[Recycled from 2 September 2004 -- I notice it's still "current"]
Last night I had a most unusual conversation. Unusual, in that I was actually talking, exchanging thoughts, with a person, enjoying the process, when suddenly she declared that invading Iraq was a vitally necessary act, forced upon our government by circumstances.
Seriously, I haven't had much practice at discussing the matter. Hardly anyone I know feels that way. I was somewhat at a loss. In the event, what I said was that I thought the war was a great folly that had nothing to do with the necessary task of shutting down al Qaeda. I went on to say that regardless of whether the war was necessary or not, it had happened, that the only way out was through, that it would take years to extricate ourselves, &c., and that the most important thing was that we had to keep our forces well-supplied and well-supported, look after the wounded and the bereaved and minimize the suffering of all parties. I politely left out the phrase "clean up the mess that idiot has created for us."
I don't think she liked that answer, but it was the only one I had for her.
What do you think?
And yes, I'm actually interested in knowing.
//The Magic 8-Ball says, "Not until U.S. government policy changes."\\
3 comments:
Well, since you asked ;)
I think your response was thoughtful and probably more restrained than I would have been. Do you happen to know if she gets her information from Fox News?
I couldn't agree more with the concept that whether invading Iraq was right or wrong is really no longer the issue (in terms of what we should do there now, not in terms of the election). We're there now, we need to figure out how to repair the damage as best we can. We can't simply pull out now, the country would only become more unstable. We're in it for the long haul. Unfortunately, our very presence is undoubtedly creating new enemies and new resentments that will fester for a lifetime if not generations.
Our military is in serious trouble. The soldiers are underpaid and unsupported by this administration. I wanted to slap someone after hearing the speeches at the RNC. You want to talk about supporting the soldiers? Then don't limit their ability to recieve hazard pay and qualify for veteren's benefits.
And for the love of God would someone please explain to me why it was "vitally necessary" to invade Iraq? Please? What is this "graver threat?" because I don't get it, I really don't.
Please, let's not go into the whys. We're ass-deep in alligators already, let's not get distracted with whys or hows or worse yet whose-faults. That's a separate issue that needs to be dealt with, but we need to keep it separate from the more important matter of ending the current situation, helping the Iraqis get back on their feet, and getting our people OUT OF THERE.
After that's done, we can start on the war crimes trials.
We'll never have war crime trials. Just look at the prison scandels.
While I think the why and the who are things that should be considered in the upcomming election, I whole heartedly agree that outside of influencing a vote that shouldn't be the focus. We need to come up with a plan for how to win the peace. And we need to remember that not only do we need to always have an exit strategey, we need to have a plan for the aftermath as well.
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