Musings of a Technonerd

I posted this comment a few weeks ago on a close friend's blog, in response to the issuance of the Iraq Commission's report. I was going through some junk on my computer, and saw my rough draft, and decided that because I don't know how many people read my response, I needed to repost it again. The original post will be in italics, plus an additional observation or two.

Shrub will just do what he's done before when someone says something he doesn't want to hear. He ignores them, or in the case of Generals in the military, force them to retire.

And of course, that's exactly what he did again. He adapted virtually none of the recommendations of the report.

On October 11, 2002, the US Senate voted on the Joint Resolution (H.J.Res 114) Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq. I'm proud to say that both Minnesowtah senators, Paul Wellstone, and Mark Dayton voted against it. Two of 23 senators to do so. Both senators endured an incredible storm of criticism both in Washington, and here at home for that vote. They were accused of all sorts of things, including not supporting the troops, ignoring the real threat that Saddam and his "Numerous Weapons Of Mass Destruction" posed to us, even accusations of treason from right wing wackos up here. I remember an interview of him a couple of days later on the subject. He said it was one of the hardest votes he ever made. He was being heavily lobbied from all sides to join with the "yea" vote. But after much thinking and meditation, he said he couldn't live with himself if he went along with the majority and voted for it, because in his heart, he simply didn't believe the bullshit that Shrub's administration was feeding us. He said he believed the information was "cooked" and not true. Once again, another storm of criticism up here from the local right wing Taliban for more "treasonous" statements. Why, how DARE he question our glorious leader???? Some were even calling for a recall election for his "lies and deceit" concerning what he said about Shrub. Funny thing though. He was dead-on-right. He had Shrub's lies and deceit pegged from the beginning. In that interview I spoke of, he said he saw the invasion of Iraq as a bottomless pit we'd never be able to get ourselves out of. He spoke of "thousands of our best young people dying on the battlefield." With the 2002 elections just weeks away, the man put his senate seat on the line rather than go with the flow. And he earned my undying respect. Exactly two weeks later, October 25, Paul Wellstone was dead, due to an airplane accident while flying in to attend the funeral of a close friend here in Northern Minnesowtah. Four years later, you still see green "Wellstone!" and "WWWD?" (What Would Wellstone Do?) bumper stickers on cars up here. For a while, the local Christian Taliban were telling us "He's dead!! Get Over it!!" Don't hear that much any more, as more and more thick headed idiots up here are finally realizing he was right all long. Dead right.