Bush's Success and a Request from Bessemer's Mayor

President Bush, Vice President Cheney and John McCain must really feel good now. McCain had bragged about how safe it was to walk in a Baghdad marketplace, yet yesterday a bomb in just such a place killed 127 people. In all, at least 183 people died in Iraq yesterday. Last week the Iraqi parliament building was attacked and at least 8 people died. The parliament building is in that same secure zone. Bush, Cheney and McCain keep talking about the “successes” we see because of the surge in targets, I mean troops, that we sent over there. But the only success I see is the success of the insurgents in killing their own people and the surge I am most aware of is the surge in U. S. military deaths, with at least 80 deaths per month reported over the first three months of this year.

Here is what Bush says about it, “Violence in Baghdad, sectarian violence in Baghdad, that violence that was beginning to spiral out of control is beginning to subside. And as the violence decreases, people have more confidence...” Those were his words just 9 days ago.

Think of this. At Virginia Tech 32 people were murdered in one day. Think of how our nation is grieving and responding to this tragedy. When most of us were in school, 30 people was about the size of one classroom full of students. That’s about how many were killed at VT. Think of Iraq. Think of that kind of devastation every day. Think of having the equivalent of 6 classrooms full of people killed in one day. That’s what happened yesterday. Think of the worry you would have living in such a society. We worry now about our children or our friends or ourselves in college classrooms now and if we are safe, but what if we had to worry about the classroom, the marketplace, the bus. Every day. Most Iraqis know someone who has been killed or injured, and even more fear that it will happen to them.

We are not just taking part in destroying the infrastructure of a country, or destroying the confidence of its populace, rather we are taking part in the destruction of a society.

This is not success.



On to a Joel Montgomery update. Seems councilman Montgomery gets a little foul mouthed when he is drinking. “I haven’t been this drunk since before I ******g went to Iraq,” he said to the arresting officer. That was before he asked “Do you know who I am?” indicating that he believes he deserves special consideration. And most disgusting, off the police report: the defendant offered to give the officer something “good to look at” if the officer would remove the cuffs. The police report was leaked to the Birmingham News and you can view it at http://blog.al.com/archiblog/2007/04/read_the_arrest_report.html.

And from the Mayor of Bessemer: “We have some very dedicated citizens, who are willing to work hard to get Bessemer where it needs to be and I want to give them an opportunity to do just that.” He want’s us join the various boards, committees or authorities in the city, including the Beautification Board, the Airport Authority, Emergency Medical Advisory Board, Health Care Authority, Public Library Board, Birmingham-Jefferson Transit Authority, Downtown Redevelopment Authority, Commercial Development Authority, Historical Preservation Commission, Park and Recreation Board, Tree Commission and more. To get more information, call City Hall at 205-424-4060 and ask for Mayor Ed May’s office.