After perusing the website The War Comes Home, which I blogged about below, I'm finally resolved to share my opinion on the war in Iraq. I've blogged about the war before (search topics on right panel - down a ways), but I've never really stated my opinion.
For the record, I am neither a conservative or a liberal, but a moderate. I don't believe in the first two labels. Quite frankly I don't believe in the effectiveness of our current political party system. It's archaic and it will always be an issue of bipartisan politics which is NOT representative of the American people but only of the interests of the politicians who claim to "serve us".
Ready? My opinion on the war is...
...we need to get the hell out of Iraq. Wars are waged for three reasons: 1) To gain something as a result of (the war), 2) to come to the aid of an ally or a peoples who can't defend itself/themselves, or finally 3) to defend oneself. No one from Iraq waged war against the U.S. We're supposedly helping the people of Iraq escape a cruel dictator. Well he's dead and they don't seem to want us there anymore - so we should leave. Strike one and two. The only thing that's left is a U.S. motivation to gain something by attacking and occupying Iraq.
That must be the oil.
At first I wasn't positive that was the reason. People have said this but, I mean, no one really knows this for sure. Look at Iraq - or go in your backyard or to a park and sift your hands through a child's sandbox. It's sand. That's what Iraq is - a sandbox. What possible use could we have for sand? What possible use is this country to us? It HAS TO BE OIL. And yet it's amusing to me that our gas prices continue to skyrocket upwards. God dammit! If our government came out and just told us we were there for the oil and our gas was $1.00 a gallon, at least I'd make some sort of sense of this insanity.
Who's winning...because of this war? The Iraqi people? No. Hundreds of thousands have died. People there are dying every day. They will continue to kill each other - and we will continue to kill them until we leave. Our soldiers? No. They are dying; they are coming home maimed; over 450 have committed suicide since returning to U.S soil; many are homeless; many are not getting the treatment or help from our VA hospitals. The U.S. contractors? Yes - millions of dollars. If we as a country can't win SOMETHING - why are we there?
To help the Iraqi people. To insure a democratic Iraq. To free Iraq of the terrorists within so they don't get to us. That's what our government keeps telling us anyway. The Iraqi people have about as much of a chance of unifying themselves as the American people would have in protesting their taxes by deciding - en masse - not to file. I'll take my chances digging a hole to China. Every day 10, 15, 20, 40 Iraqi's are killed because of acts of terrorism within the country - terrorism not JUST aimed at the U.S. military presence there. Am I wrong about this? The Iraqi people are a divided peoples. That means civil war and no power can go into a country and offer them freedom and democracy within a divided country unless the warring nation goes in no-holds barred and is prepared to kick some ass. People bitch, "where's the Iraqi army?'. As I'm writing this, the Iraqi militia is being discussed on NPR, and how their performance in the next week or so will be a telltale sign for "things to come". Excuse me but the Iraqi's are too busy fighting amongst themselves to help the U.S. in our "quest for freedom and an end to terrorism". Read What Was Asked Of Us - the entire book is cover-to-cover first-hand accounts of the war. It's an enlightening, but emotionally exhausting read. According to many of the soldiers interviewed, we had the Iraqi people eating out of our hands in the first month or so of the war. Then Washington sent in new orders - a change of plans. And it's been fucked up ever since. I know - harsh language. But our young boys are dying in a sandbox halfway across the world for a half-ass cause is harsh too. If THAT reality is tough for you to grasp or have a thing or two to say about it, go to Arlington National cemetary - and shout your real loud.
My cousin may be shipped off to Iraq within a year. He has two young boys. I wish I could give him a reason for WHY HE'S GOING THERE. Quite frankly, I don't know what that reason is. Someone with a clue please tell me. My stance on this "clusterpfuck" stems not from me being an actor or a playwright or an artist, of sorts. I am not a pacifist nor a warmonger by nature. I am a patriot. I love the American soldier. No - my opinion is based on common sense. The American people have been very vocal about their distaste for this conflict, war, military action - whatever the hell you wanna call it. If the American people can see this war is wrong, why can't the people who are working for us in Washington shed their blindfold long enough to realize this as well? Why does it seem that the only people who want to be in Iraq are some politicians and our President? Or does our push for democracy in Iraq have nothing to do with setting the example?
The Iraq War is our generation's Vietnam...and we all know how that "conflict" ended. It's just a matter of time.
Read more!
Photographer Eddie Adams died in 2004. None of his photographs - some world famous - documenting the Vietnam War have been made available in book form. Until now. 
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