When Evil Prevails

Two million Iraqis became refugee, more than 34,000 have been killed last year alone. Is this the democracy, freedom and justice that we bring to Iraqi people? For every person died there, how much sin have we incurred and how much hatred have we planted? For how many years, we can atone for our souls. We, every American, are responsible even if we are speaking out against this war.

A tragedy that is far away now becomes so up personal. A man-made disaster that is running downhill, pushed by those criminals. The whole country (US) is in pain and anger. We are facing an insane and selfish president who pushes all his criminal agenda regardless public opinions. From replacing Federal judges without notifying congress, to surveillance of civilians, to maintaining above-the-law Gitmo prison.

So who put him here? It is our electronic voting system that has all sorts of secret counting program. Until today, none of the E-voting problems is fixed. There is still no auditing, and no paper trail. As the new election is fast approaching in a year, I worry about the outcome of next election. If my pessimistic prediction became true, it will be a republican.

This republican candidate most likely speak out against war, but he is closely tied to the military establishment. He may be a little milder, but he will continue most policies of G.W. Bush.

On Iraq Study Group Report

Last night, as I drove back home from work, I randomly tuned to a conservative talk show. The host was very agitaged and defensive. As I listend on, I realized it’s about the new Iraq study group report. Then I tuned to Air America, a leftist radio, and there is a lot of gloating and joking from the callers and the host. Arriving home, I tuned on TV. CNN was reporting the death of James Kim, CNet editor who lost in the mountain of Oregan, and MSNBC was continuously covering Bush’s reaction on Iraq study stroup report and pundits’ comments.

The more I watched TV news, the more hungry I am for more information. What did the Iraq study group say exactly? How did people respond to it? TV can only give you so much information. You don’t have the sense of community like on the Internet bulletin board. You also don’t get a link to more detailed text to read on. I turned on my computer, and spent 3 hours on the Web, digging out people’s response, comments, and finally the Iraq study group report itself. After reading through its sparse text in those 120 pages, I was disappointed. Is this a study? Where is supporting evidence, data, and background introduction? Page after page are broad statements. There is nothing new in this report. We all know the situation is grave and deteriorating, and we all know this is a bad war that takes toll on American people and Iraqi people.

People look at Bush as a low-intelligence guy who does not “get it”, The truth, as a reader on a bulletin board put it, is he knows fully well the situation, but he simply doesn’t care. The war began with a lie, and this president and his friends have made huge amount of money in the process. Hundreds of billions of dollars ( 348 billion by now) were pumped into this war. Why would they want to stop this money-making machine? This latter explanation is more chilling, but it is close to the truth. When you are facing a president who does not give a damn about millions of people who protest the war, ten of thousands of sodiers who are maimed, and about 1 million Iraqies who died and millions more who are still suffering, what can you do? The only time he ever relented was when his party lost the mid-term election. He has to court the Democrats because now they control the purse string for this war.

Wayne Dyer once said we can create a “benign world” if we hold on a benign view. The unfortunate reality is that there are people who are so selfish and malice that they are ready to take you life and your children’s life to satisfy their greed. If we don’t face this reality, we will get ourselves and our children in grave danger. How many more Americans have to lose their loved ones before this war ends? Don’t we see how cold and calculating this president and his friends are?

People who are selfish and cold-hearted accept only one thing: force. Hitler will not stop until the ally beat him, and Japanese army will not surrender until the atomic bomb was dropped. Bush will not stop until Congress cut his fund and even impeach him. This is the only resort that we are left now.

The Carnage of War

I was haunted by the images in the movie Why We Fight. The corpes lying on the floor in a Iraqi morgue. Some are still with their clothes, and you can almost see their face. Yet, they are all dead, piling against each other. As the caretaker of the morgue read from his book of the occupation of these people, who died from US bombing, anger swept through me. How can we allow this to have happened? Who gave us right to kill these innocent people?

War used to be remote. It was presented through the TV screens in our living room, and felt like a video game in action. We see bombing but we don’t see its devastating consequences. Commenters’ exciting words grad all you attention, and you are entertained.

While I am always against this war and can imagine its dire consequences based on the death tolls, I was never brought face to face with those victims. They used to abstract, but now they are real. They are human beings like me, with their family, their daily life and their peaceful house. Yet, all of these are taken away in this war. I felt anger, and I felt guilt. As a US citizen, I am part of the criminal action that destroyed another nation.

How much have I done to prevent this war, and to end this war? How much can I do to prevent a similar war from happening in the future? It is much easier to walk away, pretending that the war and suffering are not real. It is much easier to hide in our comfortable daily life, dull ourselves in mindless eating and entertaining. But I can no longer escape this reality that is presented to me. I can no longer shed my responsiblity as a conscience human being.

Even though as an individual, I may be small and the impact of my effort is not perciptible, collectively we can change the tide. Let me join the crowd, becoming part of the social movement. Let me participate and contribute. If we can end this war one day earlier, we can end the suffering one day earlier and reduced the deaths a few number people fewer. When you save a life, you are a hero. What about saving hundreds of lives?

Let the carnage of war no long happen, not in our name, not from this democratic nation. It is my duty to contribute to this cause. It starts from today.

War and Criminals

The ancient Chinese philosopher Zuangzi once said, “A man who steals jewelry is called Thief, but a man who steals a nation is called King.” Those who killed a person is murderer, but those who killed many are called war heroes. The word “war”, which perpetuates all the atrocities, but is still glorified in this nation. What a world we live in!

When we argue against this war, and the incompetent president who could not even win a war, we forget about our collective responsibilities. In our media, all these killings and bombing in a nation that never threatens US are brushed off as “necessary”. Since when we have accustomed to watch the blood, bomb, deaths and crying bystanders? Our hearts have been numbed and hardened.

The media, in its eagerness to please the powerful and the loudest, keep portraying this war in its righteous form. It is as if we are there to “save” Iraqi people. It is as if we “have to” be there to help the course. Who invited us and who wanted us to be there? Isn’t this self-appointed righteousness outrageous? It is not a wonder that US has generated universal hatred in the Middle East.

The invader who has caused the deaths of about a half million people. Do it have any right to be glorified? If there is any international justice, the one who plotted this war — Bush and his aids — will be the top criminals.