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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Condor who wrote (70958)	2/2/2003 11:44:46 AM
From: Rascal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I felt so bad yesterday. I have read some of the posts here and grasp why this is a big thing to the Boomers. It did remind me of how scared I was the day Sputnik was launched and I was only in 6th grade. I kept thinking what does this mean? Does it mean we aren't safe? Sept. 11, 2001 is the base case for my feelings. Whenever I feel bad or afraid I compare it to this worst day. And I was afraid as well as sad on Sept. 11,2001. In the first days, when the skies were silent and I realized how quiet it could be in central New Jersey without the Jets in their holding patterns, I waited for big sounds. I didn't know who was attacking and if it was the first blow to be followed by more. I kept remembering how my mother said things always come in threes. BUt yesterday I felt really bad in a way that was closer to the day Kennedy was shot. It was so disappointing that we were forced to face our limittations. Everything had been going so well. I thought we had already made and understood our blunders in the space program from the CHallenger. It reminds me that no matter how big and smart and well meaning and profit driven (expense controls,etc) we are that we make big mistakes. Even in arenas where we think we have a handle. This makes me more despondent about going to war because it looks like the train has left the station and there are no more stops till we flatten Bagdad. I wonder how bad I'll feel when 1000 body bags go to that morgue in Germany on their way home for burial? How bad will I feel if only 100 die? And what about the citizens and innocents of Iraq? The news will report the real number of casualties won't they? What if we missed something and we lose a ship or batallion or brigade? How bad will I feel then? What if the carnage is more than any of us can bear? If it is mostly "them" and Saddam and not "us" I guess I am supposed to feel better. What if we missed something and we don't get Saddam and he joins the Osama list. (Probably dead.) Who will feel bad then? Will invading Iraq be enough for those who want war? I am going to feel bad for a long time. This feeling is not the searing pain like Sept.11, 2001. It is more like permanently lowered expectation of what I may expect of the leaders of my country and the country itself.. Since I am more a turn-the-other-cheek-guy that a preemptive-strike- guy I'll probably not be hopeful for a long time. I wonder what the polls are going to say in the next weeks about our support for Iraq invasion? Consumer sentiment? Is the country on the right track? I wonder if yesterday's events will change President Bush's perspective, Colin Powell's perspective, our country's perspective? It's a big picture. I wonder if any of us can really see and evaluate it right now. For all those who will feel better when we invade Iraq and take out Sadaam, I envy you. I guess things do come in threes. #1 Sept. 11, 2001 #2 Columbia Disaster #3 Iraq invasion Rascal@ .com