There are many things I would list as things which make me proud of my country. I’m proud, for example that the first non-white candidate for the Presidency will be nominated to head the ticket of one of our two major parties. I’m proud that we have the freedom of speech to say what we want, including expressing our opinions on our blogs. However, one of the things of which our Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice claims she is most proud, would not be on my list.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she’s “proud” of the U.S. decision to wage the Iraq war and insisted that the world is not more dangerous than it was when George W. Bush took office.
“We’re now beginning to see that perhaps it’s not so popular to be a suicide bomber. We’re beginning to see that perhaps people are questioning whether Osama Bin Laden ought to really be the face of Islam,” Rice, 53, said in an interview to be broadcast this weekend on Bloomberg Television’s “Conversations with Judy Woodruff.”
“And I am proud of the decision of this administration to overthrow Saddam Hussein,” said Rice, who was Bush’s national security adviser at the time of the March 2003 invasion. As of yesterday, 4,107 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq and more than 30,000 were wounded. She said the Iraq war has been “tougher than any of us really dreamed.”
Well, I guess some people have no shame. They don’t mind being proud that they lied us into an unnecessary war of aggression in violation of the UN Charter against a foe who was no threat to our security. An illegal war which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, and made millions more refugees. A war in which we have tortured and abused prisoners, burned to death innocent women and children with napalm and white phosphorus weapons, poisoned others with depleted uranium, destroyed the infrastructure of an entire country leaving lakes of sewage visible from space, and committed war crimes on a regular basis. Not what I’d be proud about. But then I’m not a lying sycophant who licks George Bush’s boots, and considers him my surrogate husband, either.
One day, if there is any justice in the world Madam Secretary, you will be tried for your crimes against humanity. If not, I can only hope that, if there is a God, he, she or it will provide you with a suitable and eternal punishment for your many terrible sins.
Oh, and Happy Independence Day to you, too.
