be passive. Push for the truth.

Thank you, and good night--

smoogatz

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Right On, Smoogatz.

Like you said, it's gonna happen.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

2. Great article

k and r :thumbsup:

[tularetom]

3. I've wondered that all night

If it's that mighty of a struggle between the forces of good evil, why are we only sending 21,000? It ought to be important enough to justify a universal draft, no exemptios, every able bodied man and woman between the ages of 15 and 70. After all, if we "lose" in Iraq the world as we know it is down the shitter. Gimme a break. 21 fuckin thousand.

On the other hand if it really is armageddon, what difference does it make? The world's gonna end anyway. So let the 21,000 enjoy what's left of their lives anyway like the rest of us.

Either way it makes no sense whatsoever.

[PsN2Wind]

7. One of the questions I asked McCain

If this is as important to our very way of life, as you and the pResident say, why is there no draft, why is there no surtax to pay for the war, AND why no anti-profiteering laws? Never got a reply but it's only been about three years.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. Not to mention no tax revenues or other sacrifice is required to support such an important war.

Aside from the lives and limbs of U.S. military members, of course.

[rhiannon55]

5. Well said

Thanks!

[smoogatz]

6. Self-kick.

I mean hey, it took me all of ten minutes to write this.

[TahitiNut]

8. Iraq has never provided more than 7% of the total US imports of oil.

During only 7 of the last 23 years did it even exceed 4% of imports - 1988-90, 1999-2001, and 2004. Prior to 1988, it was less than 1%.

[tavalon]

9. Concise and correct

Thank you. Recommended.

[Solly Mack]

10. Recommending the righteous and ever so right on rant

[motocicleta]

11. You got some kind of fucking problem with trombone players?

K n R

[w4rma]

12. They should be playing the trombone, not on the front lines. (nt)

[smoogatz]

13. Thursday morning kick.