We're Under Attack, so Let's Reduce Our Military!

Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network attacked us on 9/11. So what did we do? After a brief raid on Afghanistan (enough to temporarily take out the Taliban, but not enough to leave Afghan women with any new sense of security), we attacked Iraq - a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and which posed no threat to the U.S.! Osama got away and pops up on our television screens from time to time to remind us that he's still out there plotting new attacks against us.

So now what do we do? We close dozens of military bases, of course!

You see, American towns aren't economically challenged enough in George W. Bush's economy. Some of us are still employed. But by closing all those bases, and by reducing operations at several other bases (which is also in the plan), the Bush administration will achieve a net loss of 10,782 military positions and 18,223 civilian positions, while only 2,818 contractor posts will be added.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld defended the base closings by explaining that "our current arrangements, designed for the cold war, must give way to the new demands of the war against extremism and other evolving 21st-century challenges." 21st-century challenges like lining the pockets of Bush's war profiteer pals with the $48.8 billion that the base closings will reportedly save over the next 20 years?

What do we need bases for, anyway? All our troops are in Iraq getting slaughtered. Only the few survivors will need bases to come home to. Even our wounded troops are being patched up in German hospitals and then sent back to the front lines where the "insurgents" can finish the job.

Of course, with fewer bases in the homeland, we'll be less able to quickly mobilize forces to some parts of the country in the event of an emergency, such as another al-Qaeda attack on our soil. But why lose sleep over that prospect? After all, our government is busy keeping us safe by killing thousands of Iraqi babies and other civilians. As Mr. Bush explained in March of 2002, "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."

So what is our priority?

Our priority appears to be the protection of corporate interests - and fortunes - while undermining those of working and middle-class Americans.

Our priority appears to be the legislation of morality while ignoring and dismissing the transgressions of our own Congressional leaders.

And our priority appears to be the killing and maiming of Iraqi babies because they happen to be sitting on so much oil.

Bush justifies these misguided priorities by invoking his "God" and "family values". The red-state sheep applaud.

It feels like we're living in a Lewis Carroll fairy tale. How many more pages until we reach "The End"?