Reflections On "Independence"

As our July 4th holiday approaches, I thought it would be a good time to reflect back on the whole concept of ‘Independence'. What is ‘Independence'? What does it really mean? So many of our forefathers have fought and died so that we can be ‘independent'. Are we still ‘independent'? Have we lost any ‘independence'? Was the fight and loss of lives worth it?

This is such an important topic because it's the crux of our existence. It defines us. I like to refer back to the late 1700's when the struggle for our country's independence was in its inception (The American Revolutionary War). A foreign power was governing us and killing those who dissented. The King and his arrogant henchmen were killing everything and everyone in their path and ruled with an iron fist. They lied and deceived to portray the colonists as ‘separatists'. We fought back like the militants we were to resist the evil oppressors. We didn't want this arrogant, evil foreign power to rule us. We knew they were getting rich off our taxes.

Gee, it kind o' sounds familiar, doesn't it? Perhaps this ‘Independence Day' we should think of not just our own independence, but also the independence of those who are unjustly ruled.


Let's put ourselves into the shoes of an Iraqi citizen...

"We didn't exactly ‘like' Sadaam Hussein (probably not much more than those Westerners didn't like George W. Bush), but at least we had our existence. We had running water and electricity. Most of our relatives lived close by and the streets were relatively quiet. We had our shops and our businesses, and our day-to-day activities."

"All of the sudden this bully from the West comes along and bombs the shit out of our country, killing a whole bunch of my cousins. Two years later we still have only occasional running water and electricity. The streets are not safe so we stay indoors all the time cowering and hoping this hell ends. What cousins we have left have joined the resistance to fight off the evil occupiers. We may have ‘independence' from our evil dictator, but now we're ruled by evil occupiers."


The Quest To Conquer

How did we win the American Revolutionary war? Our foe was much bigger and stronger. The odds were stacked against us but somehow we prevailed. I think it was because we were fighting for our own homeland. We were fighting against oppression. Our enemies - they were in a foreign land fighting a war that was meaningless to them. They weren't fighting to protect themselves - they were fighting to conquer. George W. Bush didn't attack Iraq to protect The United States of America – he attacked Iraq to conquer it. There's really no other explanation because Iraq was never a threat to the USA, and George W. Bush knew it.

Now we're in a foreign land fighting to conquer it. History has proven repeatedly that this is impossible. History has proven repeatedly that those, when attempted to be conquered, will resist until their last dying breath. Therefore, the only way to successfully conquer a foreign land is to kill all of the dissidents. Is that George's plan? And of course we have to do this while instituting a new constitution that welcomes rights, liberties, democracy, and the freedom to dissent (like we have here).


So on this July 4th, as you're celebrating your independence, think of all of those who are still not free. Think of those who still suffer under the oppression of an evil ruler. Think of those who live under the military rule of an occupying force. Think of those who died for their independence. Think of the thousands & thousands of Iraqi people we've killed... so far.