HARLAN RICHARDS

June 16, 2014

The Answer to Iraq's Problem

Iraq is falling apart. Extremist Sunni Muslims are taking over the country and the Shiite soldiers are dropping their weapons and running. I have a solution to the problem: send George Bush and Dick Cheney to Bagdad.

They are the ones who forced our country to invade Iraq based on lies about weapons of mass destruction. They dismantled the entire Iraqi government and created chaos in what was once one of the most stable countries in the Mideast. Then they allowed the Shiites to create an Islamic republic which excluded the Sunnis from any meaningful voice in the new government. George and Dick did all of this by borrowing trillions of dollars to pay for it. At the same time, they were keeping it out of the federal budge and cutting taxes for the rich.

And now, surprise, surprise, the most extreme Sunnis are taking their country back from the people George and Dick gave it to.

Hasn't the U.S. done enough damage? Apparently not, because right-wing zealots are clamoring for more military intervention. The only time Republicans think it is all right to create deficits is to wage unnecessary wars on third world countries.

There is no talk of taxing the rich to pay for their proposals: air strikes and sending more weapons to the Shiites (that would be pointless—the cowards just abandon them and let the Sunnis take them anyway). Heaven forbid we use our tax dollars (or borrowed money) to feed and educate poor children in the U.S.! But give us a chance to borrow billions to facilitate mass murder in a third-world country and it's all systems go!

The hypocrisy of this country's politicians is appalling. The best thing to happen to this country in the last decade was Edward Snowden. We need more American heroes like him to stand up against the Fascist, Imperialist tyranny which has supplanted what was once the greatest democracy in the world.