Wednesday, June 30, 2010

An Angel Dies. A Devil Lives.

Robert Byrd, longest-serving U.S. senator entered the hospital and unfortunately expired. Senator Byrd was one of the very few brave souls who stood up against ceding war making powers to Pres. George W. Bush. Byrd was against the Iraq war from the beginning. That was a difficult stand then because the Bush administration spread propaganda equating the Iraq war with the war on terrorism. In the oppressive atmosphere of the time, if you opposed invading Iraq, then you were seen as unpatriotic. I’ve admired Senator Byrd ever since his courageous stand. We’ve lost a good man!

"The president is hoping to secure power under the Constitution that no president has ever claimed before, never," Byrd said. "The Bush administration wants (the) president to have the power to launch this nation into war — without provocation and without clear evidence of an imminent attack on the United States. And we're going to be foolish enough to give it to him."

Former Vice President Dick Cheney was also recently hospitalized. It is said that he was the mastermind behind the unnecessary war against Iraq which took tens of thousands of innocent lives. Cheney also advocated torturous methods for extracting information form prisoners. Somehow he got away with it. Cheney was treated and released from the hospital. Devils don’t die easily.

Note: The United Nations former Secretary-General Kofi Annan has stated that the US led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that contravened the US charter.

The Title is used comparatively speaking. I realized that Senior Byrd had a checkered past, and did some things that he would later greatly regret and apologize for.

6 comments:

meleah rebeccah said...

I think that is a PERFECT title for this post!

Dr. Deb said...

It's so important to get another angel in there.

Rebecca said...

Thank-you, from the bottom of this West Virginian's heart, for recognizing Senator Byrd. He wasn't perfect, but 'he is without sin...', and in the end, I truly believe what you said, that he would greatly regret his checkered past.

dmarks said...

I disagree, because the retaliation against Iraq was part of the war on terrorism. Did you know that Saddam Hussein promoted, hosted, and funded many terrorist groups? In a post 9/11 world, it made little sense to let this problem continue.

It should also be noted that the untrue claim by Kofi Annan was not actually any official UN opinion or ruling.

As for Byrd's checkered past. Bill Clinton recently said that it was OK that he joined the KKK in order to be elected.

BB-Idaho said...

"I disagree, because the retaliation against Iraq was part of the war on terrorism. Did you know that Saddam Hussein promoted, hosted, and funded many terrorist groups? In a post 9/11 world, it made little sense to let this problem continue."
Yep, pretty well took care of terrorism, huh? Having fought Hitler, Eisenhower as president had seen enough of 'pre-emptive invasions' and swore the US would never do such a thing. I like Ike...

Awake In Rochester said...

Welcome BB-Idaho,

Attacking Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism. I’m sure that several country leaders supported terrorist groups, but we don’t attack them all. We can not irradiate terrorism worldwide. Terrorism has been going on way before 9-11 and includes many groups.

Pre-emptive invasions are not only a bad idea, but seen as illegal by many civilized countries too. So I’m with you on the Ike comment.