half decade hence<\/a> has produced 4,000 dead American soldiers, 30,000 wounded, and untold lives ruined by loss and disability, physical and psychological.<\/p>\nAnd what of the Iraqis? Estimates range from 60,000 to 1.5 million dead – and counting. In exchange for this gruesome sacrifice, the Iraqis got a still dysfunctional government, four hours of electricity a day, plundering of their oil resources, 2 million refugees, civil war, and no observable end to the occupation and the grief.<\/p>\n
On the home front, Americans, now almost a trillion dollars poorer, are still subjected to the same sort of lies that got us into this mess. President Bush, absent any evidence, insists that we’re winning. Presidential candidate, John McCain, has no problem staying another hundred years. And the media prevaricators that steered our tragic course continue to guide us into ever-stormier seas.<\/p>\n
Despite this apparently pessimistic appraisal, there is reason for hope. The world community has been steadily distancing itself from the U.S. agenda of aggression. The American public is overwhelmingly opposed to the war. And an election in November may yield a thorough uprooting of the party of warmongers. While none of this will undo the horrors of the past five years, it may set us on a more ethical course.<\/p>\n
It is long past time for this country to abandon its arrogance and aspirations for empire. The American people do not wear oppression well. Five years is too long to impose such hardships on those who have done us no harm.<\/p>\n
This war must end, and it must end NOW!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Five years ago today, America, under the mis-leadership of George W. Bush, invaded Iraq. The purpose, as proclaimed by the President, and dutifully regurgitated by the media, was to dismantle the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. There was just one little problem… The fact that there never were any WMDs didn’t phase Bush or his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-dt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":240,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=240","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":0},"title":"Propaganda Is Its Own Reward","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/27\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year, a PR firm called the Lincoln Group, was hired by the Pentagon to bribe Iraqi newspapers to carry pre-packaged stories that put the U.S. and the war effort in a positive light. But two unrelated articles published today demonstrate that their effort was less than successful, and for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2581,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=2581","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":1},"title":"Damn Right! I’ll Give George W. Bush Credit","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/1\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Much of the Rightist media is clamoring for attention today on behalf of their hero, George W. Bush. The rallying cry has something to do with giving the former president credit for the Iraq war as President Obama announces an end to the military engagement. So in the spirit of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":396,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=396","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":2},"title":"The Blogs Bush Reads","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/29\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The President spoke yesterday at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and defended his escalation plan for Iraq. As support for his argument that things are getting better, he cited bloggers with a surprisingly rosy view of life in Baghdad: \"Displaced families are returning home, marketplaces are seeing more activity, stores\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29577,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=29577","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":3},"title":"Fox News Headline: That Drowned Syrian Boy On The Beach Is Obama’s Fault","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/4\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The list of things that are Obama's fault just keeps getting longer. You have to wonder how he has managed to get so much done in so short a time. After all, conservatives have blamed Obama for everything from riots in Ferguson, MO, to California's drought, to Ebola, to Hurricane\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox News Obama","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-obamas-fault.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-obamas-fault.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-obamas-fault.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=108","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":4},"title":"The Power of the Media","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/1\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This should lay to rest any doubts about the media's power to manufacture a message. Fox News asks: Is all-out civil war in Iraq a good thing? Sure, who wouldn't enjoy a good civil war every now and again? Then Fox News asks: Did the media make up the civil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1578,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1578","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":5},"title":"How About An Apology Mr. Rove?","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/3\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Karl Rove, the former Deputy Chief of Staff, and Chief Political Adviser to President George W. Bush, has a new book coming out. \"Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight,\" is a memoir by the former White House aide and current Fox News contributor. The New\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Five years ago today, America, under the mis-leadership of George W. Bush, invaded Iraq. The purpose, as proclaimed by the President, and dutifully regurgitated by the media, was to dismantle the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. There was just one little problem…<\/p>\n