And so it begins.

It's taken a long time but at last the American people are beginning to stir, are beginning to see through the web of deceit and lies spun by the Bush administration and the arch propagandist Karl Rove. Decent Republicans are breaking ranks and undermining Bush and his neo-conservative henchmen. Even within the ranks of the loyal there are signs of confusion, splits and contradictory statements. Dick Cheney recently declared that the Iraqi insurgency was 'in its last throes' even while we were witnessing the bloodiest months of slaughter in nearly two years. Rumsfeld only yesterday contradicted him by saying the insurgency could last another twelve years or so - that really is a long, drawn out death.

The truth is that over two years later in Iraq nothing has really improved, the war is costing blood and gold and returning nothing but body bags and global contempt for a once admired nation. In a moral sewer, where it has wallowed for so long, some Americans have begun to ask questions about Iraq and the so called war on terror- why has it taken so long? Why are so many still dying? Why isn't the country secure? Why is it costing so much? Why can't we protect our own troops? Why did we attack a defenceless country that had nothing to do with 9/11, Al'Qaeda or terrorism? Why are we torturing people in our 'gulags'? Why are we murdering people in our custody? Why are we kidnapping and handing over to despicable regimes innocent people to be tortured? Why does most of the world despise us so?

For so long the American people did not know or did not care about what was happening in Iraq. Today, Bush will make address the nation and beg the American people to 'trust him' on Iraq. Just as they trusted him on the issue of the non-existand weapons of mass destruction that he assured the world that Saddam both had and could deliver. Remember Rice's 'mushroom cloud'? Cheney's assertion that Saddam had nuclear weapons? Powell's spoonfuls of anthrax? Rumsfeld's pinpointing of Saddam's mobile laboratories? At best they were dramatic illusions, at worst they were downright lies.

As the now infamous Downing street memos point out, the decision to wage war in Iraq was taken first and then evidence was sought to justify such a crime. The memos record the fact that Saddam probably had no WMDs of note and that Syria, Iran, Libya and North Korea were far more dangerous and better equipped. It further noted that there appeared to be next to no post-war planning, something that coalition troops and Iraqi people are paying for now with their lives. Last weekend, a US general admitted that the British and Americans increased bombing raids as long ago as June 2002, exactly when the Downing street memo stated that the decision to go to war twith Iraq had been cast in stone. If it can be shown that such raids were conducted outside the no-fly zones both Bush and Blair will have acted illegally, just as Nixon acted illegally with the secret bombings of Laos and Cambodia in the Vietnam war.

Bush stated a few weeks ago that going to war was the final option, even while on the eve of the war Saddam was co-operating with the weapons inspectors and destroying his missile capability. Both Scot Ritter and Hans Blix agreed that Saddam had next to no WMD capability. Mohammed El Baradei of the IAEA on the eve of the war issued a statement that Iraq had no nuclear program or ability. All three were castigated and pilloried by the Bush managed media. They were totally right and the Bush administration was totally wrong. 'We know where these weapons are.' Rumsfeld insisted. . Blix, on the eve of the war said that the inspections could be completed satisfactorily 'in a matter of months, not years' and that Saddam had next to no WMD capability. He was ignored as was every scrap of evidence that contradicted the Bush administration's assertions for justifying the war and the UN security councils refusal to endorse the war. There were other options available, Bush lied to the American people when he claimed that there was no other option.

Today Bush will ask the American public, 60% of whom don't think that the war in Iraq has been worth it or competently prosecuted, to stay the course, to back him in Iraq, that he has a plan. As Rumsfeld negotiates with the insurgents to try and end the mayhem he inflicted on the country, as the world watches one of the most astonishing military defeats in history unfold beneath their stare, the American people are being asked to swallow one more big lie. They must listen and then reject Bush and his murderous administration. They must demand his resignation and if possible his impeachment. For the only way to begin to sort out the devastation in Iraq is with someone that the American people trust and respect. As I pointed out in the Terry Schiavo case, decent American people were revolted at the grandstanding by Bush and his fanatical religious cohorts that hijacked the tragedy. That was the beginning of the end, the so called tipping point. That was the point when even loyal Republicans, senators and voters alike, saw through the hypocrisy and lies and spin. Bush must go, and the American people must rise up and make it so.

yechydda,