Journal Entry

To say that we are the aggressors in this instance is to say that Saddam Hussein and the countrymen who support him are not culpable for the last 12 years of their inactivity. Lets not forget that for the last 12 years we have continued to be militarily engaged with Iraq policing the “No Fly Zone” just to contain Saddam from trying to reach out again all while UN sanctions failed, and he thumbed his nose at all diplomatic / peaceful efforts to disarm. One only has to go to feed the children websites, and unicef web sites over the past eight years to see accounts of how the Iraqi government misappropriated relief efforts for their own gain.

I watched peace rallies on cspan this past weekend looking for some glimmer of hope that someone might have some other solution than a military conflict but they rang hollow appearing to purport peace with no solution other than to just not have a war.

I am by no means a war monger but my views on war are tempered with my moms stories of how personal friends of hers were spirited out of Germany, through Holland while their parents were gassed during world war 2. To sit back and do nothing after 12 years of trying, is to ignore the fact that while being begged to enter world war 2 in support of France and Britain it took pearl harbor to make it so.

Regardless of an opinion, or the level of disappointment, with war immanent I hope people won’t forget to support those who are fighting to make it possible for you to express your opinions freely.

www.uso.org
www.vfw.org
www.militarymoms.net just to name a few

wilson

"What gives us the right to fly over to a country who has never fired a shot at us, or otherwise threatened our security in any meaningful way, and drop a s***load of bombs?"

How about an assasination attempt on the first Pres. Bush? That's fairly meaningful in my book.

I think Saddam has killed far more of his own people than this war will. A dictator who commits such vile crimes against humanity needs to be gotten rid of, one way or another. Is there a better way to do it? (other than assasination, which, theoretically, is illegal).

A reason to be proud of (y)our country's leadership? We will give food and medicine to Iraqi civilians. We will help them rebuild into a free country. Will innocents die in this war? Probably, and I pray it doesn't happen. But far more lives will be saved with regime change than in letting Saddam continue his torture and genocide.

I appreciate your comments Joe...

Being a woman & having a daughter, I would not want to live in Iraq. If I did, I would want this war to free us. Even if it meant it would cost me my life.

Joe, these people have just as much right to live free as we do. No one has come up with another way to stop Hussein.

And to Wilson's comments - Amen!

I think that President Bush is doing a wonderful job and that we should support his decisions. If we aren't the aggressors then they will be and the war will be fought in America.

This is a hot topic today, and rightfully so.

Jenny (grants), I understand supporting the administration in wartime, but do you really believe that a war with Iraq is going to be fought here? Please tell me how that's possible, because as far as I know, it really isn't. Terrorism? Yes, although even that is difficult, and remember that no Iraqis were involved in 9/11. Conventional war? Highly unlikely. We are the most powerful military force in the world, and that's the reason we can effectively conduct combat that far from home. Iraq doesn't have that capability.

The Gulf War coincided with a bomb threat at my middle school. Just as we were ushered across the street to the high school auditorium, a fighter jet went overhead. Naively some of us thought (a) that the jet might drop a bomb on our school and (b) that it was an Iraqi jet.

Even half an hour after the fact, both of these ideas seemed utterly absurd. A bomb, if it had actually existed (it didn't), would have been planted, not dropped. The jet was probably practicing for the annual air show. Or maybe it wasn't a fighter jet at all, but a single passenger plane or a passenger jet.

Fear was all that counted. Fear plus naivete made anything seem possible, even Saddam Hussein bombing my suburban middle school. Fear and naivete are what make "a war fought in America, " at this time, seem like a real possibility.

For better or worse, realism suggests that we are snug as bugs in rugs here in the States. I wish I could say as much for our armed forces overseas and the civilians of Iraq.

Regarding previous comments.

Is a thwarted assassination attempt worthy of a major military commitment like this one? You'd better hope not, or we'll be sending the Marines to every country on earth, and many other countries would similarly be obligated to send their troops here.

Sanctions have killed people too. Saddam's people have probably killed more, but he's hardly the only one who has put the Iraqis through the wringer. We should try to remember that.

Can anyone tell me just what plans we're talking about for rebuilding Iraq once the war is over? Rebuilding a country is very expensive. There's still a hell of a lot of work to do in Afghanistan, and even more work will be needed in Iraq. Defense spending is way up, but I don't think big enough portions of it are going to reconstruction. We will help them a good bit, yes, but I'm not convinced we'll be able to completely make up for the damage we're causing. And let's not even get into the fact that there isn't actually any money to pay for this anyway. Remember all those tax breaks we're getting? You can't cut taxes and simultaneously increase spending. At least, not without the serious consequences our states, schools, and other institutions are already facing.

The Iraqis most definitely deserve freedom as much as any people on earth. They have had to put up with Saddam for far too long. However, international cooperation and negociation to that end is critically important. Stomping in there as we are doing (along with the UK and a couple others) with most of our support being "symbolic" from the other countries, only reinforces the rampant anti-Americanism that causes terrorist groups to set us in their sights. Yes, they hate us merely for being free and not following their ideologies, but the way we're going about things is not helping our cause one bit. This is not a diplomatic administration.

I would never choose to live in Iraq, and I feel very lucky to be where I am. But I do not agree that the end (a better Iraq) is completely justified by the means (deception, strongarm tactics, and bribery). There are better ways to go about it. Going to war would be much more acceptable if we could garner more real support from the rest of the world.

How long will it take for us to realize that we have to work voluntarily with other countries to make world peace an attainable goal? We can't do it alone.

"Is a thwarted assassination attempt worthy of a major military commitment like this one?"

I guess that depends upon whose Dad it is.

Very useful comments - good to read

David