By John Roberts, May 17, 2008

The war in Iraq is probably the single most devise issue in America today.  About two-thirds of the public are against the war, and about one third still thinks the invasion and long term occupation of Iraq was fully justified.

Just for the record, the President finally came out this month and admitted that the intelligence information he used to justify the war was faulty.  Iraq never had a viable WMD program that threatened the United States.  There were no al Qaeda training camps or terrorists in Iraq prior to the war.  Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 terrorists attacks.

What the President did not come clean on was the fact that this faulty information was actually fabricated and disseminated by his own administration.

The back story on the war in Iraq started in the late nineties.  That is when the neoconservative organization called the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) drafted a white paper on Middle East policy.  This document stated that it would be in the best interest of the U.S. to overthrow the Iraqi government for the purpose of using Iraq as a forward military base in the Middle East for at least the next forty years.  The PNAC document went on to say all that was needed to justify a preemptive invasion of Iraq was some "Pearl Harbor" incident on U.S. soil.

Of course that incident occurred on 9/11.  And it soon came to light that 15 of the 19 terrorists were Saudi nationals.  We also quickly learned that the mastermind of the attack was a Saudi national, from a well known Saudi family, that owned the largest construction company in Saudi Arabia.  This was followed by the revelation that the long term Bush family friend and Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar bin Sultan, was involved in funding the terrorists.  Actually it was his wife that was used as the mule to transfer the funds.

When this information finally leaked to the American public Saudi King Abdullah feared the President might be pressured into taking military action against his kingdom.  He informed the President that U.S. military bases were no longer welcome on Saudi soil.

While this was going on the Russians signed a deal with the Iraqi President to rebuild the Iraqi oil infrastructure in exchange for oil rights.  Also at that time the Taliban demanded a piece of the revenue that would come from the new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) pipeline that was being laid across Afghanistan.

And this is the real reason why the U.S. went to war – to implement the PNAC doctrine, to keep the Russians away from Iraqi oil, to keep the Taliban away from Unocal's (Central Asia Gas Pipeline Ltd.) trans-Afghanistan pipeline, to move the Saudi bases to Iraq, and to overthrow the man that tried to assassinate the President's father.

Knowing the public would not support going to war for these reasons alone, the administration trumped up the false Iraqi WMD intelligence.  The 9/11 terrorists attacks, like Pearl Harbor, rallied the U.S. public and most of the non-Muslim world around America.  This gave the administration license to go to war without question, debate, or opposition.

When no WMD's were found it became clear that we had been duped and deceived into invading Iraq on false pretenses by the administration.  The President then proceeded to concoct one story after another to justify the war.  First it was WMDs, then al Qaeda terrorists camps, then to free Iraqis from their evil dictator, then to bring democracy to Iraq and so on.  The current justification for staying in Iraq is, "we can't just pull out now because that would leave Iraq in chaos."

That is like breaking and entering your neighbors house, trashing it, then claiming you must stick around for a hundred years to clean up the mess you created.

And what mess am I speaking about?  Before the war Iraq was one of the few secular nations in the Middle East. People enjoyed freedom of worship.  There were over a million Christians in Iraq.  Today, as a result of the U.S. installed government, Iraq has become an Islamic nation and imposed Shiiah law, with has led to the destruction of the Christian community in Iraq.

Iraq is not a democracy as the administration claims.   Iraq is now under the influence of Iran and radical Islam, and a much greater threat to U.S. and Israel than it was before the war.

Iraq is also producing less oil today than they were before the war, contributing to the OPEC and Cheney orchestrated fake oil shortage, which has cause the price of oil and gas to double in the last year.

Iraq is also a divided nation today because we took out the central government that was holding the country together.

John's Take

For the life of me I can't understand how one-third of the American public can still be duped into supporting the war in Iraq.  When it came to light that the current administration are all involved in one way or another in the oil business and have ties to Exxon and OPEC, war supporters said it was just a coincidence.

When the rest of the world finally figured out that the war in Iraq was mostly about manipulating the price of oil, war supporters said no it's not.

The fact is the U.S. has been "rebuilding" the Iraqi oil infrastructure for over five years, yet Iraqi is exporting less oil today than before the war.  The President has been buying up oil off the open market for the U.S. reserves, which has created an artificial shortage of oil and doubled its price.  The President owned an oil company, the Vice-President was CEO of an oil company, and the Secretary of state was on the board of an oil company and had a tanker named after her.

Mission Accomplished – PNAC foreign policy implemented, record profits for U.S. oil companies and oil stock holders like the President, Vice-President and the Secretary of State, record profits for the administration's friends (Islamic nations like Saudi Arabia), U.S. military bases moved to Iraq, a Republican Presidential candidate that plans to stay in Iraq for 100 years, public's attention diverted away from the mastermind of 9/11 and his backer Saudi Arabia.

And this is a sad commentary on the state of the Church today, seeing that the vast majority of Iraq war supporters think of themselves as "patriotic conservative Christians."  There is nothing patriotic, conservative or Christian about the war in Iraq.  It has accomplished nothing more than to help Islam stomp out another Christian community and turned Iraq into another Iranian controlled base for terrorism.

By John Roberts, January 1, 2008

There has been a dramatic shift in the war in Iraq which indicates the end of this conflict might come sooner than anyone expected:

1. The Prime Ministers of both Australia and Britain have been replaced and consequently the two major U.S. allies in Iraq are calling it quits.

Tony Blair and John Howard kept troops in Iraq for over four years despite the fact that over 90 percent of the Brits and Australians are against the war.   This finally caught up to them and their replacements are making good on promises to end their participation in the war.  The Brits have already turned over their posts to the Iraqis and the Australians will be redeploying to Afghanistan shortly. 

2. Plans for invading Iran have been cancelled.  This means Iraq is no longer needed as a logistics base for an invasion of Iran.

Sanctions have been imposed on Iran because of an alleged threat to the world from Iranian WMD programs.  Recently the bar has been raised to talk of war.  And to many analysis the recent military buildup of U.S. forces in Iraq have all the markings of preparations for an premptive invation of Iran from the Iraqi boarder. 

However, an intelligence report has been released which says Iran cancelled their WMD programs years ago.  And no Iranian WMD programs means no justification for an invasion.

Those beating the drums for war claim they only learned about this information a week ago.  Yet an investigation has proved they were briefed on the end of Iran's WMD programs some time ago.  Clearly someone trying to justify an invasion of Iran using the same strategy they used to invade Iraq, only this time it was exposed before a war could be started. 

Iran has one the largest oil reserves in the world.  Control over this would allow someone to manipulate the price of oil.  This is also right out of the PNAC's Iraqi occupation playbook.

3. The U.S. is now bombing the Kurds and supporting the Sunnis.

When this administration invaded Iraq they overthrew the Sunni government, gave the Kurds independence, and transferred all the power to the Shiites.  Saddam was captured, and executed for his role in bombing the Kurds. And Iraq has been in chaos every since.

Instead of a unified, secular Iraq we now have a radical Islamic Iraq, aligned with Iran, and unable to control Kurdish terrorism or defend themselves from insergents.  And now the U.S. is resorted to bombing Kurds and paying the Sunnis to keep the Shiites and insurgents in check. 

Strange, when Saddam bombed Kurdish terrorists is was a war crime yet when this administration does it they label it a "success."

4. Shredders are working overtime at the White House and in Iraq.

This is another clear sign the end of the war is near.  The destruction of a few CIA torture tapes is nothing compared to what is really going on.  When this administration says there is still a lot to accomplish over the next year what they mean is it’s going to be a really big job to destroy all the incriminating evidence before they leave office.  Consequently, the sound of shredders can be heard 24 hours a day at the White House and on U.S. bases in Iraq.

5. The U.S. military has consolidated the bulk of our forces in and around Baghdad and on U.S. bases.

The highly touted "surge" has in reality been nothing more than a pullback from the Iraqi countryside and hot spots where the U.S. was taking most of our causalities.  This has made Baghdad more secure and reduced U.S. loses but ceded most of Iraq back to the militia of radical Muslim clerics.  This is the very same "fire base" strategy that was used to facilitate an escalation followed by a staged withdraw from another war, Vietnam.

6. The Bush-Cheney administration will be unemployed in 12 months.

Big oil's reign in the White House will come to an end when this administration's term is over and that will speed the end of the war in Iraq.  It is important to remember that Bush-Cheney invaded Iraq to decrease the supply of oil and increase prices and help their big oil connections and the Saudis reap record profits.

7. After the next elections Congress will have the numbers to override pro-war filibusters and Presidential vetoes.

This is the single most important factor leading to the end of the war in Iraq.  Pundits like to point out how dissatisfied the public is with Congress.  But what they don't mention is that people are unhappy with Congress because they have not shut down the President's war. 

The truth is the current majority has had their hands tied by Presidential vetoes and the threat of pro-war filibusters.  But mark my words voters are going to take out their frustration on the pro-war candidates in 2008.  So it really doesn't matter which party or candidate wins the White House.  In 2009 Congress will finally have the power to end the dictatorship of the past eight years and bring an end to the war in Iraq.

John's Take

It is a strange time indeed when I hear friends and family, all professing to be moral and Christian, openly speaking evil of peacemakers and blindly supporting war.  This illustrates just how far our modern-day church has strayed from the teachings of Christ and how easy it is for people to be deceived today.

Jesus said, "Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."  Christ also said, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."

Notice God blesses peacemakers and not warmongers.  A warmonger is literally a seller of war, a peddler of war.  This term is used to describe someone who is anxious to encourage a people or nation to go to war, a militaristic leader or mercenaries, with the implication they have selfish motives for encouraging war, or may actually enjoy war.

And as you can see the definition of a warmonger is synonymous with the Iraq pro-war crowd.  Water-boarding and torture, these are the immoral works of Christ's executioners, the Catholic inquisition, and the Nazis but not Christians or America before Bush.

Some wars are necessary and unavoidable, such as WWII.  But anyone with rational thinking can see the war in Iraq is not that war.

Islam, big oil, and the Saudis have benefited greatly from the war in Iraq.  But for Iraqi Christians and the American public this war has been a fatal tragedy.  The war has taken the focus and resources away from the real war on terror and dealt the American economy and jobs a blow from which we may never recover. 

It says in scripture:

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Ye shall know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

Just look at what the war has done to Iraq and ask yourself, "Is this a good Christian work?"

• Iraq was a secular nation before the war with one of the oldest Christian communities in the world and over 1,000,000 Iraqi Christians.  Christians were free to worship in public and attend Church services.  Proof of the freedom of religion Iraqis enjoyed before the war is the fact that even the Iraqi Prime Minister was a Christian.

• Today Iraq is a Muslim nation.  The newly installed government has adopted Sharia Law, which basically outlaws Christianity.  All the churches have been bombed and burned.  Christians must hide to keep alive.  As many as a hundred thousand Iraqi Christians may have been killed by Muslims and 500,000 have fled the country.

• Iraq is recovering less oil today than they were under U.N. sanctions before the war.  U.S. contractors have been pumping oil back into the wells in Northern Iraq, claiming they have nowhere to put it.

• Most Iraqis have less electricity today than before the war.

• Iraq before the war was a unified nation.  Today Iraq has been split along religious lines into three autonomous nations – the Satan worshiping Kurds, Sunni and Shiite Muslims.  Claims of a democracy in Iraq are a myth.  A nation under Sharia Law will never be democratic.

• The threat of Iraqi WMDs, which was first justification given by this administration for a preemptive attack on Iraq, proved to be trumped up and false allegations.

• In terms of this campaign's value in the war on terror it is important to note that not a single terrorist training camp has been discovered in Iraq.  At the same time the President authorized the use of torture.  Today it is suspected terrorists, tomorrow it could be U.S. citizens!

• The war in Iraq has cost a trillion dollars.  Had that been spent here at home it would be enough money to provide every college bound youth in America a Harvard education, fixed Social Security, secured our borders, provided universal healthcare, repair our infrastructure, helped us get off of Saudi oil, or funded a cure for cancer.  Instead, our tax dollars have gone to Iraq where it has disappeared.

• One place that got a lion's share of our money is Dick Cheney's old company, in which the Vice President still owns a lot of stock.  With cost plus contracts, when a vehicle gets a flat tire the contractors just leave it on the side of the road so they could charge the Pentagon for a new vehicle.

• Over 125,000 U.S. troops have been wounded or injured in Iraq.  Many of these are horrific injuries where death may have been a blessing.  About 4,000 have been killed.  Over 132 have committed suicide.

• Over 1.5 million Iraqis have been injured and upwards of 400,000 killed.

• The price for a barrel of oil has hit $99.  Exxon and other oil companies have posted record profits.  The American public is paying twice as much for a gallon of gas today as were before the war.

• It has been over six years since 9/11 and still this President has not kept his promise to catch Osama bin Laden. 

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