The day they opened the gates of hell

It's hard to believe it's only been three years since we were all glued to our tv sets watching this nightmarish little fireworks show called Shock and Awe. Watching as the Americans rained down death from the sky, and opened the gates of hell.

It feels much longer than that. It seems like this crazy war has been going on forever.

They say the anti-war protests this weekend weren't as big as they were in other years. But who can blame anyone? The gates of hell may have slammed behind the Americans and their other partners in the so-called Coalition of the Willing. But the fires they set off have consumed us all.

The neverending images of horror and insanity, the burning buildings, the mutilated corpses, the screams of pain and loss, the desperate pleas from hostages begging for their lives, before their throats were cut. It's all been too much. We've been brutalized, coarsened, desensitized, made numb with despair. Once we might have shaken our fists at the tv set. Or wept. Now we can't even watch.

What a dark journey it has been. But at least most of the American people aren't buying that bullshit anymore. They know better. Their dumbo media has stopped cheerleading and started asking questions, at last.

So now at least they know the difference between a military victory, and an absurd photo op.

They also know that dirty wars lead to black rooms and other dirty places. And what it's doing to coalition soldiers there --even those lucky or unlucky enough to survive.

It's too bad that so many Iraqis had to die before most Americans finally figured out what was going on. And that so many others had their dreams of a better life smashed.

It's too bad that so many young Americans had to die too. Die thinking that they were defending America from terrorists.....when all they were doing was breeding them like rabbits.




But it's some of the soldiers who survive I really feel sorry for. The ones without arms, legs or faces. The ones with brain injuries and serious psychological problems. The ones who will have a whole lifetime to wonder what went wrong. And why their governments lied to them, and didn't tell them why they were there.

Didn't tell them it was so Americans could get 911 out of their system, feel better about themselves, with a mindblowing display of their military power. They might have let Bin Laden escape, but by George they would get Saddam!

So Donald Rumsfeld could try out his pet theory about smaller armies packing a bigger punch. So Halliburton Cheney could keep his hands on a cheap source of oil, and keep the world paying for it with American dollars. So the Pentagon could move its bases out of Saudi Arabia, far away from the holy sites, and set up shop in Iraq instead. So Karl Rove could package Chimp Bush as a warrior king, and win the next election.

Today the Chimp was going on about honouring the dead. But I think the dead would have preferred Bruce's little video.

I don't envy our neighbours. I almost feel sorry for them now. So few years, so many lies, so many bitter lessons learned, so much war to go. We're lucky in Canada that way. All we've got to do is remember one thing:

If Stephen Harper had been our President back then, we would have been in Iraq today. Fighting and killing and dying for nothing. Trapped in our own little corner of hell. And that if he ever gets a majority, at this time in history, god only knows down what dark roads he might lead us. And what it might cost our country.

Three years after the bombs first started falling on Baghdad the road ahead seems darker than ever. But at least now more people know what this crazy war was all about. And what it wasn't about. The military channel may still be running story after story about the glorious race to Baghdad. But most people are simply disgusted. The glory is gone. It isn't a football game anymore.

Even CNN has lost interest. Crime stories are cheaper and better. The good guys always win. And they always end on time. The war in Iraq is a bust.

So you know what that means. don't you?

When you open the gates of hell anything can happen.

Get ready for the War in Iran...