More Thoughts
I would first of all urge readers to keep the following thought in mind, as it is my sole comfort in times of frustration, and I intend no harm or offense to anyone in these potentially argumentative entries:
"Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too." -Voltaire
And, as always, please comment if you feel moved to do so (or even if you don't, I'd still appreciate feedback), and your thoughts will not go unheeded.
Following my last entry about the Bill of Rights' role in today's American society, I received a request for my thoughts on the present issue of the war in Iraq. As a comment would not have been space enough for a good reply, this is my response. And consider yourself forewarned: I am a very liberal thinker, as you may have already noticed from my previous blog, so if you believe that you will be offended by anything I may say, please either express your opinion civilly and I will be happy to listen and respond in kind, or better yet try to change my mind with well-thought-out arguments, but do not berate me with negative criticisms.
The war in Iraq I believe to be a complete waste of U.S. (and foreign, for that matter) resources. I've heard a few different reasons for going into this war, the foremost of which are Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and Iraqi coalition with foreign terrorists. I'll deal with the former first.
There was really no reason to suspect Iraq of having any significant supply of weapons of mass destructin. There still isn't. They agreed to let investigators in before the war started, but the war started anyway, which itself proves - to me, at least - that this was an unjustifiable reason. But to add insult to injury, after Iraq was invaded, there were still none found, and there continue to be no sign of any. If you ask me, it was Bush's way of finishing his daddy's dirty work, but that's just my opinion.
As for the terrorist coalition, that doesn't really hold together too well for me either. This, of course, was the reasoning after 9/11 happened, when they were saying, "Oh, yes, we have to find Bin Laden, and we think he may be in Iraq, so we must invade." Ok, well if that's the case, why spend so much time trying to catch and/or kill Suddam instead of Bin Laden? Would Bin Laden not be the bigger threat? Yeah, I'll agree that Suddam's a threat, though you'd have to convince me of him being a bigger threat than the man who planned and successfully carried out the bombing of a major U.S. city, but even so. He's caught. Tell me again why we're not spending more time looking for Bin Laden now if not earlier? This part I believe was just a way to take advantage of the new-found American patriotism after the attacks of 9/11. People were scared. People were mad. They still are. And Bush was using that emotion to fight for his own reelection.
Now tell me this: What really has been done to counter those attacks? Longer waits in airports? But wait...weren't the suicide bombers pilots? So how will that help? You can't discriminate against every Middle-Easterner in America. Not only is it impossible to do, but it's morally wrong and against everything America stands for. And all terrorists aren't of Middle-Eastern descent anyway, so that would solve nothing. Is sending our men into Iraq to possibly if not probably die the solution? I think not. What is it solving? Some of you might say that it's giving the Iraqis a shot at freedom and democracy that they otherwise may not have had. So killing them and us is better than us not forcing our way of government on them? Again, I think not.
And that's another thing that irks me. Why is it that every time an American is killed in Iraq everyone gets outraged and either demands that our soldiers be sent home from the unnecessary slaughter or expresses deep emotion and gratification that they were willing to die to protect us, and yet it seems that no one bats an eye at how many Iraqi civillians are killed every day? Maybe it's just me, but last I checked they're human too. Just because they're not American doesn't make their lives any less valuable.
Regarding this point of view, I've had many people say to me in the past that it's disrespectful not to support our troops, and that these people are out there sacrificing themselves to support our way of life. To that I would just like to say that I have never stated nor even implied that I do not support the U.S. military troops. I actually do, with all my heart and soul, because they do just that, fighting so that we can continue to live the way we do with all the freedoms we have - in short, so we may live as Americans for as long as we choose. Just because I support the troops, though, does not mean I support what they're doing. But at the same time, I am intelligent enough to understand that they are just following orders, which they may or may not agree with, and that I happen to disagree with. So - it should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway - the reverse is also true: just because I don't support Bush's decision to invade Iraq doesn't mean that I don't support the troops who are carrying out his command. Look at it this way: when you were little and you're mother told you to do something, why did you do it? Not necessarily because you wanted to, but because you were told. You were being obedient, just like the military is taught and paid to be.
"Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too." -Voltaire
And, as always, please comment if you feel moved to do so (or even if you don't, I'd still appreciate feedback), and your thoughts will not go unheeded.
Following my last entry about the Bill of Rights' role in today's American society, I received a request for my thoughts on the present issue of the war in Iraq. As a comment would not have been space enough for a good reply, this is my response. And consider yourself forewarned: I am a very liberal thinker, as you may have already noticed from my previous blog, so if you believe that you will be offended by anything I may say, please either express your opinion civilly and I will be happy to listen and respond in kind, or better yet try to change my mind with well-thought-out arguments, but do not berate me with negative criticisms.
The war in Iraq I believe to be a complete waste of U.S. (and foreign, for that matter) resources. I've heard a few different reasons for going into this war, the foremost of which are Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and Iraqi coalition with foreign terrorists. I'll deal with the former first.
There was really no reason to suspect Iraq of having any significant supply of weapons of mass destructin. There still isn't. They agreed to let investigators in before the war started, but the war started anyway, which itself proves - to me, at least - that this was an unjustifiable reason. But to add insult to injury, after Iraq was invaded, there were still none found, and there continue to be no sign of any. If you ask me, it was Bush's way of finishing his daddy's dirty work, but that's just my opinion.
As for the terrorist coalition, that doesn't really hold together too well for me either. This, of course, was the reasoning after 9/11 happened, when they were saying, "Oh, yes, we have to find Bin Laden, and we think he may be in Iraq, so we must invade." Ok, well if that's the case, why spend so much time trying to catch and/or kill Suddam instead of Bin Laden? Would Bin Laden not be the bigger threat? Yeah, I'll agree that Suddam's a threat, though you'd have to convince me of him being a bigger threat than the man who planned and successfully carried out the bombing of a major U.S. city, but even so. He's caught. Tell me again why we're not spending more time looking for Bin Laden now if not earlier? This part I believe was just a way to take advantage of the new-found American patriotism after the attacks of 9/11. People were scared. People were mad. They still are. And Bush was using that emotion to fight for his own reelection.
Now tell me this: What really has been done to counter those attacks? Longer waits in airports? But wait...weren't the suicide bombers pilots? So how will that help? You can't discriminate against every Middle-Easterner in America. Not only is it impossible to do, but it's morally wrong and against everything America stands for. And all terrorists aren't of Middle-Eastern descent anyway, so that would solve nothing. Is sending our men into Iraq to possibly if not probably die the solution? I think not. What is it solving? Some of you might say that it's giving the Iraqis a shot at freedom and democracy that they otherwise may not have had. So killing them and us is better than us not forcing our way of government on them? Again, I think not.
And that's another thing that irks me. Why is it that every time an American is killed in Iraq everyone gets outraged and either demands that our soldiers be sent home from the unnecessary slaughter or expresses deep emotion and gratification that they were willing to die to protect us, and yet it seems that no one bats an eye at how many Iraqi civillians are killed every day? Maybe it's just me, but last I checked they're human too. Just because they're not American doesn't make their lives any less valuable.
Regarding this point of view, I've had many people say to me in the past that it's disrespectful not to support our troops, and that these people are out there sacrificing themselves to support our way of life. To that I would just like to say that I have never stated nor even implied that I do not support the U.S. military troops. I actually do, with all my heart and soul, because they do just that, fighting so that we can continue to live the way we do with all the freedoms we have - in short, so we may live as Americans for as long as we choose. Just because I support the troops, though, does not mean I support what they're doing. But at the same time, I am intelligent enough to understand that they are just following orders, which they may or may not agree with, and that I happen to disagree with. So - it should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway - the reverse is also true: just because I don't support Bush's decision to invade Iraq doesn't mean that I don't support the troops who are carrying out his command. Look at it this way: when you were little and you're mother told you to do something, why did you do it? Not necessarily because you wanted to, but because you were told. You were being obedient, just like the military is taught and paid to be.