"The documents indicate that the officials foresaw a host of problems that later would haunt both governments -- including thin intelligence about the nature of the Iraqi threat, weak public support for war and a lack of planning for the aftermath of military action. British cabinet ministers, Foreign Office diplomats, senior generals and intelligence service officials all weighed in with concerns and reservations. Yet they could not dissuade their counterparts in the Bush administration -- nor, indeed, their own leader -- from going forward."

From today's story on the AP on the Downing Street Memos.

I haven't made a political post in a long time. I did so regularly my first few months blogging and it was a natural as it was around election time. I always try to discuss politics and social issues in a calm and constructive manner. Today I will fail.

I have been interested in and involved in social causes and politics since I was 14 years old. I have seen the very best and the very worst of what individuals, groups, cultures, societies, governments and armies can do on a micro and macro level.

I have given my time, my money, my sweat, my blood (I took a rock to the head in the West Bank) trying to make a difference in the lives of individuals. I have been through some horrid things in my life and every single time the thing that got me through and made me whole again was doing something for another person.

I am an avid historian and also have a lot of experience in the world of political science.

In short, I care, I do not have the luxury of blissful ignorance.

I am here to say this today. I am angry. I am disheartened. I am disappointed. I am sad. I feel powerless. But I still have hope.

I have watched this country change so much over the last five years its becoming hard to recognize it.
On a macro level its just sickening what has happened.

We have lost the plot here in America. Partisanship, rural vs. urban, red vs. blue. We are completely divided here.

The domestic and foreign policies of the last 5 years have been based on lies, deceptions and manipulation and all have been a disaster, yet 53 million American voted these criminal back into office because there is a CULTURAL AND SOCIAL WAR taking place in America, a very real war.

EVERYTHING!!! EVERYTHING I said and all the other brave opponents of the war in Iraq said and warned about has come to fruition. Its a disaster on EVERY level. It was a naked imperial power play meant to secure our dominance of the region and its resources and we are getting our asses kicked.

They have lied since day one and just continue to lie and bungle and profit $60 DOLLARS A BARREL - HOORAY BOYS!!!!!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!

The world thinks we are a joke.

Our civil liberties are eroding daily and there is the most extreme far right government in the history of the US in power. A government that used the tragedy of 9/11 (WHICH I LIVED THROUGH) to push through their agenda.

These bastards have used GUNS, GOD and GAYS to play on the fears of simple people who have voted against their own interests.

YES, I am ranting. You are fucking-A right I am ranting. I am standing on a soapbox screaming these words. Keeping out immigrants and cutting trade ties to China will only ensure our rapid destruction. Closing our minds and borders just as the world is becoming flat and integrated will leave us behind.

This country is fucked!! Home of the Jesus bumper sticker, the 12 seat SUV, the most energy consumption and most pollution in the world.

Home of religious zealots and empire builders thumbing there nose at the entire world. Its lonely at the top boys. All those you fucked on the way up will fuck you twice as hard on the way down.

But, its also a country with an amazing history. A country that broke through 2,000 years of Kingly rule and created a whole new approach to governance and personal rights. Its a country that helped defeat fascism, and communism and has given the world scientific and medical wonders beyond description.

It is a country that, while making some incredible blunders, was almost always able to stand as that Shining City on a Hill. The place where people came to for hope, life, freedom.

I see that place vanishing.

We must regain the moral high ground. We are just a few steps away from losing it forever. Respect through fear is tyranny. Respect through admiration is what we used to have. Let's not lose it.