Add to all this madness the equally reprehensible actions of Bush’s “silent partner” in Gulf War II – Zionist Israel. Under the cover of America’s war build-up, Ariel Sharon’s regime has, day by day, shifted his government’s policy toward the Palestinians from vulgar apartheid toward outright ethnic cleansing. Israel’s military thug apparatus mutilates what remains of Palestine – starving its people, destroying their homes, and, now, deliberately killing American peace activists risking their lives to stop them. If a true American hero can be found at this bleak hour, it is surely the martyred Rachel Corrie, of Olympia, Washington - a true young defender of all that America once stood for – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Let us all try our best to retain some optimism that America will eventually find its rightful destiny as a partner in a world community of nations, dedicated to justice and peace. Surely our country must discard militarism and bigotry sometime. For all conquests of blood and iron are fleeting, and in vain. Even the ferocious horsemen from Mongolia, the heirs of Genghis Khan, eventually found their destiny in peace and integration with the cultures they once blighted. In China, Kublai founded the Yuan Dynasty, and greeted Marco Polo on his landmark journey. In India, the Moguls contributed a dazzling chapter to the subcontinent’s venerable history. And in the Middle East, they became just one more ingredient in the rich melting pot of peoples.

Your war will win you nothing lasting, Mr. Bush. What a shame so many will die before that realization finally penetrates your thick, and tragically small, cranium.

Roger H. Lieberman is a senior at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, majoring in Geology.

Republished with the permission of the Palestine Chronicle:
http://www.palestinechronicle.com