Tenchusatsu, maybe but he's not trying to get you to go to war over his misrepresentations.
Sometimes, not going to war is more dangerous than going to war.
Joe, yes, I know........its the lesson of Hitler repeated to us over and over again. However, there are few if any similarities between Hitler and Saddam. The one time Saddam got it into his head to attack another country, he was sent packing back to Bagdad in record time. Furthermore, world conditions are not anywhere near the same. Hitler faced a world that was knee deep in a depression and had mostly disarmed after WW I and wanted to avoid war at almost any cost. That is not the situation today.........most western nations are prepared to go to war once all the normal diplomatic efforts have been exhausted.
But this administration wants to go to war for two reasons......first, its the American need for a quick fix. 9/11 literally blew us away. For so long, war was an event that happened somewhere else. However, this time the terrorists brought their hate of things American to our shores much like the LA blacks brought their riot to Beverly Hills in the early 90's. We are still in shock over this attack. We want to feel safe again. Afghanistan did not give us that quick fix. We were able to disperse the Taliban but the leaders of Al Qaeda roam free. Taking out Saddam is supposed to accomplish what we most desperately want; that is, make us feel safe again. Sorry folks, it just ain't going to happen.
Secondly, this administration needs to keep the American public's attention away from things domestic. In case you haven't noticed, things are not going well at all on the home front. I joke that the major talent of this administration is bombing countries. Well, their strongest people are the ones having to do with defense and war. The talent goes downhill from there.
Gore's speech the other night put a voice to the frustration felt by people like me. I am prepared to go to war when it can be justified; when all diplomatic measures have been tried and failed but not one millisecond before. Furthermore, I will not have someone try to ramrod a war down my throat for whatever reason.
As far as I can tell, I chose to be born in a democracy. Since I probably went to a lot of effort to make that happen, I am not about to be censored because I disagree.<g> And sadly enough, there has been a lot of attempted censoring in this country lately.
Last night, Congressman McDermott wisely asked when did public dissent become unAmerican? And I ask.......when did objecting make you a traitor in this country? How dare Cheney tell D. Armey to chill? How dare Rumsfield sneer when asked why we should be fighting in Iraq? Who are these people and from what country did they come?
Yes, sometimes not going to war is as dangerous as going to war but sometimes doing what you are told without reasonable explanation and forethought is the most dangerous of all.
ted |
