CONG. PETER ROSKAM'S SEPTEMBER, 2009 REPORT CARD ON MIDDLE EAST WARS

October 11, 2009

Congressman Peter Roskam
150 S. Bloomingdale Road, Suite 200
Bloomingdale, IL 60108

Dear Congressman Roskam,

September wasn’t a particularly bloody month for American soldiers in Iraq with only 10 being needlessly killed in our senseless war there, but the Afghan toll of 40 US deaths was the third highest in the 96 months of senseless war in that desolate and deadly land. How many hundreds or thousands of Afghans and Iraqis were killed and maimed we’ll never know because our war machine which you support, does not care about or count. Oh yes, the cost of these needless deaths was twelve billion dollars in borrowed money that continues to burn the American economy into meltdown.

I mention these unpleasant facts, Sir, because once again you trotted out the “bloody flag” of the September 11, 2001 terrorist bombings to rally your constituents for support of these criminal wars on the eighth anniversary of those tragic events. Specifically you said, “We must never forget the lessons of 9/11, that America must constantly stay vigilant and active in our fight against Islamic radicals.” There it is, the infamous blank check the Bush Administration wrote to wage needless war anytime, anywhere, anyplace on the basis of “Islamic radicals”. The terrorists who planned those attacks a decade ago probably said something like “We must never forget the lessons of American interference in the Middle East, that we must stay vigilant and active in our fight against American infidels”. Sound familiar, Congressman? Leaders bent on war will say anything to justify their nefarious deeds, and it has been that way since the beginning of warfare in Man’s bloody history. The operative word is “active” which is the trigger to wage war at the discretion of the attacker.

Guess what Congressman? That blank check doesn’t cut it with the directive of the Nuremburg War Crime Trials after World War II which requires much more than someone in an out-of-control war party deciding to attack countries and kill hundreds of thousands, if not a million of their citizens on some vague threat that turned out to be false. A specific terrorist threat can be stopped, as we have a number of times since the September 11, 2001attacks, with good police work and cooperation with other governments’ law enforcement agencies. That is because these are amorphous threats by individuals or groups and not those of a specific country waging war on America.

But attacking and occupying entire countries on the basis of presumed “threats” constitutes war crimes and you would be wise to re-assess your support of such murderous and criminal activities. You don’t need to worry about having to answer for your support of these crimes against humanity in the American political climate which only applies the Nuremburg directive prohibiting criminal wars to other countries. But in the dark recesses of your soul you should consider the enormity of the damage inflicted upon your fellow man with the four hundred millions of dollars daily you authorize to continue these crimes.

If you step up to the plate and be the first in the war party to demand their end and an investigation into the criminality responsible for them, you may just be the next recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Walt Zlotow
IL 6th District resident

AFGHAN DEBATE? WHAT AFGHAN DEBATE?

The debate over new policy for Afghanistan is tragically missing the best option of ending our involvement in that senseless and futile war just as we take baby steps to end our senseless and futile war in Iraq.

When President Obama’s press secretary Robert Gibbs announced withdrawing from Afghanistan was off the table, he signaled an overwhelming victory for the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex which has an insatiable need for endless war to promote their careers, their wealth and their lust for power.

The previous decade began with the worst event that ever befell the Complex, the collapse of Soviet Communism. The last thing they wanted was a Peace Dividend to rebuild American education and infrastructure and manufacturing base because none of that benefited career war lovers. The current decade began with the greatest event to befall the Complex, the September 11, 2001, attacks. With flames still billowing out of the hole in the ground that was once the World Trade Center, the politicians and the pundits and the career military who come alive only in warfare, had an endless excuse to attack any land in the Middle East that was weak enough for bullies in the Complex to make war against. The beauty of 911 is that we only needed to announce a threat by Islamic extremists residing in the target of choice.

First up was Afghanistan because that is where the rag tag equivalent of a street gang who committed 911 was apparently trained. We should have done the sensible thing - kill them and get out. Instead, we neither killed them nor got out, but took over the entire country which provides endless war for the Complex but endless decline to America.

While still stuck in the quicksand of Afghanistan, the Complex ginned up a totally fabricated war in Iraq, without a shred of evidence to justify it other than that infamous “threat” and the alleged presence of “Islamic extremists” that the 911 attacks made possible.

The truth most Americans are too afraid or too horrified to admit is both these wars are criminal in violation of the directives and prohibitions of the Nuremburg War Crime Trials following World War II. We led numerous German war leaders to the gallows or prison and the Far East equivalent did the same the Japanese war lords. But try to apply those standards to our own rulers and the new leadership and the media and the masses just shrug and go on with war as usual.

America needs to get out of Iraq, get out of Afghanistan, stop bombing civilians in Pakistan and cease nonsensical talk of blockading or even attacking Iran. Those in the Complex who stand the most to lose personally should look around and the shuttered car dealers, vacated factories, crumbling bridges and roads, forty-six million without health care and a second rate educational system and just get out of the way. They can consider themselves lucky that they’ve sucked away countless billions for their retirement and won’t have to face a war crime docket for their skullduggery.

MOVE OVER HOUDINI

President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize while serving as head of the American War Party embroiled in two criminal wars in the Middle East while killing countless civilians in their pursuit of phantom bad guys in Pakistan and conjouring up a new fanciful war to fight in Iran may be the greatest slight of hand trick in history.

The Great Houdini had nothing on our President and could have learned a thing or two about illusionism from The Great Obama.

Also published in the Glen Ellyn News, October 14, 2009