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

To: Sig who wrote (144310)	8/28/2004 12:29:50 PM
From: cnyndwllr	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

Sig, not only is the Swift Boat/ Vietnam controversy, as you point out, "too juicy a subject to ignore," but it's also one that Kerry can't afford to ignore unless he's addressed it in a way that reaches not only those who read the serious print, but also those who simply viewed the ads. It's a dagger into his campaign and he can't "hope" it's forgotten. It won't be forgotten. In a deeper sense, however, the subject can harm those who "support" the Iraqi war and the president who made the decision to fight it. I say that because it's a real life reminder that while not all wars are worthwhile, all wars are horrible, especially for those who fight in them or who lose loved ones in them. That raises the question of "why fight this war?" As in Vietnam, the Iraq war directly raises questions of why WE have to keep fighting AGAINST nationalistic Iraqis in order to supposedly give THEM freedom. Maybe there's more to the issue than the mantra of "they hate freedom" that we're constantly fed by the Bush, and to a lesser extent, the Kerry people? We can go on and on about how most Iraqis support us but the reality seems to be that those who may support us are outweighed in terms of the numbers and/or, more importantly, the resolve of those who support "almost anything but us." I think that most Americans want a clear justification before they send THEIR kids to war. With an all-volunteer army, most Americans might accept a cloudier justification but the justification for the Iraqi war is getting more and more tenuous and the days of "USA, USA" support are wearing thinner. I think that's a good thing. Vietnam taught this nation what it's like to fight in a war that leaves us asking years later; "What made that horrible experience worth killing and dying for?" We should have been able to answer that question with certainty BEFORE we committed in Iraq. Vietnam taught us that. It also taught us that we must keep revisiting that question and when the answer becomes, "we can't say that the goals and probabilities of success of this war justify the killing and dying that are inherent in going forward," then we ought to get the hell out of there and not ask for the senseless sacrifice of more soldiers who bleed out their lives for questionable ends or the sacrifices of the people whose lives those soldiers end. I think that if there's a heaven and a hell, there's a special place in hell for the "big men" who send others to kill and die when other choices were available.