June 22, 2004

• POLITICS AND PERSONALITIES

  I've been puzzled over the slant national politics has been taking. The administration seems to be pushing the basic idea that if people think they blundered into Iraq because of faulty intelligence or mistaken identity, and that they were a little confused but were so incensed over 9/11 that they had to do something, then since their heart was in the right place and they had the moral high ground, they will be forgiven and re-elected because "they are supporting our troops" .
  First, I doubt that these people were either stupid, ill-informed, or confused. They had/have a political agenda which they are still pursuing and as of now, are not willing to admit has any fundimental problems.
  Second, They have placed the US and our forces in Iraq in an intolerable situation with most of the world apparently seeing us as the bad guys.
  Surprisingly enough, most Iraqis seem to be still fairly supportive of our troops, at least according to most of the numerous warblogs I've scanned. The problem seems to be more one of basic political leadership and strategic planning, not of tactics on the ground. I suspect the idiots at Abu Ghraib actually thought they were doing what they were supposed to be doing and they probably were; I doubt they were supposed to make a photo record though.
  Personally, I think the whole "War of Terrorism" idea has gotten us very confused. As I understand it, the Supreme court will eventually have to define "war" in this context. Is the war a real war against an identified enemy state, or is it war in the sense of making an effort to change a perceived undesirable situation like "War on Poverty" or "War on Drug Abuse" ? Personally, I think it's more of the latter, after all, the terrorists are a pretty loosely connected bunch with no real home base. None of the 9/11 terrorists were from Iraq, for example; most were from Saudi Arabia or Egypt, countries we have good relations with. If this is true, we are wasting our time in Iraq and in fact encouraging more terrorist recruiting. We should keep our eye on the ball and track down terrorist funding and leadership.
  Since the present administration shows little interest in either our international stature, or the welfare of American citizens, I don't think we should give them any more rope. they've hung themselves (and us) high enough already.

  • 10:12 pm
  • 2 Comments