The Sunday Corvallis Gazette-Times says that the daily 5:00 PM peace vigil in front of hte Benton County Courthouse is the longest-running in the country, dating back to October 7th, 2001 (the dfay the U.S. invaded Afghanistan).
I have only been present for the event a few times. Usually, I rub people's shoulders as they stand there, rather than hold up a sign myself.
But in any event, I wouldn't have been there back in 2001, because I didn't agree with them about Afghanistan.
Remember, please, it was a whole different war from Iraq. That was a government that really was collaborating closely with al Qaeda. And it didn't help matters that it was a government that made Saddam Hussein's regime look like a bastion of human rights.
Invading Afghanistan was the closest thing we'd had to a just cause for war since Pearl Harbor. I didn't go running around in a "Nuke Kabul" T-shirt, but I also didn't protest the invasion. I stood silent and prayed it would be over quickly.
The first part was blessedly quick. And the rest of the story (ending the small-scale fighting around the country, rebuilding what had been destroyed and building what they had never gotten around to) should have been quick and successful.
Unfortunately, the Administration had other priorities.
Afghanistan was unfinished business, and I might well have supported the overthrow of the Taliban some time in the 1990s (Bill Clinton might have done it, if he hadn't been busy with attacks on him from another corner).
Saddam Hussein, supported and sustained in power for many years by Ronald Reagan and Bush the Elected, was also unfinished business, and I might even have supported some well-constructed scheme to overthrow him and assist the people of Iraq in quickly rebuilding their country. But by 2002, we had other matters that should have been attended to first: rebuilding Afghanistan (you broke it, you bought it), capturing Osama bin Laden, shutting down al Qaeda cells around the world. Instead, Bush sent the military and the CIA haring off into Iraq, and we all know how well that worked out.
I was among those who opposed Mr. Bush's adventure in Iraq, and history has proven us correct. I continue to hope that the consequences of this immense blunder can be dealt with, that a Kerry Administration can clean up the mess Bush is leaving behind, and that some good can be salvaged from it.
1 comment:
I'm with you. I was for the war in Afghanistan, but I admit I was more emotionally involved than I should have been. I still think it was right, but we definitely needed to clean up our mess instead of pretending everything's okay. Funny how we don't hear about it much these days.
I've always been opposed to the War in Iraq. I wasn't working when it started and I'd had the luxery of doing a lot of reading on the subject and I was amazed at what the Bush administration was saying since I knew much of it was just plain wrong.
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