There is only one good time to end the war in Iraq: Already.
President Bush and the Congress still don't seem to understand this. President Bush announced last night that by August 2008 our troop numbers in Iraq would still be slightly more than pre-surge levels. His announcement is unacceptable to a majority of Americans: We Americans want complete withdrawal from Iraq now.
Bush's speech was followed by an incredibly thoughtless pronouncement by House Minority Leader Boehner. Boehner claimed the nearly 4,000 American dead--nearly 5,000 if you count civilian employees--and 30,000 wounded was "a small price to pay."A small price? Thousands of our sons and daughters dead? Tens of thousands crippled for life? Not to mention an estimated half million Iraqis dead? Not to mention another two and a half million Iraqi refugees who have fled to Syria and other foreign countries?The Minority Leader's words insult every American and in particular every citizen serving in our armed forces.All these deaths are a testament. They are a testament to the corrupt scion of a corrupt administration, an allegedly recovering alcoholic too unprincipled to admit that his administration was wrong from the beginning about the war on Iraq and too cowardly to take responsibility for correcting his mistakes.
These deaths are a testament to the Republican Party, a party so rotten to its core that it will repeat and support every lie its leader speaks, no matter how absurd.
These deaths are also a testament to the Democratic party, an opposition party so craven that when George Bush says "jump!" his alleged opponents ask only, "How high?" The Democrats pay lip service to bringing our soldiers home. At the same time, the Democratic Presidential candidates threaten to invade our allies and call for a larger army.
Why did we pay this "small price?" American support for the invasion of Iraq was built on a foundation of lies and insinuations: Lies that we were enforcing UN Resolutions. Lies that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Insinuations that Saddam Hussein supported Al Qaida and that he was involved in 9/11. All the Bush Republican Party's reasons for starting their war turned out to be false.
Republican claims were a mere pretext. The invasion was being planned before September 11, indeed being planned within days of Bush being sworn in for his first term in office, according to former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill.The American people know the truth. They want peace. They want an end to the war in Iraq. How can the American people bring peace?
Americans have three choices:
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The Republican War Party
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The Democratic Bait-and-Switch Party, which campaigns against the war until it is time for Congress to vote.
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The Libertarian Party, which promotes peace, liberty, and prosperity.
If you vote for a Republican, any Republican, you're voting to build the Republican War Party's majority. If you vote for a Democrat, you're voting for the party that enables the Republicans, by caving to the
Republicans whenever needed to keep the war going.
Americans who want peace have no alternative. In 2008, they can vote for more war, or they can vote Libertarian! Only the Libertarian Party will end the war.
I'm George Phillies, Libertarian Party Presidential candidate. As president, I'll bring our brave soldiers and their equipment home as quickly as possible.
Vote for Phillies. Vote for peace.
