Thursday, December 28, 2006

Senseless Death


It's taken me almost two months to write again. What's inspired me is a subject I've written about often in the past: the Iraq War, and how it's been responsible for the senseless death of tens of thousands of Americans and Iraqis. Unfortunately, as many of you know, I know a lot about senseless death. And nothing ignites my passion more these days than seeing so many young men and women dying for an unjust cause. It's time for the carnage to stop. It's time that President Bush puts an end to this violent, out-of-control debacle. The worst military blunder in the history of our great nation.

Almost 3000 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the war began in March 2003, just about the same amount of people who died in the very tragedy--the 9/11 attacks--that was, at least in part, the rationale for going to war in the first place. But as we all now painfully know, with tragic consequences, there was no connection between Saddam and Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, and the mushroom-cloud inducing WMD never existed. In short, this war was and is a fraud, perpetrated by a bunch of selfish, ego-maniacal, fear-mongering liars. But while their sons and daughters rest safely at home in the States, it is other people's children who keep dying a senseless death.

The Iraq war, unless ended as soon as possible with our troops coming home, is well on its way to becoming another Vietnam. But instead of withdrawing our troops, Bush wants to send more. And to keep fueling this military fiasco there's even talk of reinstating the draft in order to meet the many challenges our armed services now face throughout the world.

Winning the House and Senate was monumental for Democrats. But they must now do what's right, and somehow force the president's hand and help bring our troops home before America experiences even more senseless death.

On a related subject, we have created a non-profit organization, The Adrienne Shelly Foundation, dedicated in my wife's honor to help carry out her spirit and passion, with the goal of providing film school scholarships and grants to women filmmakers. Please visit our website to learn more about our mission and to make a donation. Every little contribution helps preserve Adrienne's legacy, and to help create something positive out of this horrible tragedy. Thank you.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Andy! It.s good to see you again.

Frank in Montreal

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, Andy. We missed you, truly. I don't think anything is going to change, and I hope I'm wrong, until someone puts Georgie's nuts in a vice and turns the screw. He's the Ultimate Desperado now, and he may say that he's considering change, but I don't think so. What can change this is beyond me. The man is delusional, and unfathomably dangerous. He'd rather go down in flames than change his stance. Tell me I'm wrong, PLEASE.

Anonymous said...

Joke
President Bush was invited to address a major gathering of the American Indian Nation last weekend in Arizona. He spoke for almost an hour on his future plans for increasing every Native American's standard of living. He referred to his career as Governor of Texas, how he had signed "YES" 1,237 times - for every Indian issue that came to his desk for approval.

Although the President was vague on the details of his plan, he seemed most enthusiastic about his future ideas for helping his "red brothers". At the conclusion of his speech, the Tribes presented the President with a plaque inscribed with his new Indian name - Walking Eagle. The proud President then departed in his motorcade, waving to the crowds.

A news reporter later inquired of the group of chiefs about how they came to select the new name given to the President. They explained that Walking Eagle is the name given to a bird so full of crap it can no longer fly.

welcome back!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back. It's good to get your wise take on things again. I'd like to know the validity of the excuse a Republican gave me for Bush continuing the war and the importance of him doing so. This guy said that if that part of the world falls apart so will we because our supply of oil will totally stop and we need it to survive. He said we will be in economic ruin and all of us will suffer. Not only that many will die without oil which runs our whole way of life. Is that Bush's reasoning?

Anonymous said...

Welcome back!

I heard this on The Randi Rhodes Show a few weeks ago ... Congress needs to pass a law making war profiteering illegal and the war will end.

Anonymous said...

Hey dude! Good to hear from you!

Little Boots is so busted next year, as the 110th is going to make his life a living hell.

He'll be off to Paraguay before Thanksgiving.

Anonymous said...

Hey Andy, great to see you back in the saddle! I don't think there's anything that shrub would do to change the course of action in Iraq. He's a failure, has always been a failure, and will always be a failure. Sadly, he seems proud of that fact, which truly makes him delusional and dangerous.

Anonymous said...

I hope that the Democrats will tie the continued funding of this insane occupation to a tax increase on the upper 1% who are getting much richer because of it. As long as there is no accountability or direct funding of this so called war, it will never end.

Anonymous said...

Andy, great to have you back! Another excellent column from the great Ostroy. Whats really sad is that there's really not much difference between Republicans and Democrats. Nancy Pelosi wont seek impeachment, either will Rangle. Now we even have commanders in Iraq changing their tune, from saying that more troops would be a mistake to now agreeing with Bush that more would be good. The asskissing to Bush is reaching all time highs in Washington and on the fields in Iraq. It's simply amazing that we can live in a country where our leaders are not only criminals, but those around them do nothing about it and ALLOW their criminal activities to fester. We now know for a FACT that Gerald Ford called Iraq a big mistake so HE wouldnt have went there. IM pretty sure Carter, Nixon and Reagan wouldnt have went there. Even Bush Sr has even expressed his displeasure with Iraq!! Nothing or no one changes the corrupt and warped mind of King George. He's officially a dictator (in the real sense of the word). Dictators dont always wear this cloak of obvious evil like Hitler did. In fact, in Bush's case, I call it much worse than Hitler. At least Hitler was evil and wasnt trying to fool anyone or hide what he was doing. Bush wraps himself in the American flag while holding a Bible, and yet still has caused the murders of roughly 700,000 people (600,000+ in Iraq, 3,000 of our troops and 3,000 Americans on 9/11). This man is a criminal and everyone in Washington who fails to do anything about his crimes are accomplices to murder, scandal and treason. Keep it up Andy! Missed ya man! If anyone wants to see my own site (not to take away from Andy---Andy's is much better) come to: www.realtruthonline.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Andy, it's great to have you back! Let's nip this "surge" strategy in the bud.

Anonymous said...

Rudy leads in Iowa; New Hampshire; Nevada... the resurgent - insurgent - Democrats have a choice between Obama and Clinton... What's a self-respecting 'God, gays and guns' voter south of the Mason Dixon line gunna do?! ...something senseless?

The post-Katrina Rove-style GOP is in big trouble. Their ideological media spin and narrowly focused earmarking are not a way to build Rove's dream of a long term majority. At least now they know. I hope they don't get worse.

Anonymous said...

Hey! I'm so glad your clear mind and strong voice can be heard again. Let's see if the dems are serious about their hearings. It's my understanding that Nixon didn't have to be impeached, because it was so bad his own party told him to resign.

Best,

Susan

Anonymous said...

If people vote for Giuliani, this country is in big trouble. It is my personal belief that Giuliani is a part of the 9/11 cover-up and knows SOMETHING that he will no doubt never say, nor will never have to say because even during the 9/11 Commission, he was given a cake walk right through it, not being asked anything hard or anything damning. I will give you examples of questions that he SHOULD have been asked during the 9/11 Commission, but never was:
1. How do you explain that although fire has never caused a steel framed building to collapse in any other city in the world, that 3 of them collapsed in your city all on the same day?
2. Even if there is a good explanation why the twin towers collapsed, how do you explain WTC 7? Given your intimate knowledge of this building, do you accept FEMA's speculative report for the collapse even though they said this hypothesis "has a low probability of occurence"?
3. Larry Silversten, on a PBS documentary, said that he told the fire commander that "the smartest thing to do was PULL IT". Can you put any interpretation on this other than that he said that WTC was deliberately demolished?
4. Was it justifyable for Mr. Silversten to make a $500 million profit from that building alone from an insurance payoff?
5. You told Peter Jennings on the air on 9/11 that while you were in the command bunker inside WTC 7 that you should evacuate the building because "the WTC was gonna collapse". Who told you that the WTC was gonna collapse? Did you ask this person how they knew this since fire has NEVER EVER caused a collapse of a steel framed building?
6. Given the fact that it is a federal crime to remove evidence from a crime scene, why did you order or at least allow the steel from the towers and WTC 7 to be removed before it was examined?
7. If your answer to the above is that you needed to remove the steel to search for more victims, then why was it quickly removed from building 7 also, when by your own account it had been evacuated many hours before it collapsed and hence had no victims?
8. Is it true that you have had your records as Mayor of NYC sealed for 25 years? If so, why?

Until Rudy "tower of strength" Giuliani gives us logical answers to the above questions, in my book he will be an accomplice in the cover-up of 9/11, and will NEVER EVER get a vote from me!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back. You were missed. I hope that time will help heal much of your pain.

Anonymous said...

During the holidays, a Republican friend responded to my concern that there are now more terrorists than ever in Iraq with this comment: "Right; that's part of the plan. To get them all together in one place so we can get them all at once."

O I C

Indy6 said...

Dearest Andy....I know a little of what you must have been going through these past months.

I only learned, recently, of your wife's death. I am so sorry and I hope, for you, peace and love in the remainder of your life.

I read you blog often and I know that you are a good man, an ally in our stuggle against corporatism and military adventurism (Imperialism), in our lifetime.

It will go on as long as mankind exists.

Andy, I pray for you to find peace and courage in the days and weeks to come.

We need you!

This next year is going to be hellish. Thank the powers that be, that you will be with us all, fighting all the way, for freedom and real compassion.

My heart goes out to yours.

Barking Up Trees said...

welcome back to the fight, old man... u were missed...

she is missed...

Anonymous said...

Glad you are back Andy! You have been missed.

As for impeachment, I think some people are jumping the gun so to speak. Let the hearings take place and see what develops. That is what happened with Watergate. After the hearings it was obvious that Nixon was going to be impeached. It was the Republicans that finally sealed his fate. They went to Nixon and told him he must resign.

The Republicans do not want to run in 2008 with the Iraq War raging. It will be them to go and tell Bush to forget it and get out of Iraq. Who knows? By then he might be forced to resign because of the hearings.

The Dems are going to take office soon. Then it will be their turn. Keep them in your prayers that they find a voice and do the right thing.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of senseless violence:

On a daily basis we (The USA) has about 12 people killed by illegal aliens (mostly Mexicans) every day, and another 13 killed in motor vehicle accidents -- usually of the hit-and-run variety.

Case in point: Sunday morning, December 31, 2006. Atlanta, Georgia. A local police officer, Deputy Loren Lilly, was on his way to work just before six o'clock in the morning. Lilly was an 18-year veteran of law enforcement. A car crossed the centerline and hit him. Officer Lilly's car flipped over several times. He died at the scene.

The two men in the other car fled, but were soon caught. Joel Camacho Perea and Maurillo Herrera are now in jail. A hold has been placed on them by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

It now looks like both of these men were in this country illegally.

The toll mounts. Congress will continue to do nothing to stop it. After all, there's votes to be had and power to be gained

Naniboujou said...

Welcome back, Andy. Again, my heartfelt condolences to you and your family. I will definitely visit The Adrienne Shelly Foundation site.

Anonymous said...

to neal:

hi. i am against illegal immigration and have posted statistics of crime committed in the u.s. by illegal aliens, but your stats baffle me. i have looked on every government site and have never seen anything broken down to specifically homocide by illegal aliens and country of origin. what source are the estimates from?

thanks
~julie

Anonymous said...

Julie,
These statistics come from Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King. Check out his website. I'm surprised these numbers 'baffle' you, after all the research you've apparently done. Were you also baffled when your research showed that the IRS has given $10 billion to illegal aliens in the form of refunds and credits to illegals who obtained Social Security numbers fraudulently.