This is just politics to you. It makes the loss of life all the more tragic.
Bite me GST.. This is NOT just "politics" to me... Far friggin' from it...
This is about the causes and repercussions of decades of ignoring Islamic militancy and the threat it posed to the artificial stability of the Muslim world.
I didn't create the situation.. The origins of this go back to the '70s... But I have to face reality and attempt to resolve it the best I can..
I have MANY friends and associates in both active and reserve status.. Many of them have already served over in Iraq, and many are likely on their way in coming months..
I don't have to like everything about how this war and post-war action was carried out.. But dammit, I have an obligation to make sure I support the soldiers tasked with carrying out that mission and applying whatever pressure I can, personally and publicly, to ensure that what they have sacrificed for is not in vain...
So get over your friggin' problems as to how we got in Iraq in the first place... Because that's now history...
I'm worried about the future and making sure that we get this as "right" as we possibly can, through force of will and dollars, if need be..
For people like me, it was NEVER merely about WMDs. It was about using Iraq as the first stepping stone to separating the militant states in the region and creating the necessary "influence" to change the nature of the regimes and economies in that region.
Whatever has happened in Iraq, the situation and prospects for that country are far better than had we just left the situation alone and faced a more and more desperate Saddam faced with potentially losing control over his population.
What I understand is that you are waging an ideologically driven propaganda war in support of an ideologically driven shooting war in which innocent people, Americans and Iraqis, are the victims.
GST, you understand only what you want to understand.. I've never made such a claim.. I'm fighting an economic and cultural war, siding with the moderate and modernists elements of the Islamic world...
This is a civil war amongst Muslims, and the west is stuck in the middle... We're being blamed for the failure of Muslim governments to deliver the economic and social benefits that western economies have delivered to their own people. And we're being targeted because we have facilitated, if not supported, the regimes that have perpetuated such ruinous economic and social policies in the region..
So my perspective is that if we're going to be blamed anyway, we'd better damn well ensure we did our best NOT to deserve such blame.
And that will come, not merely by feeding them temporarily, but to teach them to feed themselves and to economically and politically prosper..
And to some extent, there is a clash of civilizations occurring here.. But even more important is that globalization is sweeping the world and middle eastern regimes lack the means or systems to participate.
And that creates resentment, much of which will be justified if we don't attempt to rectify it.
Hawk |
