Unconfirmedsources.com


Satire And George W. Bush's Iraq: Sometimes It's Just Not That Funny

by Chuck Terzella

Here in Syracuse, New York, I live pretty close to Watertown's Fort Drum, a major military base... close enough to have our local news networks regularly report on what's happening there... command changes, routine deployments, housing issues, that kind of thing. The 2-15 FA (2nd Battalion 15th Field Artillery) who are attached to the 10th was actually formed here in WWI. Of course, the 174th Fighter Wing of the New York National Guard operates out of Hancock Intl. Airport here as well...the point is, in addition to the academic and medical worlds in Syracuse, there is also a strong connection to our country's military, both National Guard and Regular Army. Despite the fact that my writings about the current Administration that commands them may seem to indicate otherwise, I'm extremely proud of these men and women, sometimes to the point of tears. In fact, it's because of that pride and the gratitude to these soldiers that I am so pissed off at their Commander in Chief, his Secretary of Defense and various other minions. As I've said repeatedly, these men and women are the best and bravest this country has to offer; they volunteered to serve their country, they believe in what they are doing in a way that the rest of us, except our civilian police and firefighters, never could. Would you put your life on the line for your boss? Would you risk your life for Wal-Mart, McDonalds or Nationwide Insurance? I've never served in the military. I came of age in the years immediately following the fall of Saigon. In those days, to America's lasting shame, returning veterans were treated like criminals…we called them baby killers, allowing the actions of Lt. William Calley at Mi Lai to define the entire pointless conflict. Luckily, we've grown a bit since then…Haditha and Abu Ghraib will not define the Iraq debacle. The actions of a few dozen, or even a few hundred, miscreants will not taint the sacrifice of the 150,000 some odd troops currently serving in this latest pointless conflict. We know now that these 150,000 troops are our friends, co-workers, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They are us, only better. What will define Iraq are actions of their leader, George W. Bush. No one ever wants to admit that they've been used or taken advantage of, but an increasing number of returning veterans, from the Joint Chiefs of Staff on down are doing just that. A soldier who criticizes his commander in chief, in public, to civilians, is either completely disloyal or at the end of their rope. I submit that Maj. Gen. John Batiste, Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, Gen. Paul Zinni and Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, who all held high command positions directly related to the Iraq Conflict are in no way, shape or form completely disloyal; neither are the rest of the lower ranking soldiers who are making their voices heard. Such criticism is unprecedented in modern military history and we should listen to them. Forget about the fact that America is not and should never be a Conqueror Nation…that should have ended with the Spanish American War and the Banana Republics. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and Hirohito should have taught us the folly of forcing yourself on other nations. And I am in no way a peacenik…although I firmly believe that war should be avoided at all costs, I believe we had no choice but to invade Afghanistan after 9/11. But Iraq? Iraq was and remains a complete and misguided folly, a misadventure born of arrogance and hubris, which are not the same thing, conceived by men and women who never served their country in battle, or worse, actively avoided service. Dick Cheney received six deferments, Rumsfeld put in two peacetime years and George W. Bush actually went AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard. Iraq, a misbegotten attempt at Nation Building that has devolved into Civil War and cost the lives of (at this writing) 2,606 of our best and bravest…and for what? A Neo-Con Dream. I have been accused by several disgruntled readers of repetition…well, I have to say, I'm gonna keep repeating the facts and follies about this Administrations and it's failures, ad-nauseam and infinitum until something changes and the Administration of George W. Bush is gone and hopefully imprisoned. Sorry. Satire is about cynical humor, but I tell ya, it's hard to stay amused sometimes; 45,000 dead Iraqi's, 2,600 dead Americans (no, I haven't forgotten the dead of 9/11...9/11 had nothing to do with this, don't you ever forget it) just really aren't that funny.

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Unconfirmed Sources political satire and news story parodies as represented above are written as satire or parody. They are, of course, fictitious.

Chuck,

Thanks. I think you have nicely summed up what many of us at Unconfirmed Sources believe.

We love and respect our troops, while at the same time we mock and despise the few men who have sent them needlessly into harm's way.

Kamal EL-din
The Editor

Hey, GWB is the Decider -- and he has decided the best way to end terroism is to invade a sovereign, predominately Muslim country. He has decided to shock and awe them into democracy. Surely that will eliminate terrorism in the world forever. Now, that's that, because GWB does hear the voices, but he's the Decider.

Kamal, Thanks Boss.

To iwassaneon(c)e,

Oh, GWB hears voices... it's just that the voices he hears aren't ours...I'm not sure they're anyones.

Thanks for the correction -- actually, i was sane once...

But now, I think I hear the voices, too, ever since GWB was appointed by the Supreme Court.

I've said it over and over. I have younger relatives and the children of friends who have been,and will be agsain, posted to Iraq and/or Afghanistan. They're not soldiers. They're not Army. They were all Reservists, ripped from their families and communities where they served ably. Now they've lost homes and struggle to feed their families, two of which are on foodstamps. They do not complain. I'm complaining for them. Our Reservists and State forces have been usuped by Bush. We didn't have enough enlisted men/women to fill the need. We still do not!

Thank you so much for your comments. These undeclared wars are not a joke and not truly matters for satire. Truth must sometimes be put onto paper and into columns.

Man,what do you say to that but thank you? I can only agree, but say that when I started bitching about this stuff GWB was polling around 75-80% and there wasn't a real paper in the US that would go against him. Didn't make him right, just powerful.

Satire sites like this one were the only place to goto complain. They fought back with humor, hoping that by making people laugh, they could point out the stupidity and warn of the dangers of "that man in the White House".

Maybe it worked...who knows. It certainly screwed my chances of ever becoming a 'serious' journalist, but at least it seems to be changing. Now the mainstream is waking up a bit... throw a reporter or two in jail,tap a few phone calls, screw with their first amendment rights and they get all upset, the poor little dears. Maybe they'll become journalists again, not just White House 'reporters'.

The pendulum always swings back...

Politics is cylclical...we're in the right wing swing right now. The really sad thing is the shame/disgust people will one day feel about this administration's bs and that they sat idly by. Every thing we've ever done that crossed the line has always been judged so by history: McCarthyism, Japenese interment, FBI Hoover's secret tapings, slavery, Vietnam, even the near-extinction of Native Americans. Why does it take so long for people to wake up and smell the BUllSH--?! I'm beginning to wonder if we are just a nation of cowards -- was John Wayne our last American hero?

Hey iwassaneonce,

We're on the cusp...or the edge of the knife, depending on whether you're a half empty of full kinda guy. My editor sent us writers an incredibly scary article about how Bush pushed Israel into it's attack on Lebanon...more take over the Middle East crap...apparently he wants all out war there with Syria and Iran.

But it, like Iraq and increasingly Afghanistan, fucked up and Israel came out looking like a loser. If it all gets tied back to Bush...well, we'll see how the "base" takes that one.

I prefer to believe that the cumulative effect will be that Bush may not even get to finish THIS term.

Maybe you'll get to sign your name iamsaneagain soon.

We all can't stop now...

Oh, yeah, Seymor Hirsh is our new American hero.

...and I know I misspelled his name...sorry

I'm always on the cusp before I've had my medication....

Anyway, Seymour Hersh is today's Edward R. Murrow. It will take a lot more like him to expose the damaging policies of BUshCo. It will also take a l-o-n-g time to undo the damage which I think is what makes me on the cusp, no make that in the cusp.

But surprisingly, I'm still a glass half-full kind of person. Keep up the good fight at "unconfirmed sources." We might as well have a good laugh at ourselves, everyone else in the world is!

-sam, a.k.a. iwassaneonce

That's the ticket... what the hell does "that's the ticket" mean anyway?

As an atheist I have no ill feelings towards religious people,
But do you think religious people, by their very nature, are more 'social' and hence more blindly influenced by leaders.
If so, it is perhaps not their fault they support leaders like GWB.
The problem is that we have some leaders who are willing to exploit others.
It seems if defensive wars are sometimes necessary. If not we need to bring GWD down hard to set the example that exploitation must never be tolerated.