I was just rereading my post from a year ago, on the first anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, and I am struck by how little has changed - except the higher death and casualty counts, of course.
Yes, Iraqis had an election, but is democracy really taking root amid the chaos? Even if it is, and we must continue to ask this about every future possibiltiy of war, was there a better way to do this?
I read today that the U.S. will not begin pulling troops out of Iraq until 2006 or later. Meanwhile, the National Guard is bribing soldiers with $15,000 if they'll re-enlist for six years. (Guard re-enlistment is at all-time lows, and who can blame them, with nothing but open-ended, multiyear, repeat deployments to Iraq and elsewhere in the picture.)
Meanwhile, we neglect our nation's needs. Education funding, Medicaid, and state budgets are in crisis, but all BushCo wants to do is sell snake oil in the form of unnecessary, expensive, inhumane Social Security reform.
United for Peace & Justice now reports more than 750 events are planned this weekend to mark the war's two-year anniversary. (That's 50% more than last year.) To find one near you, click here. Or go here for a very cool Google directory of newspapers across the United States. If your local paper is like mine, recent letters-to-the-editor have been overwhelmingly against the war and, indeed, against W's policies in general. Let's keep up the pressure.
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