LTE, 8/25/05
Howdy: I finally have something to post.
The Bush administration’s rationale for the Iraq war has changed. Wars are like that.
Do you have any idea how offensive that sounds to someone with a relative fighting in Iraq, a war that was supposed to last only a few months? "Oh hey, your brother got his face blown off for completely different reasons than we told you, but hey, stuff happens. What's a brother between friends anyway?"
"Leaving behind a functioning democracy that respects basic human rights, including the rights of women and minorities, is not an unworthy goal. "
I agree that this is a worthy goal, except that I just read that Islam is going to be the source of the law over there, superceding secular law, and that women are actually losing their rights. I even read that the Iraqi woman who hugged the military mom at the 2005 SOU says the US has abandoned women to the Islamists and Kurds. Her words, not mine.
Let's be honest here McFeatters: this war has not only done the US no good, it has set back the cause of women's rights in the Middle East, and empowered real enemies, like Iran, and potential challengers, like China, alike.
It is time to place the American flag higher than the flag of partisanship. Your side screwed up and screwed up big time: it is time to change course and fix what you broke. The first step is to stop being an apologist for an administration, indeed a party, that has spun wildly out of control.
posted by Brendan @ 8/25/2005 12:26:00 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Hey ron...can I get a link to this here Resolution 3 information?
The excuses for the Iraq war keep changing. At first, it was weapons of mass destruction. None were found and so that excuse was proven to be a lie. Then, the excuse became the spread of democracy(at gunpoint), freedom on the march or some such hollow slogan. But the ugly torture business has proven that to be a lie. Then the next excuse was that the American occupation was needed to contain the chaos that was created by-THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION. Now the chickenhawks are rolling out the new excuse that this war is necessary to honor those who have died for the lies that got them killed. So now more lives have to be poured down this rathole in order to honor- THE LIVES THAT HAVE BEEN POURED DOWN THIS RATHOLE. The truth is that they keep war going in order to win elections and cast the opposition as being weak on defense. They are going to keep this war going thru the mid-term elections and then to get Cheney elected and then the mid-term elections and then to get Cheney re-elected and on and on until the wheels fall off the thing. Starting an unnecessary war is like riding a tiger, getting on is easy, but the dismount is dangerous.
larkohio
While I sympathize with your anger, we cannot impose our values on the Iraqis. The rule of law established by Saddam was supported not by the people but rather by the guns and steel of his secret police. It should have been expected that with Saddam gone there would be a blowback effect. The job for Iraqis now is to come up with their own accord, social contract, in terms that all Iraqis can support. Everything must evolve from that. That is, women in the short term will be worse off, but as long as they keep voting (something mandated by the Constitution as it stands now) they will be better off in the long run. At least, that is my hope. If we allow Iraqis to find their own way to the future, more likely than not they will choose the right way.
Operation Yellow Elephant
As for opposition to this war- I am an Independent that tends to on occassion vote for Dems (far more than for Reps), however, I disagree with those who say that we should bring our troops home. I sympathize with the ideals behind it and the anger at this administration's lies and ineptitude. However, I think that although we might have gone to war on false pretences, the damage is done. What we need to do now is to ensure that we leave Iraqis a better country than the one they had under Saddam. By that I don't mean in terms of laws only, but rather a country where they can choose their own leaders and hold them accountable (the elections in January proved that the majority wanted democracy or else they would not have braved the insurgents' wrath), and which they can change. In essence a government of the people, by the people. We cannot penalize the Iraqi people for our mistakes, withdrawing now and leaving them to fend for themselves would do just that and make us look even worse, in the eyes of the world.
That said, its a free country and we are entitled to our opinion.
Yes, nykrindc-
Please stick to the topic. Those who support the war (whether at the beginning or now or whatever) must be personally willing to serve if eligible.
Supporting U.S. military intervention while refusing to consider serving (when eligible) is not worthy of respect.
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I don't know if I believe that women's rights were protected under Hussein's Iraq. (Rape rooms, people?) Anywho, the Republican Party is quite weak, held together by a coalition that can be easily split apart if we put our minds to it. Here's a good way: fracture the evangelical base, empower the fiscal conservatives (the only true conservatives left in politics nowadays, it seems), and turn public attention to the largest, most wasteful welfare program in existence: the Pentagon budget.
To drive a so-called wedge into the evangelical group, we need people like Jim Wallis and groups like Sojourners to give rise to a new leftist Christian movement, organize churches sympathetic to the cause, etc. We also need people like George Lakoff, who can help us recognize how, through the 'framing' of issues, we can change the debate (whose terms and bounds are not in our hands) and have the public discussion shift to the real 'values' and issues truly at stake.
Fiscal 'mavericks' and apolitical politicians like Sens. McCain and Feingold, for instance, are often belittled and ridiculed, but we need more like them so attention can be drawn to what we can do to have our 'conservative' leaders practice what they preach. A strong national defense is vital, which makes it immensely important for us to be opposed to our wasteful, counterproductive Pentagon budget that does nothing to bolster national security, emboldens our enemies, and radicalizes otherwise sympathetic supporters or whomever else at 'the wrong end of the guns' to the Islamists and the Jihadis.
In all of these ways, we must stop the slow destruction of the America in which we are all proud to live.
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