It has to come to an end. It has to stop now. Not one more life needs to be lost. Not one more family needs to be told that its loved one has fallen. Not one more young son or daughter needs to not be able to remember his or her father or mother. Not one more parent needs to bury his or her fallen son or daughter. Not one more husband or wife needs to become a widow or widower. Not one more.
As the New Year was about to ring in, a dark cloud appeared over America. When I awoke I did my morning routine of reading the paper and watching the news until lunch, and I was sitting down when across the screen on CNN it was reported that Sgt. Edward Shaffer had become the 3,000th American death in the War in Iraq. He was only two years older than I am, 23. I was sure that this event, this number of deaths that was creeping higher and higher, would surely lead to the end of America’s second-largest military mistake in history. Democrats were about to take charge of the House and the Senate, and with that came control of the purse. I was sure they wouldn’t need to use it to end this unjust war. I was sure that on both sides of the aisle our representatives and even maybe President George W. Bush would realize this war had gone too far. They didn’t.
I never thought I would advocate using the power of the purse to end the war in Iraq. But, today, I believe it necessary that to end this unjust war, to end this illegal war, to end this tyrannical war by Bush and his “league of extraordinary gentlemen,” we must pass a resolution mandating that by Jan. 1, 2008, the United States Congress will no longer fund the war in Iraq.
If you want to say that I am putting the lives of our troops in danger, you are being completely ridiculous. Bush put our troops in danger by fudging the numbers and the “facts” to mislead, to blatantly lie to the American people to put our sons and daughters, our mothers and fathers, in harm’s way. To cut funding would ensure that the Department of Defense draws up plans to redeploy the troops in Iraq. Are we also forgetting that it was the Republican-led Congress, which was not properly funding our troops – the troops that have almost no body armor and a limited amount of shielding on their tanks? Must we forget that it was the Republican-led Congress, along with Bush, who used fear – fear to get the American people to forget their liberties and freedoms, to forget what we fought so hard for in 1776?
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Three thousand one hundred twenty-six men and women – some barely teenagers – will never experience the rest of their lives; they died fighting while those who sent them into battle spent their time tearing away our liberties, and the pursuit of happiness that was supposed to be the American dream will never be achieved by those brave souls who signed up to defend our nation.
Congress must set the deadline. The argument that setting a deadline and leaving Iraq will only lead to intervention by its neighboring countries and spin Iraq into a civil war is null and void because it is already happening. The argument that leaving Iraq will empower the terrorists is null and void, as we will be better served with a well-rested and reinvigorated group of soldiers who can take on the terrorists who are planning the attacks on us in Pakistan and in Afghanistan. We still have not caught the man who masterminds these attacks; we have not caught the man who planned and funded the massacre that was Sept. 11. Bush even said he no longer thinks about where Osama bin Laden is – he believes he is marginalized. Well, if he is marginalized then why is the threat that you have led the American people into believing still so horrifying? How much longer can Bush be allowed to talk out of both sides of his mouth? This war must end now, or here in America, here in the land of the free, the home of the brave, we will never be allowed those freedoms, and our brave will continue to die in an illegal, unjust war.
