REPUBLICANS: WRONG ON IRAQ, WRONG FOR AMERICA

AMERICAN ME

    Recently I've been speaking with many Republican McCain supporters.  Several have weighed in on this site, although I wouldn't want you to judge the rest by the lack of intelligence shown in those petty examples.  My understanding of the Republican platform, especially as it relates to why they think they should vote for McCain is as follows:

    Soldiers fighting in Iraq are protecting our freedom.

    There are numerous slogans attached to this line of thought:  I'd rather fight them over there than over here, etc. 

    The Republicans are better suited for the defense of this country, more concerned with military readiness, more willing to spend money for our troops.

    John McCain will make a better Commander-In-Chief due to his military experience, and comprehension of military matters. 

    It is unpatriotic not to support the war in Iraq, as it is a slap in the face to the soldiers fighting overseas as well as their loved ones left home to carry on without them.

McCAIN ON THE IRAQ WAR

    On November 21, 2001, John McCain was interviewed on ABC, wherein he made the following claims:

    1. The Bush Administration would build a case for military conflict with Iraq.

    2. McCain stood in support of this.

    3. There were weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.  He pointed out how much trouble "little bits of Anthrax" had proven to be, indicating the need to address Saddam's acquisition of much larger scale weapons. 

    4. Iraq was connected to the September 11th attacks by virtue of the fact that Muhammad Atta had met with Iraqi intelligence officers in Prague. 

      We now know that numbers three and four were not true.

    You can view the interview here: McCain Interview

    On September 24, 2002, McCain told Larry King, "I believe the success will be fairly easy." 

    On September 29, 2002, McCain told CNN, "I believe that we can win an overwhelming victory in a very short period of time." 

     On March 24, 2004, McCain told MSNBC that "There's no doubt in my mind that once these people (the Saddam Hussein regime) are gone that we will be welcomed as liberators."  

    In April 2007, McCain told an audience at the Virginia Military Institute that under the leadership of General Patraeus, and the "surge", we had "Chosen a hard road, but it is the right road.  It is necessary and just."

    On McCain's website you can view his undiminished support for that "surge" as well as all things Patraeus.  In McCain's view, we are winning.  McCain on Iraq

DEMOCRACY OR ELSE!

     I don't doubt that there are some of you who have loved ones fighting overseas right now.  Or maybe a few who had to sacrifice at home while your husband or wife went off to serve.  I am not suggesting anything that would diminish their sacrifice or honor.

    To me, supporting the troops is protecting them from being in harm's way needlessly.  To me, I am defending your loved ones when I say that their blood is much too costly to be shed for anything less than absolute neccessity.  If there are those who would say that makes me unpatriotic, so be it.  I will not be silenced on that issue. 

    I can understand if some of you are having trouble seeing through the smokescreen erected by the Pro-War people in the Republican party.  They would love to see you keep waving your flag, agreeing with whatever they say, all in the name of patriotism.

    To disagree with the war is Un-American.  Of course, by that reasoning, we can wrap anything up in the American Flag and get away with it, right?  Any dissention or disagreement is akin to treason. 

    The truth is that the war in Iraq cannot be "won."  Not in traditional terms, anyway.  The best we can hope for is to stabilize the economy, the political structure, and the legal system long enough so that the second we leave it doesn't come collapsing down around their ears.

    The very idea that we could bestow "Democracy" on the people of Iraq is silly.

    Why? 

    Because they simply don't understand it.  Their culture, their heritage, the very fabric of their beings are not conducive to what we understand as "freedom."  We can give them all the legal freedoms we enjoy, and at the end of the day they are going to turn around and do exactly what their mullah tells them to do.  Or their cleric.  Or their warlord. 

    And I am not insulting the people of Iraq by saying this.  I'm insulting the sheer ignorance of the Western mind that would think another country would want what we have, simply because we have it.  

    There is simply no way to kill enough people to make that point sink in.  You can't bomb a country into our way of thinking.  It doesn't work. 

    John McCain was wrong about his reasons for us going into Iraq in the first place.  He was wrong about a quick and easy victory.  He was wrong about us being welcomed as liberators.  

    You still feeling confident that he's right about Iraq's future?

GET OUT OCCUPIER!

    Today, October 18, 2008, nearly 50,000 Iraqi's gathered in Baghdad to protest plans to extend the US mandate in Iraq.  "Get out occupier!" was just one of the things they chanted in unison.

    The demonstration was organized by by supporters of the militant Shia Cleric Moqtada Sadr, who controls 30 members of the Iraqi Parliament. 

    Still optimistic?

    To date 97,000 Iraqi civilians are dead because of our occupation. 

    That's one hell of a liberation, ain't it?  We're here to LIBERATE you, guys!  Hooray!  Oh, by the way, 100,000 of you won't survive this liberation.  Sorry.  That's 100,000 so far.  We're still there and the bodies just keep on dropping. 

    In my mind, the cornerstone of American Democracy is our various freedoms.  We cling to them like rabid dogs.  Nobody better screw with our Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, or Freedom of Religion. 

    Last week, Sunni militants killed a dozen Iraqi Christians.  Approximately one-third of Iraq's 800,000 Christians have fled the country due to threats against their families for their religious beliefs. 

    Do you see where I'm going with this?  You can have all the legislated Democratic freedoms in the world, but they don't mean squat if you have to worry about a group of psychotic sheep herders with AK-47's coming to kill your whole family if you don't comply with Islamic law.

    Democracy cannot be pre-fabricated and shipped out like the homes we see moving across the country on the back of eighteen wheelers.  It has to grow from within.

    The reason the American Democracy formed and grew strong was because people in this country were willing to fight for it, die for it, and keep it healthy.  The French didn't come in, kick the Brit's asses, and impose their rules on us. 

    America took freedom by force.  Our forefathers gave their blood to ensure we had the right to be free.  It was that important to them.

    There are no examples of a mass-Iraqi effort to the same prior to our arrival.  The sad reality is that we didn't go into Iraq because we were afraid they were developing Weapons of Mass Destruction, we didn't go into Iraq because their people asked us to help them support Democracy, and we didn't go into Iraq because of their connections to the September 11th attacks.

A BARREN OUTCOME

    Do you want to know the real reason we invaded Iraq?  Here is a quote that I think you might find interesting:  "Let's not forget, this is the guy that tried to kill my dad," George W. Bush, September 27, 2007, during a speech in Houston. 

    Worst of all, there was a President George Bush who had exactly the right perception of what an invasion of Iraq would result in.  It's a shame his considerably less-articulate son didn't listen.

    In 1998, President George Herbert Walker Bush wrote an autobiography titled A WORLD TRANSFORMED.  On page 483, the following passage appears:

    While we hoped that popular revolt or coup would topple Saddam, neither the U.S. nor the countries of the region wished to see the breakup of the Iraqi state. We were concerned about the long-term balance of power at the head of the Gulf. Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in "mission creep," and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under those circumstances, furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-cold war world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the U.N.'s mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the U.S. could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different--and perhaps barren--outcome.

       

    A Barren Outcome indeed, Mr. President.

 

THE FINAL ANALYSIS

    One of the benefits of my job is that I get to meet all sorts of people, in all sorts of situations.  I've probably mentioned before that there were only a small few I considered "Evil."  Most of them, even those who'd committed very serious crimes, were regular folks who had collossal lapses in judgement. 

    I don't believe that John McCain or Sarah Palin, or maybe even George W. Bush, are evil people.  I don't believe they are actively trying to injure the country.  I do believe that they are wrong in their ideas about how we are supposed to go about conducting the business of running The Greatest Country On The Planet. 

    I also don't believe that all of the people displaying McCain/Palin signs are bad people.  They are simply wrong in their ideas about what it means to be a patriot vs. a Good Party Member.

    I am quite sure you are all Good Little Republicans.  I am sure when McCain comes to tax your health care and and replace your existing coverage with a $5,000 coupon, you will be thanked greatly for your support. 

    When the Iraq War goes on for years and years, draining this country of its resources both financial and human, when more Iraqi civilians die, and the Middle East situation grows to nuclear proportions, it will be okay.  Your Republican Leaders will tell you its for a patriotic cause.

    You can buy that if you want to.  In November, there are many people banking on the fact that you'll do just that. Good, good Republican.  

    Personally, I reject that line of thinking.  I will never let anyone tell me what I am "supposed" to believe.  You will never convince me that murder, greed, and lying can be justified despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  I don't care what party you are from.  I don't care what flag you wrap it up in. 

    Are soldiers fighting in Iraq protecting American freedom?  

    I'd ask you to show me ONE American freedom that was threatened by Iraq.  

    Is fighting them "over there" better than fighting them "over here?"  

    Well, we're certainly giving them plenty of battlefield experience and knowledge of American military capabilities, aren't we? 

     Are the Republicans better suited for the defense of this country?

    I'd argue that the Republican leadership has done more to cause unrest toward America than at any other time in history.

    Will John McCain make a better Commander-In-Chief?

    Based on his previous positions on Iraq, I'd have to call his grasp of the situation dubious at best.  Plus, at his advanced age, he won't be doing the job for very long.  Then we'll have Ms. Palin.  "Fresh brownies, Mr. Putin?"

    Is it unpatriotic to not support the war in Iraq?  Is it a slap in the face to the soldiers fighting overseas?  To their loved ones left behind?

    No. 

    It is unpatriotic to sacrifice our most precious resource for anything less than absolute necessity. 

    This November make a decision not based on party-affiliation, my friends.  Make a decision using your better judgement.  Your finer sensibilites.  Take a stand against those in power who would use your loyalty and trust against you.  You are intelligent, rational people.  It's time to see the truth and rise up for America. 

 

 

Comments

[B.]

And apparently General Colin Powell agrees with me. He endorsed Obama today.

[B.]

...whoa. I think your comment is as long as my original post, D. That's very impressive.

If you don't mind, I'm going to use this comment as my next post, and include my thoughts on it.

Posts like this are what drives the Enemy Blog. Nice job!

[Danielle]

We are not in Iraq fighting Iraqi's we are in Iraq trying to catch the Islamic fundamentalist insurgents who threatened our freedom by slaughtering thousands of innocent Americans in our territory, using our planes and box cutters,simple little box cutters. And except for the plane that went down in PA, the other passengers in the other planes were so complacent and trusting of their secure, happy little lives that they couldn't even stop a bunch of guys with box cutters from killing them.

Iraq is where the insurgents have been living and organizing. The civilian casualties in Iraq were not killed by us. Please don't be mislead into thinking our guys just go in there murdering people. They died the same way many of our military died- terrorist attacks, car bombs, blowing up buildings, and all the other deadly tactics of the insurgents. War was taking place in the city streets among the civilians because that's where the terrorists were conducting it. Why would they be conducting it there? Because they know our moral foundation doesn't allow us to kill innocent people. They capture Americans and behead them on video, and get away with it- they are praised by their followers for it. Their government does nothing to reprimand them or stop them. They spit on our bibles, curse our way of life and are mandated by Allah to destroy us. But if we do anything that might hurt and humiliate anyone of them in anyway, or mistreat their precious Koran, then our soldiers go on trial. We have rules of engagement they do not. We have a conscience, they do not. They engaged us in a place where we would be virtually helpless. Where we would be distracted by trying to protect innocent people. Our guys were over there building schools and houses. Making friends with the citizens there. All the while trying to weed out the enemy who blends in perfectly there. In a line up even an expert or another Iraqi couldn't pick out who is dangerous and who isn't. They all look alike, speak alike, act alike. They engaged us in a place where we would be weak. But we never gave up and now they are on the run.

We are in the process of pulling out of Iraq. The insurgents are running from us into Afghanistan, we are following. They know we are coming. The area of Afghanistan where they are going isn't anything at all like where we have been the past several years. I am not at liberty to discuss it further, however trust me its not going to be pretty. However,you can sleep better at night knowing that there will be little to no civilians involved.

These are not people to be reasoned with. Negotiating peace is not an option. They are angry and ruthless. They do not have the moral foundation for their laws or even their own personal judgement to think that perhaps killing people over different religious or cultural beliefs is wrong. Peace won't happen because they won't let it happen. Period. If we give up chasing them, how do you suppose they will view us? How would one of your criminals view you if you were hunting him down and then gave up when things got tough? he would see you as weak, a coward, and he would not only continue his life of crime but he would push the boundaries of what he could get away with because he didn't get caught and he knows you won't arrest him.

By enabling the Iraqi people to build strength, establish laws and teach them how to follow them will in the long run (hopefully) prevent further terrorists from developing and trying to take over the world. It sounds basic but as we all know it has been very tough trying to change them. Yes we are out to change them- not for any other reason but to protect our own asses. The root of the terrorist thought comes from fundamentalist thinking. The terrorists are not like the Muslims we see here in America walking down the street or having coffee at the bookstore. These people are violent, they think nothing of blowing themselves and their spouses up in the name of Allah. Death for Allah is noble in their minds. They will kill anyone and everyone for the law of the Koran. They hate Israel. They have been fighting over that land for thousands of years and they hate us for supporting them. They have been brainwashed to think that way from birth. Terrorists can not be changed. Iraq can change. Iraq can be strong and establish order. You say they never asked for it. How would they know to ask for something they never had? I am sure that there are many things in your own life that you never had before but if something strange that you didnt know about were introduced to you and you could benefit from it- then perhaps you would want more of it. They don't yet understand the benefits of democracy until they try it and they haven't gotten a chance yet to try it because it hasn't been established fully. They may like it they may hate it and they can always change it but for now its worth the risk and the expense to at least give it try. If they can control things on their end then perhaps we won't have another 9/11. Their way of life thus far has remained the same for years- its not working for them or anybody ele in this world. What's so wrong with trying something new?

People are naive in this country. It's because of freedom and security that there are so many out there who think if we just have all our military come home that the terrorists will suddenly just sweep it all under the rug and forget about it. They won't. They will only get stronger. They will come back for us angrier. No one wants to hear these types of things because they are scary- fucking right they are scary. We live in a scary world. There are scary people out there. People who believe that killing innocent people is admirable. People who hate our country, religion, culture, music, food- and truly believe that destroying us will secure them a place of never ending pleasure with Allah. That should be scary. The only reason terrorists haven't come back here is because our military has been keeping them over there. Our national security has heightened so that people are kept aware of their surroundings, so that we do not take our safety for granted anymore.

This war isn't like any other war we have ever fought. We have a different enemy, different weapons, different leaders. If this very same war were happening 50 years ago minus all the technology we have now it would take 3 or 4 times as long. Yeah it sucks that we suffer during wartime. Throughout history anytime therehas been a war between 2 parties there is economic strife that follows. However if money is our biggest problem then I consider us blessed. Blesed that the terrorists aren't hiding in our streets. Blessed that our children can safely go to school and our women can safely work, and go out in public dressed any ol way they want and not have to worry that some fundamentlist will come along and beat them and stone them to death for showing their hair or ankles.

As a side note:
Our country is far from perfect. So many Americans fingers are itching to point at other people to blame when they can't pay their bills, or lose their houses or can't afford gas. Name me one person who actually lives within their means, doesn't charge up credit cards, doesn't have any luxuries they can not afford out right with the cash in their pockets. You can't. No one can. Maybe nuns live that way. But seriously when you live excessively, you suffer excessively. When you own too many things, those things inevitably end up owning you.

We as Americans have this false sense of deserving. We feel we are owed luxuries because we work hard, but if we live in a house that we could actually afford without loans or mortgages, or if we bought a car that we could pay for out of pocket, or if we got rid of all of our expensive little gadgets and all the expensive services that go with them then we would truly be free. Free of debt, free of suffering. We have gotten so accustomed to big houses, big cars, big electronics, credit, credit, credit that if its taken away from us we are helpless. We got ourselves this way, nobody did this but us. If you really want change, real change you have to start with yourself. If you love the privelege of having things then you also have to welcome the responsibility that comes with maintaining those things. And when the time comes when you can't maintain them anymore then you can't blame anyone but yourself for ever getting them in the first place. We are so spoiled that we don't even realize that despite how bad things look right now politcally and economically we should be thankful that that's all that's wrong. I am not saying we should sit back and not try to make it better but it would be nice to hear people be thankful for what they have instead of bitching about what they don't all the time. We Americans need to toughen up and learn to take the bad sometimes- pain is weakness leaving the body. OohRah!! Semper Fi!!