DOES GOD CARRY AN UZI?

I used to think of God as a kindly old fellow, looking after me, carrying me when I was too tired to walk, comforting me when I was sad, understanding me, looking for ways to help out in a pinch.

But, currently, God has been placed in a pretty peculiar light. Donald Rumsfeld just declared that God guided him in his struggles with Iraq. George Bush prayed to his "Other Father" about starting Shock & Awe. Tom DeLay, after he left Congress in a state of disgrace, spoke on television of his dependence upon God. An entire division of Evangelicals and religious folks support George Bush and the War in Iraq, and continually link it to God.

I have to admit I'm confused. Since when would God approve a War, especially one started on misinformation and outright lying? Since when would God give support and advice to a man who has mishandled the situation in Iraq until those people are enmeshed in a Civil War, with our soldiers helplessly trying to remedy the situation, many of them without proper equipment?

What kind of a God is this? What kind of a vile, ugly, warlike, snorting creature would approve our marching into Iraq because this little country was supposedly going to attack us? Then, after we arrived there victoriously and toppled that statue of Saddam, we found that we must "train" the ragtag Army in order to ever get out of the place and bring our troops home.

That training didn't seem to work and an entire caboodle of them seemed so loyal to their militia friends that they were allowing these Death Squads to pass unchallenged. So, the military leaders told us, they were sent off for "retraining."

What in tarnation is "retraining"? Do we try to brainwash them into hating their fellow countrymen, waterboard them, smear them with false menstrual blood, and threaten even greater tortures if they do not conform? Or do we just march them around while playing God Bless America on a harmonica?

Every once in a while, more and more as time passes, we get a brief glimpse of Truth, as a retired General or even a militarily-active General shakes his head and says the American tactics are "not working." Even so, George Bush claims he will stay there, even if his only supporters are Laura and Barney, his wife and his dog. I don't suppose it ever occurred to him that he, as President, is a servant of the people, and if a majority of the people find this War distasteful, it is his duty to find a way out of it. Public service is not public service any more. It's a pathway to Ultimate Power......and in many cases, luxurious riches!

Once again, the news reports say we are "rethinking our strategies" in Iraq. Once again, Donald Rumsfeld has been reaffirmed as Defense Secretary, mighty warrior in charge. Not being a military person myself, I don't know what new strategy there could be. All along, the Generals have been calling for more troops. Before the War began, a General said that it would take more troops to win in Iraq...and it is said that he lost his job, so determined was Rumsfeld to use his weapons and a reduced Army.

More troops? A draft, perhaps? Send more young men and women to that Eternal Carnage, ill-equipped, patrolling the streets of Baghdad and other cities, while the top brass and Visiting Dignitaries sit in the comparative safety of the Green Zone? This would be political suicide for George Bush and his Republican Party, because the heart of our nation is not in this War.

Despite the Hype, despite the Spin, despite the Karl Rove-style Buzzwords like "Cut and Run," and despite the furor over "Support the Troops" and "destroy the Dixie Chicks for speaking out," the American people are swiftly turning against the war in Iraq, because beneath it all is a real suspicion that we attacked a rather defenseless country on a pack of lies!

If so, we did it with "God's help," or so they say. God's Party, as they call themselves, is running things. God has picked up the gauntlet and is leading us into War. War with Iraq is happening. War with Iran looms. War with North Korea may follow. This is one ferocious fellow, this God of theirs. He must carry an Uzi and enjoy using it.

We now face an important election. If the Ogre God and the Diebold Machines allow it, we may change the face of Congress. We may put the opposing party into office and perhaps put the brakes on this runaway Administration, with its stubborn insistence upon a victory that nobody can describe, its shredding of civil rights, its Open Door policy on the Southern border, and its complete neglect of the job losses and lowered salaries of the Middle Class.

It's worth a prayer to the old God, the real one, who used to help you out in a crisis. Let's all pray together for the sake of our soldiers and those thousands of dead and wounded Iraqi, among them so many, many orphaned children. It's time to reach into our hearts and realize that the time has come for peace.