The 109th Congress should
- terminate attempts to
"reconstruct" Iraq using military imperialism and occupation
- end all sanctions
- 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 eariler 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."
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."
Not all religions are equal. Any religion which kills innocent people
is a "false religion," to use the
words of James Madison.
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.
Christians cannot support coercing non-Christian 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" |
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The cost of our war against Iraq is in the neighborhood of $200
Billion. What would Thomas Jefferson and
America's Founding Fathers have done with 200 billion dollars (besides
return it to taxpayers)?
They would recruit a million Christian Capitalist missionaries. They
could spend $10,000 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 |
| $10,000 |
training per missionary (constitution, capitalism, Iraqi culture) |
| $10,000,000,000 |
educational expenses |
Jefferson would recommend paying these missionaries so that they could
devote their full efforts to intensive study to gain these essential
compentencies.
| 1,000,000 |
number of missionaries |
| $40,000 |
training stipend |
| $40,000,000,000 |
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 |
| $50,000 |
stipend for one year |
| $50,000,000,000 |
wages |
Each missionary would be given $100,000 to "bribe" Iraqi
civilians into attending classes on Christianity, capitalism and
constitutional government. 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 the U.S. These
businesses would raise the standard of living for Iraqis and put a human
face on Americans.
| 1,000,000 |
missionaries |
| $100,000 |
start-up capital |
| $100,000,000,000 |
reconstruction of Iraq |
Total cost: $200 billion, same as the war. But this program 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 $200 Billion
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 was a dictator, but he was also more secular than
Muslim, and Christians
had freedom in Iraq, which is now being lost in
Bush’s Global War on Christians. America missed her opportunity to
"reconstruct Iraq."
"Liberty under God"
is the only principle that will bring international peace.
Saddam Hussein was put in power by the United States.
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.
- 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."
Impeachable Offenses
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."
More:
Preemptive
Impeachment
back: Mideast Policy
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