Fw: Why the U.S. Must Get Out of Iraq, Pronto

 

----- Original Message -----

From: rainbow7

To: rainbow7

Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 8:25 PM

Subject: Why the U.S. Must Get Out of Iraq, Pronto

Maj. General Harry Upman (retired)

Why the U.S. Must Get Out of Iraq, Pronto

Let me say in no uncertain terms, we must get out of Iraq.

There is nothing to gain and everything to lose in Iraq. We have lost over four thousand of our military, those who were killed in Iraq and those who died in intransit from Iraq to our hospitals in Germany and in Europe. We have had over 10,000 of our troops wounded. According to a report I heard last night on Frontline on PBS, 1 in 6 of our people coming home from Iraq need mental help.

What have we gained in Iraq? Absolutely nothing. What have we lost? Our leadership in the world militarily, morally and financially.

Frankly, Generals Franks and Abizaid have failed. Donald Rumsfeld has failed, as have his top aides. As a former military leader, I am appalled at the Pentagon leadership and the leadership in our military. These men should be drummed out of the military with their heads in shame for the needless loss of the lives of our young men and women.

But that's not the worst of it. What business did they have calling up our Reserves and National Guard to attack another country. These troops are for emergencies and to protect our nation. I know the law, that these troops can be called up. On the other hand, they are to be used for short periods of time, not for long periods of time as they have been abused in Iraq. I note that the recruiters are having a hard time in the Reserves and the National Guard. I can't blame the people for walking away. I would if I'd been lied to this much.

As a man of three wars, from Korea to Viet Nam to Gulf War I, I am embarrassed by such men as General Mattis. If he was under my command, I'd have him  disciplined for ignorance and leading his men astray. No, it is not "fun" to kill people. Killing is a serious business, not something you brag about to businessmen or to the media about. We never told our men to kill for the fun of it. You killed to save yourself and to achieve an objective, never for the "fun of it."

I fear that we have hit the bottom in our military men and women. Lower level officers are now afraid to report atrocities for fear that they will lose their rank, men are afraid to admit they are shot, women are afraid to report rape, when they report rape they are told it was their fault! What has this man's army come to? Have we totally lost our honor? To be a military man in this army means to be immoral, a liar, to accuse the innocent and to not grieve for killing women and children.

This is not the military or the country I served. The men running our government at this time are either mad or totally immoral and have not place in this world as leaders. That is why they must turn out such people as Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush, Mattis and Abizaid and bring in some new leadership who better represents what we are as a nation.

In the process, they may as well take such fools as Bill O'Reilly and let him put his body where his mouth is in terms of Iraq. Let him go to Iraq and see how it feels, let him smell death and let him dodge bullets the way our troops do in Iraq. I'd like to see how much of a smart-ass he would be then. The same is true of that falsely serious Richard Perle; I'd have him take his fat behind out in the boot camp and work him until he learned to sweat. I'd do the same with Paul Wolfowitz. Paul has never had the respect of intelligent men, only men who thought Paul was intelligent. How they were deceived. I've known Paul since he was a bootlicker in his youth in Washington, DC.

Until we regain our moral stature and moral bearings, we shall continue to be hated in this world for good reason. We no longer defend freedom and liberty, we are the new British colonialists, we are the new plunderers, we are the new imperialists. This makes me ashamed of our country.

What do I hope for? I hope some of our military men, men of honor, will stand up and call these immoral and ignorant men what they are. If our military is to defend its honor, it must stand up now. If not, then our military men are part of the problem, not part of the solution. I am not advocating revolution, but I am advocating the right to resist immoral duty and men who think that "killing is
fun," and men who think that bombing a city into the earth, as was done in  Fallougha, will make us more friends and fewer enemies.

<>We must get out of Iraq, pronto, before we lose more troops, make more enemies and show our military vulnerability to the watching world. We are not the formidable force the world thought we were, our troops are exhausted and yet have not won a victory, and our will to victory is fast disappearing. We should get out before we needlessly kill more Iraqis as well. Killing over a hundred thousand, 100,000, according to the Lancet in England is enough to make me more ashamed than when we learned of Mi Lai in Viet Nam. We killed more in Fallougha than in Mi Lai, and yet no one has apologized to the dead or the men and women who survived the devastation, the Dresden like bombing of Fallougha. Where has our
moral leadership that we taught at West Point gone to? What are they doing in OCS these days? I dread finding out if the officers I've seen in Iraq are a fair sample.

How low we have sunk.

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General Upman is a pseudonym for a retired general who would rather not reveal his name because of his former leadership positions in the U.S. Staff Leadership and because he does not want to argue with old friends at the officers clubs when he visits

March 2, 2005
http://www.corvusworld.com/getoutnow.htm

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to become a conscientious objector http://objector.org/
by : Maj. General Harry Upman
Sunday 6th March 2005

New Jerusalem by Carol Wolman

NEW JERUSALEM by Carol Wolman

There is much controversy these days about the nature of the end-times and the eventual outcome.  It is clear to everyone by now that we have reached some sort of limitation to our growth as a species.  We have overflowed our ecological niche, and are due for a massive die-back, to restore the balance of nature.

Many people dismiss the Bible as a bunch of superstitious nonsense, yet it cannot be denied that many of the prophecies, especially in the Book of Revelation, describe some of the disasters we are now beginning to experience.  It is not surprising that a millennial cult is now in full force, and is in the process of making sure its prophecies are fulfilled.

This cult is sometimes called premillennial dispensationalism, and was started in 1830 by a Scottish woman named Margaret MacDonald, spread by Darby and enshrined in the Scofield Bible, which interpreted various passages to fit the doctrine.  Basically it says that believers will be spared the tribulation, and will be taken directly to heaven by Jesus. 

The rapture cult has become vastly popular through the books of Hal Lindsay and Tim LaHaye/Jerry Jenkins.  It offers a psychologically satisfying, if infantile, escape route for people who do not want to deal with the mess humans have made of God's creation here on earth.  For an excellent learned critique of rapture theology, see

Is the Pretribulation Rapture Biblical?

Brian M. Schwertley

http://reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/rapture.htm

 

The tribulation culminates, according to these writers, with the battle of Armageddon, which is a nuclear war that destroys everything.  The New Jerusalem, which is elaborately described in Rev. 21: 1-6, then comes down from heaven to replace the old corrupt city and people.

 

The trouble with this scenario, of course, is that nothing will survive a nuclear holocaust, and a shining new city cannot possibly appear where an atomic bomb has gone off.  I believe that all the imagery in Revelation can be better understood as referring to spiritual matters.  People will love one another as Christ commanded, and will honor truth and justice.  Isaiah describes it well:

Isaiah 65: (King James Version)   ¹⁷For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.  ¹⁸But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.    ¹⁹And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

As we come to grips with the horrors of depleted uranium poisoning of the gene pool, global warming, and other catastrophes in the making, we are sooner or later going to have to repent and change our ways, if we are to survive.  We have to renounce egotism and work for the good of everyone now on earth, all our neighbors.  We must be willing to fight the corporate beast, the militaristic dragon, and the false prophets of the rapture cult, who deceive the people into ignoring the piracies of the Bush junta. 

A couple of specific suggestions to move us in the right direction:

1) A "love your neighbor" campaign worldwide, especially in the Holy Land;

2) Move the UN to Jerusalem and make it truly the city of peace, where nations beat their swords into plowshares.;

3) An acceptance by everyone of God's mandate to choose life for ourselves and our children;

4) an acceptance of the model of willingnes to sacrifice oneself given to us by Jesus Christ.

In the name of the Prince of Peace,  Carol Wolman

My practical view of the Bible by Carol Wolman

Psalm 46 (King James Version): ¹God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ²Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.      ³Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.   Selah.

Dear Friends,

A couple of my correspondents are strict pretribulation rapture believers- what I call cultists.  They take a passage like that in the psalm above as proof that God CAN replace Jerusalem after a nuclear war, He CAN destroy life on earth and take His true believers somewhere else to start over, or alternatively, He CAN stop global warming and produce inexhaustible food and energy for us if He so pleases.  THEREFORE, we don't have to lift a finger to help ourselves.  God WILL transport these true believers out of here because they say the right words, and meanwhile, they can rejoice in the imagined suffering of those of us who have the gall to disagree with them.  I was actually called a tree hugger recently!

I see the Bible quite differently.  First of all, it is clear to me that the rapture cultists are relying on an INTERPRETATION of prophecy that originated in Scotland in the early 19th century- no one thought of it for 1800 years!  Secondly, as a psychiatrist I can see that their belief system serves as a wonderful defense mechanism against taking responsibility for dealing with the ecological and political realities of our time.  They are free to overlook the blatant sins of their leaders, and can turn the Bible on its head to justify greed and profit-mongering.  Thirdly, they are ignoring the central message of the Bible, which is to choose life. 

I believe that the Bible was handed down to us as a roadmap for establishing peace on earth.  It contains many prophecies that describe our times, and many warnings about the evil forces that will work to destroy God's creation.  We are given weapons to fight these evil forces- truth, justice, righteousness, love- and the strength to persevere.  If we call on God for help, He will help us with our troubles, even our present overwhelming troubles of nuclear pollution, global warming, hunger, etc. 

The evil forces are described in the Book of Revelation as the beast, the dragon, and the false prophet.  The beast has been falsely ascribed to groupings of nations such as the Soviet Union, European Union, United Nations.  In fact, the Bible is clear that nations will remain nations in the end-time, and learn to cooperate.  The beast is the international conglomeration of corporations that rules the world.  It implants its number on computer chips within corporate commodities that we purchase.  Its values, of greed and consumption, drive public and political life in the US.  It is empowered by the dragon of militarism, and given legitimacy by the false prophets of the rapture cult.

Our weapons are truth, exposing the lies and false doctrines of the false prophets, and the "iron rod" of the nuclear dangers that we live with.  Even if the seas roar and the mountains shake, we can find the strength, wisdom and love of God, if we seek Him. 

We need to follow the example set by His son, which is to love our neighbors enough that we would even sacrifice our lives for them.  Many brave politicians and journalists have already done this, as the assassination squads have been active for 50 years.  The strength and courage required to take on the massive power of the corporate beast, the militaristic dragon, and the false prophets of the rapture cult can only come from God.  I take refuge in Him and His word in the Bible.

In the name of the Prince of Peace,  Carol Wolman