First, President George W. Bush declared a war on Iraq. The war began the end the tyrannical rule of Saddam Heussein. Battles raged. Our U.S. military fought hard. Then war was declared over. U.S. soldiers shouted, "VICTORY!", and Iraqi citizens demolished statues of their former ruler. According to Bush everything seemed fine and a new democratic Iraq seemed eminent. It looked like a homerun -until a major-league scandal hit us like a ton of bricks. Photos were discovered showing Iraqi prisoners of war being mentally and physically abused by United States soldiers.

After the pictures were exposed world-wide hundreds more Americans were killed in Iraq. This included an American civilian being captured and beheaded, allegedly in retaliation for the appalling mistreatment of Iraqi citizens.1 Building a new Iraq without anti-American attitudes appears to have come to a screeching halt. This not only slammed the brakes on ending the hatred, but threw it into reverse.

However, the kicker is that the Bush Administration claims to have known nothing of the entire situation until after the press ran the story. Well, he is not the Wizard of Oz, you know. He cannot know and see all. However, with multiple reports from organizations, as well as individuals, for over a year, he should have been pretty darn close.2

"Americans take great pride in their image of themselves as a just, democratic nation that is a force for good in the world and they place a lot of faith in their troops."3 Bush must make this vision a reality once again. In order to do this he must get a grip on the Iraqi abuse outrage. However, all he has done so far is add more questions to the already fuzzy situation:

• Accused soldiers say their behavior with the Iraqi detainees was ordered from higher up. Government officials say it was the "wrongdoing of a few".4
• Reports of abuse have been documented since April 2003. The Bush Administration claims photos were a complete surprise when questioned about their knowledge of the events.5
• Some of the administration have convenient memory loss after statements were made by organizations detailing the months and months of maltreatment. They claim to have a vague recognition or no recognition at all.6 Lies, lies, lies, and more lies....

Americans troops were sent to Iraq in order to save the Iraqi citizens from Saddam Hussein and his tortuous tactics, only to have some of our soldiers perform similar acts of torture. The investigations of the abusive treatment seems to be going nowhere as matters in Iraq only worsen. New photos, testimonies, and video clips are uncovered. The pictures only raise more questions without any good answers and contradictions between the accused soldiers and the military and government officials.

Since he has sent the entire plan of freedom for Iraq and safety for Americans back to the drawing board the new plan for the United States of America should be to send President Bush back to the drawing board. Erase the title 'President' from his name by not voting for George W. Bush in the upcoming elections. Bush has destroyed everything good that has been accomplished on this planet; therefore, we must make certain that we do not allow him to continue on this path. No, we cannot turn back time, but we can choose not to re-elect this disgrace back into office for another term.