Why I Oppose the Unconstitutional War with Iraq

Al Lorentz
State Chairman
Constitution Party of Texas
February 2003

Before I begin, let me establish my credentials, I am not a liberal, I am a staunch conservative (not a neo-con), I am a former Marine Sniper and later I served nearly 10 years as an Airborne Ranger in the National Guard.

I am obviously against the Bush family war but not because I don't think we can win (I know we can win). Here though is a newsflash to you chickenhawks; might does not make right and being cruel and callous does not make you a tough guy (or gal) and neither are good foreign policy. While I suspect that your reasons for reflexively wanting to solve the problems of the world stem from ignorance and watching too many war movies, that does not excuse your support of this unjust, un-Constitutional and un-necessary war. I am also not a supporter of terrorism, you have me confused with some high level cabinet official.

Let me then state the reasons I am against attacking the people of Iraq in this unjustified and un-Constitutional war:

1. Saddam Hussein is not a member of the Taliban. Not only is he not a member, he actually hates them, you see the Taliban are religious fanatics and Hussein is an atheist. Saddam's longtime feuds with religious fundamentalists in his own country have taught him to not trust them and the feeling is quite mutual. The same cannot be said about the Saudis in regard to the Taliban, after all 17 of the Taliban suicide attackers on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia. The Bush family are close friends with the Saudi ruling family, not that there is any connection of course.

2. Osama Bin Laden. I know that some of you warmongers are saying to yourselves "Hey, I've heard that name before" and you are right. Osama Bin Laden is the man responsible for the 9/11 attacks and despite the hard work of our military in Afghanistan, we have yet to produce a body or any proof (aka evidence) that he has been eliminated. Isn't it interesting to note that the Taliban have fled into Pakistan, a country with many nuclear Weapons (aka Weapons of Mass Destruction) and that Pakistan is ruled by Islamic Fundamentalists?

3. The war will not be bloodless. For those of you who think that Desert Storm was bloodless, I have a number for you; 145. That is the number of our best and bravest who died in the first conflict in battle, a conflict that by the way could have been avoided if then American Ambassador to Iraq April Glespie eight days before Iraq invaded Kuwait, had not said and I quote from the transcript "We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary [of State James] Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction ... that Kuwait is not associated with America. The United States has no opinion on Kuwait"

4. Of course the big numbers are a lot worse and they are in the thousands. It is estimated that we killed approximately 100,000 of their soldiers out of over half a million. Okay, I agree, they were soldiers and while their deaths are a tragedy, every one of us who puts on the uniform realizes it's part of the job. Let's get on to some other figures though, shall we?

5. We were all told about the smart bombs and we saw the video footage which was an excellent piece of propaganda, we actually believed that no errant missiles or bombs fell? The fact is, the majority of the bombs dropped were "iron bombs" or dumb bombs to the tune of 84,000 tons.or 90%. The Pentagon now admits about 35,000 civilian casualties but then they have a vested interest in keeping the numbers a bit low. Some peace groups say it's closer to ten times that figure, but then they have a vested interest in projecting high numbers. In either regard, that's a lot of innocent people to be killed. What would you do if 35,000 US citizens were killed in a UN sponsored bombing raid?

6. Gulf War Syndrome. After Desert Storm there were thousands of soldiers who reported symptoms of an illness that, while remarkably similar to tens of thousands of other gulf war veterans, was simply written off by the Pentagon as "malingering". We can not be sure if these men are suffering from the after effects of experimental drugs used on them by their own military (all perfectly legal but highly immoral), some chemical agents that were released into the air when our ordnance disposal teams blew them up or (and my money is on this one), they were exposed to mega-forces used during that war. The veterans that survived have a 55% rate of serious birth defects within their children, all just one big jolly coincidence I am sure but nonetheless, something to ponder.

7. Finally and most importantly, there is absolutely no Constitutional reason to invade Iraq. If our foreign policy were that of a Constitutional Republic and not a socialist empire, we would not be tangled up in this entire middle Eastern quagmire and sending our money and more importantly, our best and bravest citizens over there to be squandered for the benefit of a handful of individuals. I just can't help but think that if we were not constantly exporting our foreign policy into the middle east they wouldn't have attacked us on 9/11 but then forgive me for not believing George Bushes utterly vacuous statement that "they attacked us because they hate freedom".

I hope you'll join me in rejecting this phony war, if not, the Army recruiter down the street will be happy to take your enlistment and you can give us all a first hand account when you get back. Watch out for the anthrax vaccination
though and your protective mask will not protect you from Depleted Uranium (there's still about 800 metric tons of it laying around over there).

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