[Dialogue] Michael Moore makes a good case for cut and run

[KroegerD at aol.com]

Cut and Run, the Only Brave Thing to Do  
Sunday, November 26th, 2006  
Friends,  
Tomorrow marks the day that we will have been in Iraq longer than we were in  
all of World War II.  
That's right. We were able to defeat all of Nazi Germany, Mussolini, and the  
entire Japanese empire in LESS time than it's taken the world's only 
superpower  to secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad.  
And we haven't even done THAT. After 1,347 days, in the same time it took us  
to took us to sweep across North Africa, storm the beaches of Italy, conquer 
the  South Pacific, and liberate all of Western Europe, we cannot, after over 
3 and  1/2 years, even take over a single highway and protect ourselves from a 
homemade  device of two tin cans placed in a pothole. No wonder the cab fare 
from the  airport into Baghdad is now running around $35,000 for the 25-minute 
ride. And  that doesn't even include a friggin' helmet.  
Is this utter failure the fault of our troops? Hardly. That's because no  
amount of troops or choppers or democracy shot out of the barrel of a gun is  
ever going to "win" the war in Iraq. It is a lost war, lost because it never had  
a right to be won, lost because it was started by men who have never been to  
war, men who hide behind others sent to fight and die.  
Let's listen to what the Iraqi people are saying, according to a recent poll  
conducted by the University of Maryland:  
** 71% of all Iraqis now want the U.S. out of Iraq.  
** 61% of all Iraqis SUPPORT insurgent attacks on U.S. troops.  
Yes, the vast majority of Iraqi citizens believe that our soldiers should be  
killed and maimed! So what the hell are we still doing there? Talk about not  
getting the hint.  
There are many ways to liberate a country. Usually the residents of that  
country rise up and liberate themselves. That's how we did it. You can also do  
it through nonviolent, mass civil disobedience. That's how India did it. You 
can  get the world to boycott a regime until they are so ostracized they 
capitulate.  That's how South Africa did it. Or you can just wait them out and, 
sooner or  later, the king's legions simply leave (sometimes just because they're 
too  cold). That's how Canada did it.  
The one way that DOESN'T work is to invade a country and tell the people, "We 
 are here to liberate you!" -- when they have done NOTHING to liberate  
themselves. Where were all the suicide bombers when Saddam was oppressing them?  
Where were the insurgents planting bombs along the roadside as the evildoer  
Saddam's convoy passed them by? I guess ol' Saddam was a cruel despot -- but not  
cruel enough for thousands to risk their necks. "Oh no, Mike, they couldn't 
do  that! Saddam would have had them killed!" Really? You don't think King 
George  had any of the colonial insurgents killed? You don't think Patrick Henry 
or Tom  Paine were afraid? That didn't stop them. When tens of thousands aren't 
willing  to shed their own blood to remove a dictator, that should be the 
first clue that  they aren't going to be willing participants when you decide 
you're going to do  the liberating for them.  
A country can HELP another people overthrow a tyrant (that's what the French  
did for us in our revolution), but after you help them, you leave. 
Immediately.  The French didn't stay and tell us how to set up our government. They 
didn't  say, "we're not leaving because we want your natural resources." They left 
us to  our own devices and it took us six years before we had an election. 
And then we  had a bloody civil war. That's what happens, and history is full of 
these  examples. The French didn't say, "Oh, we better stay in America, 
otherwise  they're going to kill each other over that slavery issue!"  
The only way a war of liberation has a chance of succeeding is if the  
oppressed people being liberated have their own citizens behind them -- and a  group 
of Washingtons, Jeffersons, Franklins, Ghandis and Mandellas leading them.  
Where are these beacons of liberty in Iraq? This is a joke and it's been a joke 
 since the beginning. Yes, the joke's been on us, but with 655,000 Iraqis now 
 dead as a result of our invasion (source: _Johns  Hopkins University_ 
(http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8080) ), I guess the 
cruel joke is on them. At least they've  been liberated, permanently.  
So I don't want to hear another word about sending more troops (wake up,  
America, John McCain is bonkers), or "redeploying" them, or waiting four months  
to begin the "phase-out." There is only one solution and it is this: Leave. 
Now.  Start tonight. Get out of there as fast as we can. As much as people of 
good  heart and conscience don't want to believe this, as much as it kills us to 
 accept defeat, there is nothing we can do to undo the damage we have done.  
What's happened has happened. If you were to drive drunk down the road and you 
 killed a child, there would be nothing you could do to bring that child back 
to  life. If you invade and destroy a country, plunging it into a civil war, 
there  isn't much you can do 'til the smoke settles and blood is mopped up. 
Then maybe  you can atone for the atrocity you have committed and help the 
living come back  to a better life.  
The Soviet Union got out of Afghanistan in 36 weeks. They did so and suffered 
 hardly any losses as they left. They realized the mistake they had made and  
removed their troops. A civil war ensued. The bad guys won. Later, we 
overthrew  the bad guys and everybody lived happily ever after. See! It all works out 
in  the end!  
The responsibility to end this war now falls upon the Democrats. Congress  
controls the purse strings and the Constitution says only Congress can declare  
war. Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi now hold the power to put an end to this madness. 
 Failure to do so will bring the wrath of the voters. We aren't kidding 
around,  Democrats, and if you don't believe us, just go ahead and continue this 
war  another month. We will fight you harder than we did the Republicans. The 
_opening  page of my website_ (http://www.michaelmoore.com/)  has a photo of 
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, each made up  by a collage of photos of the American 
soldiers who have died in Bush's War. But  it is now about to become the 
Bush/Democratic Party War unless swift action is  taken.  
This is what we demand:  
1. Bring the troops home now. Not six months from now. NOW. Quit looking for  
a way to win. We can't win. We've lost. Sometimes you lose. This is one of 
those  times. Be brave and admit it.  
2. Apologize to our soldiers and make amends. Tell them we are sorry they  
were used to fight a war that had NOTHING to do with our national security. We  
must commit to taking care of them so that they suffer as little as possible.  
The mentally and physically maimed must get the best care and significant  
financial compensation. The families of the deceased deserve the biggest apology 
 and they must be taken care of for the rest of their lives.  
3. We must atone for the atrocity we have perpetuated on the people of Iraq.  
There are few evils worse than waging a war based on a lie, invading another  
country because you want what they have buried under the ground. Now many 
more  will die. Their blood is on our hands, regardless for whom we voted. If you 
pay  taxes, you have contributed to the three billion dollars a week now 
being spent  to drive Iraq into the hellhole it's become. When the civil war is 
over, we will  have to help rebuild Iraq. We can receive no redemption until we 
have atoned.  
In closing, there is one final thing I know. We Americans are better than  
what has been done in our name. A majority of us were upset and angry after 9/11 
 and we lost our minds. We didn't think straight and we never looked at a 
map.  Because we are kept stupid through our pathetic education system and our 
lazy  media, we knew nothing of history. We didn't know that WE were the ones 
funding  and arming Saddam for many years, including those when he massacred the 
Kurds.  He was our guy. We didn't know what a Sunni or a Shiite was, never 
even heard  the words. Eighty percent of our young adults (according to National 
Geographic)  were not able to find Iraq on the map. Our leaders played off 
our stupidity,  manipulated us with lies, and scared us to death.  
But at our core we are a good people. We may be slow learners, but that  
"Mission Accomplished" banner struck us as odd, and soon we began to ask some  
questions. Then we began to get smart. By this past November 7th, we got mad and  
tried to right our wrongs. The majority now know the truth. The majority now  
feel a deep sadness and guilt and a hope that somehow we can make make it all 
 right again.  
Unfortunately, we can't. So we will accept the consequences of our actions  
and do our best to be there should the Iraqi people ever dare to seek our help  
in the future. We ask for their forgiveness.  
We demand the Democrats listen to us and get out of Iraq now.  
Yours,  
Michael Moore
_www.michaelmoore.com_ (http://www.michaelmoore.com/) 
_mmflint at aol.com_ (mailto:mmflint at aol.com) 
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