Baghdad, Goodbye
By the middle of next month, the Bush administration will have to present evidence that the so-called Surge is working in order to retain Congressional funding for continued operations. There should be little doubt that this report, to be given to the Congress by Gen. David Petraeus, will be largely a fabrication.
The reality of the situation is represented by an article, posted by Truthdig, written by a US government contractor about to depart for good from Iraq. Truthdig editors post that they know the identity of this contractor, but for reasons that should be clear to anyone who harbors the slightest suspicion of the motives of the Bush cabal, they choose not to reveal it.
After all - what’s sauce for the propagander should also be for the goose!
Well my due date gets a little closer
Soon the time I wave goodbye…
I have been living and working in Baghdad for the past 16 months and will be leaving next week for good.
Won’t allow a mental breakdown
You know I can’t hide the lie…
[I]t has cost me. I am a changed man. I have become hardened. I almost feel like a zombie.
Where I’m not supposed to lie my head
Always seems my softest pillow…
I live on an Army base. I live in a trailer with four other men. We each have our own space and I am lucky to have quiet roommates.
And as I board my plane
Something inside my brain
Says to wave Baghdad goodbye…
I have had a lot of experiences over these 16 months, and the situation has not changed one bit. I feel like I am leaving a sinking ship.
Baghdad goodbye, goodbye
Baghdad I won’t see you ’round sometime…
I have no idea what Baghdad looks like. I have been told by soldiers that it is “like one of those Mexican border towns.”
Baghdad goodbye
Baghdad I won’t be ’round here sometime
Baghdad goodbye
Every day, the Iraqis risk their lives to come to work because they have no choice. Most Iraqis come to work by bus since there is a shortage of gasoline in Baghdad. Some of the Iraqis I work with just live in the building we work in rather than risk going home every day.
Sunset strip and a field trip
Over half a world away…
I was recently on vacation in the States when the bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. Yes, it was a terrible tragedy, but to the Iraqis that is nothing. There aren’t enough grief counselors in the world to come to Baghdad and ask the Iraqis how they are coping.
Sunni Princess beckons…
too soon, watch her spirit fade away…
Everyone knows someone who has been killed or kidnapped, whether a family member or a friend. It’s a daily occurrence, and they feel helpless, frustrated and, of course, very sad.
Now I feel light years away
From the land that I did once know…
I wonder how we in America would react if we had even one hour without electricity or water and had to wait in a line to fuel our gas-guzzling SUVs. I can’t figure out how we have such easy access to gasoline and the Iraqis have none.
And as I board my plane
Something inside my brain
Says to wave Baghdad Goodbye…
Our troops are losing morale. They know they are fighting a war that will never end, and I feel sorry for them. I feel that the ship will eventually sink and we will have caused the most terrible suffering for a people that just want a day when they can leave their house without the fear of being kidnapped or killed. For the Iraqis, freedom certainly isn’t free: They are paying a heavy price for it.
Baghdad goodbye, goodbye
Baghdad wouldn’t keep you ’round now…
The majority of my co-workers are Iraqi, and every single one has been deeply affected by the war. Those that had the means have gone to either Jordan or Syria. The others are trapped. No country wants them.
Baghdad goodbye
Can’t you see the tear in my eye now…
Most Iraqis feel that they will indeed be killed, whether by the Sunni militia, the Shiite militia, the American Army or a car bomb. Freedom is something that I fear the Iraqis will not have any time in the near future.
Baghdad goodbye
Baghdad stop to cry now
Baghdad goodbye I’m going to see you around…
It is with a heavy heart that I leave behind my Iraqi friends. Their lives are absolutely horrible, but they have to keep moving every day to survive. Every day, as they leave for home, I always wonder if it will be the last time I see them. We have made a mess of Iraq, and the Iraqis, who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, are the ones that are paying the price.
(Song lyrics adapted from LA Goodbye by Jim Peterik)
I’ll leave the final word to an excerpt from the August 18, 2007 editorial published in The Brattleboro Reformer of Brattleboro, VT:
An illegal and immoral war that didn’t need to happen and doesn’t need to continue will keep going, for no other reason except to justify the failed thinking that got us into this mess in the first place.