A Letter from Michael Moore
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 B aghdad .
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
B aghdad 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 ), 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 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
B ush's War. B ut it is now about to become the B ush/Democratic Party
War unless swift action is taken.
This is what we demand:
1. B ring 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. B e 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. B ecause 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.
B ut 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. B y 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