As the fight heats up in our federal government, I have been attempting to understand what is causing my opposition to the war.
One idea that gets bandied about is that we as a nation have lost the stomach for it and we want our troops home. President Bush rode our bloodlust to kick somebody’s ass after 9/11, and chasing down Bin Laden wasn’t as satisfying as it was to begin with.
I can’t speak for the nation. It may very well be that many in this country have lost the nerve for war and it is upsetting to see the body count rise, with no end in sight.
I am opposd to the war because I have a serious loss of trust in this administration's ability to wage an effective war. In investigating how this war with Iraq has been fought, there have been some huge blunders that have cost us time, money, personnel, and the good will not only of the Iraqis but also of the Arab world in general. I have watched with a growing sense of uneasiness, how while we enjoyed the support of the world after 9/11, it has steadily eroded and in its place has grown a greater lack of support within the world. And I am not excited about continuing to throw more resources into what I consider a failed policy.
So when President Bush says “trust me, a surge is just what we need”, my response is to suffer serious bouts of mistrust of his leadership. Looking at evidence from the past I do not trust this administration. It appears that they are more willing to pick a fight than to talk and fighting hasn't been very successful so far. I also understand the difficulty of talking to nations where there is little truth exchanged.
One reason that I think it’s not a loss of stomach in dealing with Iraq, is that most people I have talked to, believe that we should be in Afghanistan. And if we had marshaled our resources in Afghanistan instead of being distracted by invading and occupying Iraq, we might be out of that country as well.
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I was watching Former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley on Bill Maher and Jon Stewart last week and he was discussing this very issue. I actually clapped at the television when he said to Bill Maher, "A country that rules the world but doesn't want to abide by the rules, has got a foreign policy that's unsustainable at home and unacceptable abroad. Iraq is the biggest foreign policy mistake in my lifetime." – Bill Bradley
Yes, I clapped...no he couldn't hear me but I had to show my support in some fashion.
I agree that at the beginning I supported this war...and I think it was because I was angry at what had happened to us. There was also this other part that remembered the Rwandan issue and how we refused to help them even though people were being masacred there as they were in Iraq. Yes, Saddam was a bad man. But this war...well...I think there was a plan to find a reason to get back into Iraq and unfortunately 9/11 became that reason.
I remember telling my dad before George W. was elected the first time, "Papa, he scares me. I don't know why...but there is something about him that scares me." Now I know what it was...I could see that he was untrustworthy.
George W. is a fighting man...not a talking man. I agree with Sen. Bradley when he said that war should always be the last resort, and this administration used it as the first resort...the only resort.
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