4000 Dead
On Easter Sunday the 4,000th U.S. service member died in Iraq. This post will contain no sarcasm or snarky comments, just some somber questions that I do not know the answer too. It goes without saying that all US. service members who voluntarily put themselves in harms way deserve or up most respect and admiration. I personally have seven former students who are actively serving in the U.S military. All seven have served in the gulf or Afghanistan or will be deployed to the region shortly. However, simply claiming you support the troops, wearing a flag on your jacket, or putting a flag up on the 4th of July is not patriotism. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, "patriotism is always questioning your government." Here are my questions:
1. What is the United States objective in Iraq?
2. How do you define "winning" in a country full of multi-ethnic tensions that is three distinct regions formed into a country by the British?
3. What exactly are we fighting for in Iraq?
4. Who are we fighting?
5. When is the "mission accomplished" in Iraq?
6. Is it realistic that a Christian nation can occupy a country and force democracy upon Muslim people at gunpoint?
7. Do we accept democracy in Iraq if the majority decides to kick us out?
8. When a soldier dies in Iraq, what is he dying for?
9. If Bill Clinton was president and in charge of this war how would you feel? Would your support or opposition for this war change based on a Republican or Democrat?
I honestly do not know what the answers to these questions are. I am curious to hear your thoughts.....
I am currently reading Michael Oren's book on the middle east. His book is called Power, Faith, and Fantasy-America in the middle east 1776-present. I would recommend reading this book.
posted by dole2obama @ 7:01 PM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
George Bush said, "We'll stand down when they stand up" It has been 5 years since the invasion and they haven't stood up. This whole thing is about religion and misunderstanding of culture. Cheney said we will be greeted as liberators. Bush flew onto an aircraft carrier under a "mission accomplished" sign. In my NSI (National Strategic Intelligence) class we learned about intelligence faliures. Iraq is one of the biggest in history, from believing "curveball" to the enriched uranium speech in the state of the union, to colin powell's disgrace at the UN.
But it's easy to be a monday morning quarterback, I was for the toppling of Saddam based on what I was told by my President, I believed there were WMD's, so did Bill Clinton, and so did a host of other countrys. We were all wrong, and this whole thing is a complete fiasco, and a colossal mistake.....However, things seem to be improving, I don't know if there is "a light at the end of the tunnel" but there could be, and in 30 years history may show this to be the correct decision.....that is a longshot but it is possible.
So what do we do now? Remember how Pelosi and Reid got swept in because of anti-Iraq statements and rhetoric, these two were talking about how we need to end the war and decrease activity, BUT...they all voted for additional 100's of billions of dollars to fund it. The politicians know that no matter what they may say to voters, they really can't "just bring everyone home now" Even Obama if he becomes president can't "just bring everyone home instantly"....we may have to be there for 50 years, just like we have been in Korea for 50 years. This is a greek tragedy and no one knows the answer, I don't hear concrete plans from Obama or McCain. I know we can't do timelines because that would embolden the enemy, we can't be seen as "weak" to these muslims (notice I didn't say extremists, they are typical muslims) So we have to continue to gradually pull back the troops until we aren't there anymore except for a small contingent. There is no real defined mission as far as I can see, the objective changes every few months, because we went in there half cocked without getting real intelligence....that's all for now
Great points, Garrett and Matt. My cut to the chase opinion is quite simple. Are we better off without Saddam and his brutal regime that slaughtered thousands of innocent people...............YES!! Is it best that we took the fight to foreign lands rather than on American soil after the worst attack on American soil, ever...........YES!!! Is the answer to cut and run and embolden the enemy..............NO!!! As in any war is there anyone who likes to lose one American soldier in war................NO. But thank God we have these brave American sholdiers who are up for the fight to defend our freedom and defend this country forever. EOM
Your questions are all very fair. I, too, supported the invasion/pre-emption five or six years ago. I don't know that the issues have changed so much as my understanding. Were we to have the same issues (and intelligence/reports of intelligence) before us today I would oppose the action. Our founding fathers had a policy of non-intervention that I believe we have lost and we should strive to regain.
You are correct in seeing the major problems with the situation. Iraq is not a unified country but a radically divided one. However, I would disagree that it is a Christian nation trying to direct a Muslim nation. America is not (nor has it every been) a Christian nation. What Americans don't get is that there is no such thing as separation of church and state in the middle east mind set and that they are not driven by post-seventies, Hallmark sentimentalism like the US - they don't all just want to get a long. That being the case, we will never find a silver bullet plan for peace until their mindset changes. The problem is not the insurgents it is the entire way of thinking in the middle east. They don't want to to be like us.
That being said - we are in a lose-lose situation. If we bail out now we appear weak and incite future attacks like 911. However, if we don't stop poking our nose into everyone else's business we will incite future attacks like 911.
If only we could find our way back to some of our roots - non-interventionists but unceasing when provoked.
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