I feel very sad for the Iraqi people right now, because I remember this...

[tjwash]

I remember how happy I was for the Iraqis, who showed for the world, how they proudly voted in their first democratic election. These were people, after all who braved the possibilities of being shot, or injured, or fired from their jobs just for voting in an election. Something that we here in America take for granted.

I remember watching CNN, and seeing U.S. Marines "guarding" the ballot boxes, just like I previously saw, in the same types of "elections" in Nicaragua, and other banana republics in the Reagan/Bush Eighties. I remember becoming sad and angry, because I knew then, that the whole thing was a sham, and saw how the chaos and resultant death that has just reared its head was inevitable.

I remember how I wanted to scream through the TV set, as I endured the constant onslaught of White House propaganda on the matter. I wanted the Iraqi people, to know that this administration does not care one bit for them. I wanted them to realize that they were nothing more than a photo-op to prop up an illegal occupation of their land, and the theft of their resources. I wanted all of them to know that they are nothing more than a means to the neo-con ends.

I remember all the crowing and circle jerking by the bush-boys, and the orgy of back slapping and liberal baiting at all the right-wing blogs. I remember how the endless supply of fox-news style pundits told us just how horrible and un-american I was, because I refused to be led by the nose, by the corporate media. How I was a "giving aid and comfort to the enemy" because I didn’t feel the way about all of this, that we were ordered and instructed, to feel about all of this by our government. I remember how liberals like myself, that actually dared to speak up, saying that we needed to temper all of the premature congratulations, and "mission accomplished" talk with cautious optimism, were threatened, referred to as traitors, and told “we did not deserve to live under their flag."

I remember the resultant hate storm. I remember the constant propaganda that referred to me as one of "those people" who "want America to fail" because "he hates the troops and our president". What none of them ever seemed to take into account, is that unlike 99.999 percent of the never ending supply of the anonymous, war cheering cowards that talk a brave game, some of us have actually BEEN to the Middle East. They didn’t take into account that we saw this coming a mile away. Not from “liberal pessimism” as they liked to refer to it, but because we have already seen all of this before, in places like Vietnam, and Nicaragua. Some of us actually had the foresight to say, "when you are all done mutually masturbating about this, allow us to tell you what is going to happen next..."

This is what is going to happen.

And this is what is going to happen

And this.

So when are all these neo-con cowards going out there to make things right? Or, as usual, will it fall on liberals like us to clean up their mess yet again?

[Fridays Child]

1. And this...

Nearly 50 Iraqi factory workers killed in bus massacre

[MadisonProgressive]

2. I knew it was a sham - Bush said it was good ,remember?

[tjwash]

3. I know, but it just completely sucks to see...

...human beings sufferring and living in a perpetual war zone with no hope at all. And it sucks to see the completely clueless cheerleading of all of it by this conservative run media of ours.

[enigma000]

4. I didn't see the elections as a sham

The electorate got the people they voted for. Unfortunately their elected representatives can't form a government and seem incapable of leadership.

Just like the South Vietnamese, Iraqis don't seem able to save their country. I don't think the neo-cons or liberals can do much anymore - this will succeed or fail simply on what the Iraqis do over the next couple of weeks.

[MadMaddie]

5. The Neo-Cons are not capable of fixing anything...

So Never to your first question...

And "Yes" Liberals will have to clean the mess up and ensure that it will never happen again.

<snip>
So when are all these neo-con cowards going out there to make things right? Or, as usual, will it fall on liberals like us to clean up their mess yet again?
<snip>

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Foreign troops "guarding" the ballot boxes is sooo "democratic".

Not to mention little items like slaughtering civilians and torturing prisoners.

[Jacobin]

7. They voted en masse thinking it would get the U.S. to LEAVE

and of course we didn't.

Its all a sham.

It was destined to be a disaster from the moment we set foot in that country for NO LEGAL REASON