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The Man Who Would Be Senator

Rep. Nethercutt's assessment of Iraq reminds me of the children's movie Shek, when Lord Farquaad declares, "Some of you will die. That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

Leon P. Robert, Seattle

Connecting the Dots

George Nethercutt was recently quoted as decrying the fact that the positive aspects of our occupation were being ignored and that "It is better and [a] more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day."

The families who've lost their sons and daughters in the war in Iraq would not likely share Nethercutt's arrogant and unempathetic acceptance of the death of their loved ones. Congressman Nethercutt appears to have a mindset that objectifies and dehumanizes both the Iraqi people and US troops. Both are relegated to sterile statistics in his mind and the minds of the Bush security managers who control our predatory war machine. American soldiers are putting their lives in jeopardy for oil and geopolitical dominance. They are being ask to make the ultimate sacrifice while the war profiteers (Halliburton, Bechtel, Carlyle Group) and their supporters make their way to the counting house to stash booty earned through the sweat, blood, and tears of the majority of American people.

But, we are witness to the rebirth of a new consciousness that questions the traditional nationalist ideology and those that propagate it. The People (Ill.) Journal recently quoted Tim Predmore, a hometown soldier (101st Airborne Div.) based near Mosul, Iraq. He wrote, "This looks like a modern crusade...to control another nation's natural resources...I once believed I was serving for a cause - to uphold and defend the constitution of the United States. Now, I no longer believe that; I have lost my conviction...I can no longer justify my service on the basis of what I believe to be half-truths and lies...We have all faced death in Iraq without reason and without justification. How many more must die? How many more tears must be shed before Americans awake and demand the return of the men and women whose job is to protect them rather than their leader's interests?"

Predmore has connected the dots and transcended the lies used to justify the Iraqi quagmire. He sees the war for what it is. Predmore and other US soldiers are nothing more than expendable pawns, and the Iraqi people are nothing more than collateral damage, to a Bush regime bent on world domination.

The connected dots reveal a frightening reality of an evolving oligarchic fascism. The American people are being manipulated and controlled by an oil-soaked regime that is bent on unleashing the dogs of war and causing famine, pestilence, and death.

Like Predmore, an ever-growing number of people throughout the world are connecting the dots. Their message is simply that a more just, humane, equitable, and sustainable world is possible. Arundhati Roy write, "Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."

Donald Torrence, SNOW Coalition/Jobs With Justice