My thoughts on the Five Years of the Iraq War

I know I am just another voice in a long list of voices to speak about the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War, that started with "Shock and Awe" to us that watched it on TV is was a billion dollar fireworks display, to the Iraqis who lived thru it, it was a night of hell, that was just the beginning of their long nightmare. One that has still not ended.

We are being told that the "Surge" has worked that violence is down, yes but to what levels? The same levels that were "normal" in 2005, not the accelerated deaths of 2006, so is that success or just the reality of war, our press seems to have bought into the fact the "surge" has worked, we no longer see the war daily on our TV  sometimes it can go fow a week or more without mention, especially now that we have financial problems, home foreclosures, large corporations in trouble, high gas. All we need is another missing blonde woman and the war can be completely forgotten.

Am I cynical about the coverage of the war? Bet your sweet bippy I am. The MSM never questioned the real reasons behind the war, they followed  President Bush like the good little baby ducklings, they ran to get imbedded with Rumsfeld's approval so they could be on the front lines.

They didn't ask the hard questions, they admit now they made a mistake. Everyone admits a mistake was made in invading Iraq except Georhe W Bush and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, they still feel it was the right decision.

They encouraged the nation and the world to support them because of the likely prospect of Saddam getting a nuclear weapon, that he had large quantities of chemical weapons and biological weapons, and we had to stop him, before he turned them over to terrorists.

They ran the UN weapons inspectors out of Iraq before they finished their search, despite the fact NO weapons had been found, and no facilities for creating them. They then spent months searching for the weapons they "knew" were there.

Then when it was obvious there were no "smoking guns" it became all people deserved freedom, and then it was Saddam used "chemical weapons on the Kurds" to justify the war.

In the meantime back here in the states there are tens of thousands of American military veterans asking the government for help in veterans health care and compensation for damages caused by the American Military's own use of chemical and biological weapons on our enlisted men during the "Cold War"  experiments that violated the Nuremberg Codes of 1947.

The experiments were stopped once and for all in 1975 when the Army Inspector General released a report on Human experimentation that was taking place at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, Fort detrick, Maryland, Dugway, Utah and Fort Greely Alaska among other places.

There are many code names for these different military experiments, Operation SHAD/112  1960-1973,  Edgewood Arsenals chemical weapons and drug experiments went from 1955 thru 1975 and the biological experiments known as Operation White Coat lasted from 1953-1972, there are many names Bluebird, Naomi, Artichoke, MK-ULTRA, many of the experiments were funded by the CIA.

Many people try and put them in context that the Russians and the Chinese were doing them so we had to stay abreast of the science and methods. How do they reconcile that with now ignoring the veterans and their families that are disabled from the long term effects of the experiments?

Does the fact that Richard Cheney was Chief of Staff and sat on the National Security Council in 1975, and Donald Rumsfeld was Secretary of Defense in 1975 and also sat on the National Security Council and had knowledge of these experiments and allowed them to continue after taking over from the Nixon Administration, which they were also part of.

Then in 1976 the Ambassador to China was recalled by President Ford and made the Director of the CIA, his name was George H.W. Bush he was the Director of the Agency during the Church Committee and had to have some knowledge of the human experiments, granted much of the evidence had already been destroyed by Helms and DR Sidney Gottlieb by this point, but financial records existed, and people in the CIA heriachy knew about the programs.

So we now have a war that was meant to save the Kurds from Saddam because he used chemical weapons on his own people led by people that used chemical weapons and drugs such as LSD, PCP, scopolmine, Ecstacy, etc in all  254 different substances. Is it just me or is this a really twisted scenario?

DOD and the VA have sat on the lists of names of the veterans used in these experiments more than 30-50 years ago, when will Congress force the administration to help these men (veterans all) and or their widows?

After the Bush Administration ends and it can't embarass them any longer, because they will all be retired? I have a hard time telling which government was more brutal  Saddams  or the Bush Administration and as a veteran, that truly makes me ashamed.

Regardless of what happens in November if either Obama or Hillary's name is on that ballot we need to make sure McCain does not protect the Bush Administration for 4 more years, let the hearings begin, the sooner the better.