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Editor’s Note: The Iraq War has dropped off as a pressing issue in Campaign 2008, with the important New Hampshire primary going to two candidates, Hillary Clinton and John McCain, who were longtime supporters of the invasion and occupation.

In this guest essay, Mary MacElveen warns that America can expect little real change if the parties don't reject war enthusiasts:

I would have to say that this presidential campaign to date has jaded me.  The catch phrase that is being thrown around by so many of these candidates is that they want to change things, but as we begin to see the results of both the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, I do believe that things will stay the same.

The only change I do see is another name coming after the title president.

While the war in Iraq is beginning to poll at the bottom of how Americans will vote, it still remains the single most important factor for me. Yet, many of the candidates who are polling at the top and who are beginning to win these races have either voted for this war and/or continue to vote for any war funding. 

While Mike Huckabee did not cast any vote since he is not and was not in the Senate, still he favors this war.  McCain was even a backer of President Bush’s ‘surge strategy’.

It leaves me to wonder if Americans do want real change or just a change in name. Do Americans want to really chart a new course for this country or continue the current road in which we all travel?  If it is the latter; then God save America from its citizens.

In watching the CNN feed where Marianne Pernold-Young questioned Sen. Hillary Clinton, it brought Clinton to tears. Her display of said tears sickened me beyond belief.

Clinton stated in that feed that this race was personal instead of political in which she said, “I see what’s happening and we have to reverse it.” To this I would love to ask Sen. Clinton: Do you wish to reverse it back to when your husband was our president in which we sanctioned the Iraqi people thereby killing one million of its citizens?

I keep on harping on this, but former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright --when asked by 60 Minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl if it was worth over 500,000 innocent Iraqi children dying -- said, “It was worth it.”

As an American citizen, my eyes are wide open and their deaths are personal to me, Sen. Clinton.

Many supporters of Sen. Clinton will state that she was President Bill Clinton’s true partner, so she must be held responsible for these Iraqi deaths. He saw fit to hold Iraq accountable due to their non-compliance of U.N. resolutions, yet no one is holding Israel accountable for their non-compliance of 71 U.N. resolutions.

As we all know, Sen. Clinton voted for the Iraq Resolution in which I have written consistently does not hold any constitutional and legal powers and does not invoke the war powers act.  She also failed to read the intelligence report proving President Bush wrong, yet folks still voted for her in these races.  I just do not understand this.

Ms. Pernold-Young voted for Sen. Obama after questioning Sen. Clinton, stating his message was “electric”, yet he too has consistently voted to fund this abhorrent war. 

In a past column written by me in which Obama spoke in front of those gathered at an AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee), Obama had this to say of any military action against Iran, “We should take no option, including military action, off the table, and show strong support for Israel’s actions in last summer’s war against Hezbollah.”

I have written scathing articles against the State of Israel for launching that attack and have even seen through photos our support of that terrorist attack upon Lebanon in this previous article asking who are the terrorists.

You may be saying to yourselves: Why am I really targeting the Democratic candidates? Well, to be honest, I expected better from them being of the opposite party if one believes they are truly different than the Republicans. 

I would blast the Republicans and have, but I do not see any change of course only the same should a Republican become our next president.

In a past article commending Rep. Pete Stark embedded are some of the most horrific photos, but not nearly the worst I have seen as I have consistently written and spoken out against this war. 

I want every single Democratic voter to take a look at those no longer with us, namely our soldiers and innocent Iraqi citizens and shed tears for them.  I ask that you reject the tears shed by Sen. Clinton in which she tried to show her human side forgetting humans were killed in Iraq.

Do so if you are truly in wish of a change. As Obama rails against this war, he has consistently voted to fund it and remember that too.

Yes, the war still is the most important issue for me and I do suspect for many more out there. It is not a right vs. left issue, but a holocaust that is taken place over in Iraq. 

Even the L.A. Times reported that one million Iraqis have been killed during this war in which I wrote a scathing column asking Speaker Pelosi when impeachment would be back on the table in relation to President Bush. 

If you add up those killed in Iraq during the sanctions to the ones killed during this Iraq War, so far two million innocent Iraqis have died and yes, it is a holocaust.  Please tell me what issue is more important.

The other night, I was in midstream of writing my thoughts down concerning the Iowa Caucuses, but stopped. I just did not understand how Obama came out on top in that race and I cannot even understand how Clinton came out on top after New Hampshire. 

It just seems to me that Americans do not really want change. That is the only way I can explain the outcomes of both races and that includes those who were the winners on the Republican side.

This column is dedicated to all of our soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq and who have come home maimed. This column is also dedicated to the countless innocent Iraqis who have been killed at the hands of the United States government.

Mary MacElveen is a Long Island-based writer whose work appears at her blog http://marymacelveen.com. Her e-mail address is [email protected]

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