Home > Don’t send more kids to die

Don’t send more kids to die

by Open-Publishing - Friday 3 September 2004
7 comments

Edito


by Michael Moore

Tonight, it’s show time for George W. Bush, and I can’t wait to hear what he has to tell the Republican convention.

It has been a pretty thrilling week so far, my favorite moment by far being the rebellious Bush twins who, in just a few short minutes, delivered on their promise to issue "payback" to their parents and all authority in general.

They revealed their parents’ pet name for each other: "Bushie" or "Bushy" - no spelling was provided. They seemed to have embarrassed their grandmother with a joke about the TV show Sex and the City as a place to have sex. And they claimed to have seen their boogieing parents "shake it like a Polaroid picture." That’s one picture that took the rest of the night for me to shake out of my head.

Nonetheless, I loved the Bush daughters: They were funny, sassy and free spirits. Back in 1999, they told their father in no uncertain terms that they did not want him to run for president. They wanted their dad at home, they wanted their privacy, and they wanted to go to college in peace. He chose to ignore their pleas - and I guess Tuesday night was their way of saying, "Thanks, Dad."

And thank him they should. He and Laura have obviously done a good job raising two bright, independent women. He made their privacy a top priority and did what he could to protect them. They clearly love their parents and, when you see that happen, you know the Bushes did something right in their home. For that, they should be commended.

Other fathers and mothers who loved their daughters and sons across America can no longer celebrate with them. That’s because their children are dead on the streets and roads of Iraq, sent there by Mr. Bush to "defend" America.

This week, in an appearance leading up to his arrival here Wednesday night, Bush acknowledged he had miscalculated what would happen in Iraq after he invaded it. He had thought it was going to be much easier. It turned out to be much, much worse.

That must be some comfort to the parents of nearly 1,000 brave soldiers now dead because of his "miscalculation." If I made a miscalculation and ran over a child on the street, what do you think would happen to me? Do you think the cops would simply say, "Hey, Mr. Moore, you did your best driving down this street, you made a miscalculation, the kid is dead, but you are trying to save the world, so be on your way?" Something tells me this is not what would happen. What I don’t get is that Mr. Bush makes his mistake and thinks he has a right to continue in his job.

Let’s hope he isn’t getting his inspiration from Richard Nixon, the same man Arnold Schwarzenegger hailed Tuesday night as his reason for becoming a Republican. You have to give Arnold an award for guts. He must be the first Republican convention speaker to mention Nixon since he resigned. Nixon snuck into office in 1968 with his secret plan to end the Vietnam War. Another miscalculation: The war continued for years, and thousands more died.

I would love to hear Bush apologize tonight to the parents and loved ones of those who have died in Iraq. I would like to hear him say he knows what it means to love your children and that he, in good conscience, cannot send any more children to their deaths.

I would like to hear him say tonight, "I’m sorry. There never were weapons of mass destruction and there never was a connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. There was no imminent threat, our lives were not in danger, no missiles were going to hit Cleveland. Because of our desire to get our hands on the second largest supply of oil in the world, we sacrificed a thousand of your sons and daughters. For this, we are greatly sorry."

I guess a boy can dream.

The other thing I would like to hear tonight is: Why haven’t you caught Osama bin Laden? You’ve had three years to find him. The man killed nearly 3,000 people here on our soil.

Maybe Bush has no worse explanation than he just hasn’t been able to do it. Well, if your town’s dogcatcher couldn’t catch a wild dog that has been on the loose biting people for three years, what would be the dogcatcher’s chances for re-election? Not good.

And so it should be for Bush.

Unless he has the answers tonight. Perhaps he has a reason or can accept responsibility for his actions and promise to send no one else’s child off to die for a cause that has nothing to do with the defense of this country.

If he takes a moment to look into his daughters’ eyes tonight, he will know the answer and give the greatest speech of his life.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/2004-09-01-moore_x.htm

Forum posts

  • Meister Moore exhalts the voters to remove Bush.
    He incites their emotions, feeding the citizens with pictures of their children being slaughtered and mutilated far from home.

    Hey, these people joined the military, they bought the glossy picture, the uniform, the weapons, the shock and awe. They take the paycheck! They should know that their function is to eliminate the enemies of their government, especially those enemies who have lots of oil, or who threaten israel. Even if those enemies are americans, protesting the war. Does it not occur to these american soldiers that going, "armed and dangerous", to other peoples countries will get them killed?

    Removing bush at the election, places heinz/kerry at the helm, and just WHEN does he propose withdrawal from Iraq? NO SIR. The bush lite proposes "as many soldiers as it takes", to "bring peace" to Iraq, and presumably large profits to the suppliers of ammunition/uniforms/vehicles/coffins. How the undertakers must love war, eh?

    So, whilst bush is a greedy oil soaked warmongering puppet of the corporate classes, the alternative is no better.

    Come on Mr Moore, how about a campaign to strip america of ALL its` nuclear weapons, including depleted uranium shells? Or a letter to the troops exhalting them to surrender and leave Iraq? Or is it..."...a thousand dead soldiers, and still the price of gas goes up..."

  • I’ve become used to seeing the gasbag old Republican with their gray blown-dry hairdos championing the cause of death and destruction. I am used to seeing george bush laughing with his wealthy friends while at that moment in time American boys are spilling their blood in unspeakable conditions in Iraq, being forced to kill people they don’t want to kill, and being killed by desperate people trying to defend their homeland from the greedy usurpers.

    Although I turn them off in disgust when they are on TV, I know in my heart they will not go away. Because the Republican supporters of this blood for oil misadventure are so craven with greed, they do not want to do anything to upset their applecart. Keep bush in, don’t change my lifestyle, I’ve got mine and the hell with you and the Iraqi civilians who have been living and dying under the two king georges since desert storm.

    Just give me my tax breaks and don’t send my sons and daughters to Iraq or Iran or the Sudan or North Korea when you have your military draft in January 05. Send Joe Schlump’s kids and I will direct them from my armchair.

    • Here, Here!
      Here’s a way we can dramatically reduce the cost of lives and decrease the financial burden of the war in Iraq. Let’s stop producing bullets, mortar and missiles and throw un-born fetuses at the insurgents in Iraq instead. Fetuses are plentiful and we have an unlimited supply of them. Here in our civilized western society we have an army of willing patriots who can manufacture these weapons for free as long, of course, as they choose to do so. Think of the money we’ll save and the innocent human beings who won’t be killed by using fetuses as weapons!

    • You’re sick....get help....

    • Thank you for putting into words so well how so many of us feel and know in our hearts is the sad state of Americans today.... we have become so callous toward others we do not even draw the line at sacrificing our kids. This attitude has been cultivated since the end of WWII. We glorify that event and we use this kind of "glory" to justify the horror we commit.... but our shallow feelings give us away especially when mothers and fathers are willing to turn their heads while their government decieves them and uses their children to further crimes against humanity. They even go to church and claim to believe in Jesus, it makes them feel all warm and fuzzy instead of having to face the truth. THOU SHALT NOT KILL........(not even for oil)

    • as a matter of fact, it is still sending (or throwing) your kids to die even if they are much much younger...

      I have an even better suggestion: spermatozoon are even more plentiful and easier to mass produce in our country thanks to legions of single men who have XXX books, movies and pics.
      It will be even easier to throw thousands of used kleenex to the iraqi "resistance"

    • Well said, well said. The callous remark above about using fetuses is surely an example of this callousness, but even in that comment there is some pause for thought. Think about it. We are used as weapons, born or yet to be born. It has been going on now for too long. All those guns and rockets can’t work without one of us weapons. Any way you look at it, it is real sad. I believe John Taylor Gatto is on to a major part of the problem that has produced such people in this world. I know what it is you are saying-this all seems to have really developed since WWII, but when I read his research on education and the system I learned this has been going on for a lot longer. In his well researched work he reported this one fact that sticks out: Nearly every state in the union that proposed public education as law had to literally force it onto the citizens. Reading his words I have become aware how fortunate I am to even be able to think, see and comprehend what it is you wrote about. It seems the "system" intends it to be as you described. Dummied-down is a term that comes to mind, with a dose of bullied around thrown in too! All of this didn’t happen without some reason.