Last night I sat down in front of the television. I grabbed a drink and a snack and I fully planned to listen to the President's 9/11 Address. I was hoping for some sort of insight into where the government was looking five years after the attack on the World Trade Center. I felt that it was Bush's big chance to call for unity...his big chance to honor the heroes of the tragedy. Anyone who has been reading my blog knows that I'm not a big fan of George but I've really been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.
So I sat down with my iced tea and pretzels. I was about 10 minutes late for the beginning of the speech so I had no idea what to expect. But when I turned on the TV I immediately felt annoyed. The first words I heard coming from my speakers were "Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone."
I have to admit, I was angry. I felt like Bush was using an opportunity to pay tribute to the 9/11 folks and he was wasting it grandstanding for Iraq. He was STILL attempting to justify his foreign policy. I was disappointed.
Now, I don't claim to be a Democrat or a Republican. I've always tried to follow the best man for the job. But I have to say (not without a slight cringe) that the Democrats got it right on their outrage of last night's speech.
"The president should be ashamed of using a national day of mourning to commandeer the airwaves to give a speech that was designed not to unite the country and commemorate the fallen but to seek support for a war in Iraq that he has admitted had nothing to do with 9/11," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy
"America did not ask for this war, and every American wishes it were over. So do I," Bush said. "But the war is not over, and it will not be over until either we or the extremists emerge victorious."
Again...inserting opinion here...argue if you like: I believe the idea that we can wage war on terrorism is a foolish one. Plus, if he was such a humanitarian and felt he needed to invade Iraq because Saddam was a bad guy, then why are we not cleaning up other places like North Korea, Phillipines, China, etc. There are other motives at work. There always are.
And the ONE thing i'm sure of above anything else in this article...The War in Iraq is a fruitless battle. Its Viet Nam time four. Its not an issue of defending our country. Its not an issue of defending freedom. Its not even an issue of helping the citizens of Iraq. THEY don't want us there.
Its senseless to me. Completely. I can only hope that history will be able to make some sense of this and not turn the horror of 9/11 into the prequel to the most ignorant move our government has ever made.
posted by Michael Witmer @ Tuesday, September 12, 2006
18 Comments:
BVSN:
You have put in to words the same thoughts many of us have had. I remember feeling extremely confused when I found out we were going to invade Iraq.
Underlying motives? Sure, those were the only ones I could think of, none of them savory, none of them relevant to the current situation, none of them helpful to our country.
Probably we couldn't win a war on terrorism, but certaintly not by being in a foreign country whose main offense seemed to lie in having a dictator that hadn't been sufficiently spanked according to our presidential opinion. The stated reasons for invasion were laughable and palpably last-minute even at the time, but the country was hurting, and angry and, most importantly, grieving. Too grief-stricken to fight with our president.
Our president chose to unify us by saying "If you don't agree with me, you are no patriot."
What I wouldn't give to have a president who would tell us what we need to hear. What we should hear. Our own politicos have forgotten they are public servants. We do not exist as a forum for their private agendas. We are not stupid and resent being talked down to.
Intellectually we understand that others hate us. Emotionally we still have trouble understanding this because we do not hate others.
Intellectually we understand that others would use their very children to save themselves. Emotionally, we know we would cross open fire to save any child.
Their hate has made them less than human. They think we are weak.
We know our love makes us strong.
Peace to all my American brothers and sister today and every day.
The reason I say the war is impossible to win is because there will always be Extremists. Specially when you mix passionate religious folks with high powered weapons.
I'm with you Cracker boy. I didn't vote for Bush either time, but right after 9/11, when he said we were going after Bin Laden in Afghanistan, I was all for Bush 100%. That was when the United States REALLY was United for the first time in a long time. But I was waiting last night to hear him say something along those lines. Something that didn't reek of politics or justification of Iraq or WMD. Just something heartfelt or patriotic. Something to again unite the country. And he didn't.
I can't say that a democrat wouldn't have used the opportunity to do the same thing, but we'll never know. He's in charge and we're going to stay the course, no matter how many people we run over to do so.
i agree with you...he had me too and then he just spun his wheels
and its not that we're running over people. I hate to say this but if we WERE hitting people with both barrels and just really REALLY going to war it would be a whole different story. We're sending our boys and girls over there to stand around and wait to get popped.
Keith Olbermann hit the nail on the head. Please check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdD6op0l2jk
Since I work 48 hours a day, obviously, I didn't see the speech last night. All I can say is first of all, Bush is an idiot. Now taking off my Capt. Obvious hat, I just wanted to say this: I've discussed this with a girl in my office who is actually from Baghdad. She and her family fled from there when she was four. They have family over there that they are still trying to get out. They applied for their visa 15 years ago, and still hasn't been reviewed by anyone. Anyway, if Bush gages the end of the war by whether one of us is victorious, then this war will never be over. You aren't dealing with human beings. They don't value life. They don't value anything. These people are animals and don't care about blowing themselves up or killing people. You aren't talking about normal people, the way you and I are normal. All they care about is getting to the next life where they get the 72 virgins and all that. And this is my Iraqi friend's words, not mine. The worst thing we could have done was get Saddam Hussein out of power. He was the only one that could keep them under control. Yes, he was what he was and did horrible things to his people, but he kept those people in line. And you're right this is Vietnam times 100. Those soldiers are never coming home. Not while Bush is in power. Thank God he won't be in power that much longer. Who are the idiots that voted for him and why? He's an embarrassment to us all as a country. The next president will have a lot of cleaning up to do to repair the damage globally, that this shmuck did with out thinking of the consequences that he doesn't seem to care about.
WORST PRESIDENT EVER!
Since I work 48 hours a day, obviously, I didn't see the speech last night. All I can say is first of all, Bush is an idiot. Now taking off my Capt. Obvious hat, I just wanted to say this: I've discussed this with a girl in my office who is actually from Baghdad. She and her family fled from there when she was four. They have family over there that they are still trying to get out. They applied for their visa 15 years ago, and still hasn't been reviewed by anyone. Anyway, if Bush gages the end of the war by whether one of us is victorious, then this war will never be over. You aren't dealing with human beings. They don't value life. They don't value anything. These people are animals and don't care about blowing themselves up or killing people. You aren't talking about normal people, the way you and I are normal. All they care about is getting to the next life where they get the 72 virgins and all that. And this is my Iraqi friend's words, not mine. The worst thing we could have done was get Saddam Hussein out of power. He was the only one that could keep them under control. Yes, he was what he was and did horrible things to his people, but he kept those people in line. A
Since I work 48 hours a day, obviously, I didn't see the speech last night. All I can say is first of all, Bush is an idiot. Now taking off my Capt. Obvious hat, I just wanted to say this: I've discussed this with a girl in my office who is actually from Baghdad. She and her family fled from there when she was four. They have family over there that they are still trying to get out. They applied for their visa 15 years ago, and still hasn't been reviewed by anyone. Anyway, if Bush gages the end of the war by whether one of us is victorious, then this war will never be over. You aren't dealing with human beings. They don't value life. They don't value anything. These people are animals and don't care about blowing themselves up or killing people. You aren't talking about normal people, the way you and I are normal. All they care about is getting to the next life where they get the 72 virgins and all that. And this is my Iraqi friend's words, not mine. The worst thing we could have done was get Saddam Hussein out of power. He was the only one that could keep them under control. Yes, he was what he was and did horrible things to his people, but he kept those people in line. And you're right this is Vietnam times 100. Those soldiers are never coming home. Not while Bush is in power. Thank God he won't be in power that much longer. Who are the idiots that voted for him and why? He's an embarrassment to us all as a country. The next president will have a lot of cleaning up to do to repair the damage globally, that this shmuck did with out thinking of the consequences that he doesn't seem to care about.
WORST PRESIDENT EVER!
Jess
Hmmm... What the heck happened there?
Jess
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