impeach any government official who plans
an aggressive war
Americans should
flood Iraq with needed medical and
humanitarian aid, to undo the damage done during the earlier gulf war
and the recent destruction
flood Iraq with high-quality, low-cost
goods and services needed by the people of Iraq, as a vivid
demonstration of the prosperity that results from "Liberty
under God."
flood Iraq with the ideas of liberty;
become once again "a
city on a hill."
Let's assume that Americans wanted to invest $3 trillion in Iraq.
People like you wanted to invest $10,000 in Iraq, along with another
$10,000 for your wife, and $10,000 for each of your children. You were
willing to take this money out of your retirement, or out of your
children's college fund, to invest in Iraq. You really wanted to help
Iraq.
Would you have spent this money on bombs to blow up Iraqi
neighborhoods? Or would you have invested that money in a different way?
Let's get some historical perspective.
Al-queda is not the first group of terrorists Americans have had to
deal with. President Thomas Jefferson dealt with terrorists during his
administration. Those terrorists were called "Indians." Not
all Americans treated all Indians in a consistently Christian manner,
and not all Indians were terrorists, but many Indians attacked not only
American settlers, but other
Indians as well. In 1779, Jefferson explained to Sir Guy Carleton,
the Governor of Canada:
"The known rule of
warfare of the Indian Savages is an indiscriminate butchery of men,
women and children."
This is an echo of the Declaration of Independence, which said King
George III
has endeavoured to bring
on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages,
whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of
all ages, sexes and conditions
Jefferson and America's Founding Fathers knew
how to deal with terrorists from false religions. Jefferson compiled a
collection of his favorite teachings of Jesus Christ in
order to civilize the Indians. Congress appropriated funds to
various missionary agencies to Christianize the heathen. This was good
foreign policy.
Kevin Craig opposes coercing taxpayers
into funding missionary agencies, but the direction of
America's Founding Fathers is a direction we must follow today.
The Bush
administration initially estimated that the
cost to taxpayers of rebuilding Iraq after a
U.S. invasion would be only $1.7 billion.
After the postwar costs to U.S. taxpayers
soared over $100 billion, the Bush team
"fixed" the problem by removing all
traces of the earlier low estimate from
government web pages.
—James Bovard, "Bush's
Top Ten Farces"
Estimates of the total cost of our war against Iraq vary widely. When
this webpage was first being written (2005) the estimate was in the
neighborhood of $300
Billion. In 2008 we updated
this page. Today the total cost is placed at $3 Trillion.
What would Thomas Jefferson and America's Founding Fathers have done
with 300 billion dollars (besides return it to taxpayers)? What could be
done with $3 Trillion?
With 30% less ($2 Trillion) we could recruit a million Christian
Capitalist missionaries. We could spend $100,000 training each of these
missionaries in the principles of "Liberty
under God": the Declaration of Independence, the
Constitution, and Capitalism.
Missionaries would also learn Iraqi culture and language.
1,000,000
number of missionaries
$100,000
training per missionary (constitution, capitalism, Iraqi
culture)
$100,000,000,000
educational expenses
Jefferson would recommend paying these missionaries so that they
could devote their full efforts to intensive study to gain these
essential competencies.
1,000,000
number of missionaries
$400,000
training expenses
$400,000,000,000
wages (and expect disciplined learning)
These missionaries would then be qualified to impart the principles
of "Liberty under
God" to the people of Iraq, and would be paid for one
year of service, and would be expected to raise private support for a
second year.
1,000,000
missionaries
$500,000
stipend for one year
$500,000,000,000
wages
Each missionary would be given $1,000,000 to "bribe" Iraqi
civilians into attending classes on Christianity, Capitalism and
constitutional government. Terms: successfully complete this year-long college-level course on
Christianity, Capitalism, and the Constitution, and we will invest one
million dollars in your business. We will help you start a business if
you don't have one. If the management of the company you work for will complete this course, we will give you $1 million in stock. This "bribe" would represent an
extraordinary amount of start-up capital for small Iraqi businesses.
Such businesses would be allowed tariff-free trade policies with
U.S. markets. To put it mildly, these businesses would raise the standard of
living for Iraqis and put a human face on Americans.
Total investment in Iraq: $2 trillion, one-third less than the Bush
war. But this program of indoctrination and investment would truly
create a New America in Iraq. Millions of Iraqi civilians would learn
the principles of "Liberty
under God," the principles that made America the
greatest and most admired nation in the history of the world. Imagine
the effect this would have in the Middle East.
Instead, both Republicans and Democrats approved using $3 Trillion
dollars of your money to systematically convert one Iraqi
neighborhood after another into rubble and dust, killing thousands of
innocent Iraqi non-combatants in the process, and angering adherents of false
religions around the world.
Saddam Hussein permitted Christians to evangelize in Iraq. He
certainly would have approved an infusion of $2 Trillion U.S. Dollars
into the Iraqi economy. He may have been a dictator, but he was no fool.
He would have known that with an investment in the spiritual character
of the people of Iraq, along with trillions invested in Iraqi
businesses, Iraq would have become one of the freest and most affluent
nations in the world. Saddam could have taken a great deal of credit for
this.
He would have had to. Because this evangelistic program would have
converted most of his minions into Christian libertarians.
Iraqi writer Kanan Makiya, whose book Republic
of Fear remains the definitive account of Saddam's Iraq,
estimates that in 1980, one-fifth of the economically active Iraqi
labor force was a member of the army, the political militias, the
secret police, or the police. One in five people, in other words, was
employed to carry out institutional violence. The result was a country
in which the families of political victims received their body parts
in the mail; in which tens of thousands of Kurds could be murdered
with chemical weapons; and in which, as Saddam's truncated trial
demonstrated, the dictator could sign a document
randomly condemning 148 people to death—among them an 11-year-old
boy—and feel no remorse or regret whatsoever. As his defense team
argued, he believed this was his prerogative as head of state.
And probably most Iraqis believed it was their duty to submit to
Saddam's prerogatives.
The federal government believes that it can overthrow one dictator
(at a cost of over $10,000 for every man, woman and child in America)
and bring the religion of "democracy"
to Iraq. This is blind faith in the State, especially in a nation
where 20% of the people are willing to work for the regime, carrying out
its murderous edicts.
The religion and culture of the people are more
important than the uniform worn by the dictator. The United
States Federal Government merely replaced the uniform of a secular
dictator with the robes of theocratic muslim clergy. The hearts of the
people were not changed. The religion of Iraq was not changed. Iraq
still does not understand "Liberty Under God."
War Against Christians?
Why would a "Christian President" destroy Christianity in
Iraq and establish a muslim theocracy? Perhaps this was only an
unintentional result of the war in Iraq.
John
Whitehead: What do you think of George W. Bush as the Christian
president? Frank Schaeffer:
He is arguably the worst president in the history of the United
States. He is unfit for the office of president of the United States.
He has trouble speaking the English language and articulating a point
of view. Second, he has led us into a war—in which my son, by the
way, fought—on false pretenses. That is a terrible thing. Bush is
personally responsible for the displacement of the Christian minority
in Iraq. It was the last large Christian minority anywhere in the
Middle East, and it has been destroyed. It is ironic that someone who
proclaims he is a Christian president has single-handedly started a
war that has undone the last Christian minority in the Middle East.
Now it is wall-to-wall Islam from Tehran all the way to the
Mediterranean with the exception of Israel. There is not one place
outside of Syria that still has that intact Christian minority now. [Interview]
America missed her opportunity to "reconstruct Iraq."
"Liberty under
God" is the only principle that will bring international
peace.
The U.S. Federal Government has had a continued relationship with
Saddam Hussein since the 1950's. As we pointed out in our Foreign
Affairs page, America's Founding Fathers did not believe in this
kind of perpetual foreign intervention:
The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign
nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as
little political connection as possible."
— Washington, Farewell Address (1796) [Washington’s
emphasis]
I deem [one of] the essential principles of our
government, and consequently [one] which ought to shape its
administration,…peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all
nations, entangling alliances with none.
— Jefferson, First Inaugural Address (1801)
The federal government wants credit for "fixing" the
problems in Iraq, when those problems were created by the federal
government in the first place. We must get the federal government out of
the "entangling alliance" business.
U.S. Foreign Policy is largely a tool of large business
interests, and U.S. policy toward Iraq is an extension of U.S.
oil industries. See the connections here:
When
War Gets Personal
An insight into President Bush's motivation
may have been provided by the President himself during a fundraising
speech. He pointed out that Saddam Hussein "is a
guy who tried to kill my dad at one time."
It is extraordinary that anyone would think Americans are safer as a
result of Bush invading two Muslim countries and constantly threatening
two more with military attack. The invasions and threats have caused a
dramatic swing in Muslim sentiment away from the US. Prior to Bush’s
invasion of Iraq, a large majority of Muslims had a favorable opinion of
America. Now only about 5 percent do.
A number of US commanders in Iraq and many Middle East experts have
told the American public that the three year-old war in Iraq is serving
both to recruit and to train terrorists for al Qaeda, which has grown
many times its former size. Moreover, the US military has concluded that
al Qaeda has succeeded in having its members elected to the new Iraqi
government.
And now with the triumph of Hamas in the Palestinian election, we see
the total failure of Bush’s Middle Eastern policy. Bush has succeeded
in displacing secular moderates from Middle Eastern governments and
replacing them with Islamic extremists. It boggles the mind that this
disastrous result makes Americans feel safer!
Article II Sec. 4 of the Constitution states that: "The
President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States,
shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of,
Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
International Law Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign says that waging a war of aggression is a
crime under the Nuremberg
Charter, Judgment and Principles. "It's very clear,"
he adds, "if you read all the press reports, they are going to
devastate Baghdad, a metropolitan area of 5 million people. The
Nuremberg Charter clearly says the wanton devastation of a city is a
Nuremberg war crime."
"We sentenced Nazi leaders to death for waging a war of
aggression."
Patrick Henry, March
23, 1775:
There is no longer any room for
hope. If we wish to be free--if we mean to
preserve inviolate those inestimable
privileges for which we have been so long
contending--if we mean not basely to abandon
the noble struggle in which we have been so
long engaged, and which we have pledged
ourselves never to abandon until the glorious
object of our contest shall be obtained--we
must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must
fight! An
appeal to arms and to the God of
hosts [armies] is all that is left us! They
tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope
with so formidable an adversary. But when
shall we be stronger? Will it be the next
week, or the next year? Will it be when we are
totally disarmed, and when a British guard
shall be stationed in every house? Shall we
gather strength but irresolution and inaction?
Shall we acquire the means of effectual
resistance by lying supinely on our backs and
hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until
our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?
Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use
of those means which the God of nature hath
placed in our power. The millions of people,
armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in
such a country as that which we possess, are
invincible by any force which our enemy can
send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not
fight our battles alone. There is a just God
who presides over the destinies of nations,
and who will raise up friends to fight our
battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the
strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the
active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no
election. If we were base enough to desire it,
it is now too late to retire from the contest.
There is no retreat but in submission and
slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking
may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war
is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it,
sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to
extentuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace,
Peace--but there is no peace. The war is
actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from
the north will bring to our ears the clash of
resounding arms! Our brethren are already in
the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it
that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is
life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be
purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid
it, Almighty God! I know not what course
others may take; but as for me, give me
liberty or give me death!
Some historians believe
that at the end of the Upper
Paleolithic Period (around 12,000 BC), Asiatic
groups crossed the Bering
Land Bridge into what is now western Alaska. So "Native
Americans" are really Chinese (a great over-simplification), and
Europeans took over America from these Chinese people.
Now imagine that the Communist
Party of China wants to "take America back," and invades
the U.S., setting up military bases throughout the land, and organizing
a "Coalition Government" with communist sympathizers and Communist
front organizations.
I assume you would join me in saying that the Chinese Communist Party
has no legitimate right to be here and is not our legitimate government.
We would immediately be declared "insurgents," and if we
picked up our muskets like Patrick Henry did, to fight against the
Chinese Communist Redcoats, we would be called "terrorists."
The United States federal government has invaded Iraq with no more
legitimacy than a Chinese invasion of the U.S., and no more legitimacy
than the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan. Like these communist
nations, the United States is now officially atheistic, and it is
illegal for teachers in our local schools to teach schoolchildren that
the Declaration of Independence (1776) is true, that there is a God, our
rights come from Him, and our nation will be blessed by the Providence
of God if we observe "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God."
This is all illegal in this now-atheistic America. Ironically, this
atheistic government did not overthrow a Christian government in Iraq,
but a secular one, and replaced it with an Islamic Theocracy. A
government report published during the Reagan Administration concluded,
"If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America
the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well
have viewed it as an act of war."
Truth is surely stranger than fiction.
The federal government has invaded Iraq, and the federal government
has declared war on America.
True Americans will not support these wars.
The war in Iraq was (and is) an expensive, provocative, ineffective
and unverifiable way of eliminating the threat [of WMD]. The waging of
total war caused tens -- perhaps hundreds -- of thousands of civilian
deaths; cost more than $1 trillion, increasing the deficit and adding to
our economic strain; and included torture, extrajudicial killing and
other illegal activities, undermining the United States' ability to
credibly promote human rights and democracy. Frida
Berrigan: Pro-Nuclear Pundits Debunked
