The War in Iraq

Like most people, I’ve been following the progress of the situation in Iraq. It’s become a part of the daily news segment, just as ubiquitous and expected as the weather report. For the past few years, it’s just been a fact of life. I, for one, am sick of it.

I’ll go ahead and admit now that I dislike the Republican party. I disagree with them on most issues, not the least of which being the war in Iraq. This is not to say that I am necessarily a Democrat. I vote for the Democratic party as the lesser of two evils. Granted, my personal philosophies would quite likely be better encompassed in a third party. However, I consider a vote for a Democrat more likely to help defeat a Republican, and so I value it more highly than a vote for the party with whom I agree most.

There are any number of problems to have with the war in Iraq, and I certainly won’t be the first to state them publicly. The biggest outrage on my mind is that the weapons of mass destruction, the whole pretense under which we invaded Iraq, was completely bogus. More to the point, no one was held accountable for this debacle. In a show of genuine politics, the hot potato was tossed around and debated to death until no fingers could be conclusively pointed at anyone. The fact of the matter is that we didn’t go in with enough intelligence to draw the conclusions that drove the decision, and that’s poor leadership.

Frankly, that’s not even what irritates me most about the war in Iraq. The part I hate is how the politicians are framing it. They present it like we’re on some noble crusade to spread freedom and liberty to the poor, backwards countries of the world. America is right and everyone else is wrong.

No wonder the rest of the world hates us. What if someone walked into your home, affronted your value system, and then forced you to follow theirs? Make no mistake; this is oppression pure and simple. America is using its military power to force its views and beliefs on others. Nevermind that one culture’s beliefs are no more right or wrong than another’s. No, our government is glad to stick its nose into another country’s way of life just because we disagree with it. It is self-righteous, arrogant, and closed-minded, everything I’ve come to expect of your average Republican politician.

I’ve heard arguments to the contrary, and frankly none of them have impressed me. It is true that we are faced with a culture that would likely see us wiped from the face of the earth if it could. “This is necessary for the security of America,” they say. This may be true, but if it is, why continue portraying it as some god-given mission. If it’s a war against terror so that we can all sleep safer at night, call it that. Then admit to yourself that we’re no better than them, because we’re essentially trying to annihilate their culture too. Rationalize it all you want, but there is no moral high ground upon which to stand. There is nothing right or just about the war in Iraq, even if you consider it necessary to national security.

“But what about 9/11″ you ask? I’m not going to argue with you. It was a tragic day, and I, like most Americans, remember where I was and what I was doing when the whole thing happened. I do not, however, consider it an excuse to invade a country and force our idealism on its people. If anything, doing this will do nothing to squelch the cultural sentiment that led to the attacks in the first place. We’ll only be shooting ourselves in the collective foot when the next generation of Iraqis yields 10 Osama Bin Ladens, all of whom hate us for the crimes we’re committing today. War is no solution.

I could go on, as I’m sure most people with half a brain could spend days pointing out the faults of the war in Iraq. That we have no justification and no morality in waging it are my two biggest complaints. I only hope that it will all end soon so that the world can return to some modicum of sanity. Maybe then we can start making genuine strides to mend fences and learn to coexist peacefully with the Middle East.

[…] Doesn’t this sort of thing make you just love politics. Seriously, though, the futility of this war was evident ages ago. The fact of the matter is you can’t change the attitude of an entire culture through military action, if at all. Our continued occupation of Iraq is only bolstering the terrorists’ ranks and deepening their hatred of us. Thanks to this war, we’ll have ten Osama Bin Ladens to deal with over the next decade. It’s nothing I haven’t said before, but it bears repeating. […]