Like John McCain, I've been in a war. Unlike McCain, I've never been a POW. However, I know what a war is, and what's going on in Iraq isn't a war. The "war" ended when Saddam was removed from power. so the "Victory" argument being played up at the RNC is bogus, and it insults me - not only intellectually, but also as an American who has put himself in harm's way for his country.
War has a purpose or goal, from fighting the spread of Fascism in World War II, to ousting Iraqi forces from Kuwait during Desert Storm. Like every American, I'm 100 percent for the war on terrorism. However, we need to know who the terrorists are. Sure, we heard about the "radical Islamists" during the RNC, but what about the others? Did you even know that all terrorists aren't even Islamic? We have Christian fundamentalists with training grounds, training innocent children, in our own country. Remember the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh? We can debate his Catholic upbringing or agnosticism, but he was given the Catholic sacrament of Viaticum before his execution. What about the IRA (Irish Republican Army)? Both examples aren't Muslims.
As a person who went through terrorist intelligence training, I find the Republican rhetoric intellectually insulting. Sure, Osama is a Muslim, but so are our Saudi allies. Before our ties with the now-ousted Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf were broken, why didn't Republicans take advantage of that relationship to target Osama bin Laden and his supporters who are using Pakistani tribal areas, among others, to hide? Now that Musharraf has been forced to resign due to impeachment threats, we don't have that support anymore. But Republicans want "victory" in Iraq. To me, victory is Iraqis controlling their own country. That isn't a war, that's nation building, which are 2 fundamentally different things. Besides, most Americans support the withdrawal of our troops, so do Iraqis. So why are we still there? Remember, Afghanistan is where the al Qaeda is, so it isn't because of the war on terrorism.
As an American and wartime veteran, I'm insulted. Republicans want to remove educational opportunities from our military members, some of our wounded Iraq veterans have returned home to poor hospital care, we still have troops dying in Iraq, and Osama is still in Afghanistan. And they want me to believe they support our troops? I don't think Democrats are exempt from all of this either; if we are going to send troops anywhere then they need funding that will allow them to deploy with the right equipment. From 2001 to 2006, Republicans did nothing when they had control, and from 2006 to now, Bush and the Democrat-controlled Congress have done nothing either. I take that back, my rights and freedoms as an American have been targeted. Why are we treated as a terrorists? Since the majority of our population hold the Christian faith, why are we Americans being targeted and not the Islamic radicals being touted at the RNC?
Now the Republicans want to take the focus off of Iraq and are saying that we need to have energy independence. The hidden point to that comment is "it's about the oil stupid." What else are we reliant on the Middle East for? On the argument for energy independence, I'm all for it. However, I'm against the fact that it will keep oil companies in business. Besides the fact that oil companies get taxpayer monies for subsidies, they spend little on research and development for future energy sources. Sure, chant "Drill! Drill! Drill!" at the RNC, but oil is a finite resource ... that means eventually we will use it all up.
More later.
Technorati Tags: Society, Politics, Democrats, Republicans, Iraq, Oil, Terrorism, Religion, Osama, Musharraf, Bush, Saudi Arabia
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