|
After reading all the comments thus far, saying the "war is hell" bit is probably a waste of time. I think that such pics might change public opinion, regardless of whether people are aware of this kind of reality in a tangental sort of way. Seeing it is different, which is why we don't normally see it.
As for the standard Iraq Flame / Arguement stuff : I would agree with the position that we can't afford to sit in perpetual isolationism, but when looking at how we're (the US) involved in Iraq right now, I have to wonder why we had to go in NOW.
I think it should be obvious that securing (Operation) Iraqi Freedom wasn't the main reason. We just don't go around liberating countries because it's the right thing to do. It might be a sideline benefit of the operation eventually, but we really can't even be sure of that. Nobody knows what Iraq will be like in five years, and I'd say it's not a good bet that we're going to bring peace and Democracy to the area this way.
The WMD thing didn't pan out, and personally, I always thought that was a stretch. I think it's a little hypocritical for us to cite violation of UN 1441, and then turn around an "enforce" that resolution in violation of UN sentiments...and if we had let the matter come to another vote just prior to the war, we didn't have the votes of the Security Council to get consensus to go in.
It's obvious that war is never pretty, and it seems to me that in order to set this kind of pre-empitive strike precedent, we should have pretty obvious, clear reasons to go in. The kind that you can make a five slide power point presentation out of. As people always like to talk about 9/11 - after that horror, no one in the world was against us going in and getting sideways the the Taliban in Afganistan. The main reason is that the reason to go in was clear.
I can imagine all kinds of reasons why we might have needed to go into Iraq, but nothing that's being sold now makes any sense. We're spending an assload of (our) money, and losing a lot of lives, to be involved in this situation. Exactly what are we getting out of it? I'd like to see clear evidence that a major, immediate threat to the US was eliminated (not some slippery slope Weapons of Mass Desctruction Related Programs bullshit, or that two Iraqis in clownsuits were thought to have maybe been seen talking to the brother of a maid of a suspected Al Quaida operative in New Westphalia kind of crap), or that we're about to start bringing back a crap load of something really valuable really soon. If this war WAS about oil, it's disparaging, but if someone wants my support for this war, then I really wish someone would present an argument for it that is simple, clear, and isn't covered in propaganda boo-hoo and obfuscated interpreations. Otherwise, quit expectinig me to support it. I don't give the benefit of the doubt to my government - not when the stakes are this high.
"Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awating the ultimate practitioner." Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
__________________
You don't love me, you just love my piggy style
|