Thursday, November 02, 2006

Iraq: Has Osama got that nuke yet?

My husband and I were watching a conservative think tank hawk argue for a change of policy in Iraq last night on the Lehrer Newshour. He sounded somewhat convincing at first, even when he advocated using more troops to essentially "do over" what we've failed (like searching and defending Falluja again, Baghdad properly, leaving troops behind so the insurgents don't take over like they have been, it's maddening).

The guy made some very salient points, like we've been fighting this war with the minimum number of troops possible. The right number to keep it absolutely from spinning out of control, although he said we've constantly been on the edge of the abyss, and the abyss is definitely growing stronger.

But then he lost his mind.

When asked why we should continue this war my husband and I expected him to say that we needed to be in the region to keep terrorists out, or because we need to keep stability in Iraq, or some other such rational sounding, although hard to buy, excuse.

But no. Armchair hawk said that we should stay in Iraq so that our troops won't suffer the emotional trauma of feeling like they lost.

That was his entire rationale for continuing the war.

What?!

We should send more troops to fight and die so that our troops FEEL better about winning?

1) Our troops did not f** up this war, our fantasy-driven, "efficiency-theoried" civilian and military leaders did.
2) Apparently, we are not fighting in Iraq for strategic reasons.

Point number 2 brings me to this stark reality:

The "terrorists" are an unpredictable enemy who can use just a few people to cause tremendous harm.

Our entire energy as a nation should be focused on this:

STOPPING and PREVENTING the terrorists from causing tremendous harm.

That involves securing nuclear and chemical weapons in our own and other countries, spying on terrorists, diplomacy with our enemies, and increased police communications and technological prowess all over the world.

Note: Fighting a war in Iraq, or anywhere really, does not prevent 10 or 20 individuals in the U.K., or Spain, or Canada, or Santa Monica, from killing hundreds or thousands of Americans.

If John Kerry were president WE WOULD BE FOCUSED ON ALL OF THE ABOVE, and we'd be doing it legally and with the support of most of the world.

So Dick "F*** YOURSELF" Cheney, we are NOT LUCKY that John Kerry was cheated out of the Presidency.

Iraq may be distracting some terrorists, but certainly not all, and in the meantime we are spending a lot of resources on something that will not help us one wit in the long run. The safety of our future has been severely compromised in Iraq by Bush, his cronies, and the war industries.

It's what we do, not what they say folks, and here comes election day.

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