Liberal View
October 1, 2008
When I was in junior high, I was really angry with a friend. For anonymity’s sake, let’s call her “Sara”. I called her a “bad name”, and when Sara found out, I was terrified. Sara’s parents took great pleasure in calling other children’s parents to let them know all the evil things their children were doing. Many of my friends were punished after these calls. Sure enough, my mom received a phone call from Sara’s father that night (the rest of Sara’s family was muted in the background on a second phone). “Mr. Sara” told my mom that I had called Sara the “B-word”. Sara’s parents felt that I needed to be dealt with strictly. They felt that I needed to be grounded, or yelled at – preferably both. Maybe they were hoping for the mouth-washed-out-with-soap treatment. Instead, Mom calmly explained to Mr. Sara that if I had said that, it obviously meant I was frustrated. She told him that she would work with me to find a way to appropriately deal with frustration. Mr. Sara was not happy. You could feel the muted hostility from Sara ’s family on the other phone. Mom said that no other action would be taken against me, and that maybe we girls should be separated so that I could have some breathing room. You are probably asking yourself, what does this have to do with the war? I believe it has everything to do with the war. It shows that differences in lifestyles have nothing to do with who is wrong and who is right. Who is to say if Mr. Sara or if my mom was right on how I was dealt with? “President Bush led an invasion of Iraq, which had nothing to do with the attack on the United States on September 11th, 2001. Bush has not won supporters for the war, nor has he produced any justification for the sacrifice of Americans and Iraqis” (San Francisco Chronicle, 2005). If Bush had no justification for the war, because we all know the truth about there being no weapons of mass destruction, could it be people who support the war just don’t like the differences in the Iraqis’ beliefs versus their own? Do they believe that anybody that is not like them is evil? There have been 4,152 recorded U.S. casualties, 30,568 men and woman who are wounded – 20% of those have brain and spinal injuries, and untold numbers of soldiers who have been psychologically injured (Congressional Research Service). Are those numbers worth a war that has no validity? Deaths and injuries to our own people aren’t the only thing that makes this war ridiculous. America spends $12 billion per month in Iraq (NBC’s “Meet the Press” on May 20, 2007). We are spending money that we don’t have on something that could end right now. The Iraqi’s don’t like our forces being in their country. They want, have the right to, and have the funds to take control of their country. While their country has a huge surplus of funds, our country has a historically large deficit. President Bush signed a bill in June, 2008, approving about $200 billion more for the year 2008 to be spent on this war, which brings the amount spent close to $800 billion. Do I think America should leave Iraq? Yes, I do. We have no justification for this war. Innocent men and woman are dying everyday in the line of duty, thousands upon thousands of our soldiers are wounded, not just physically but also psychologically, and this unnecessary war keeps digging us into a deeper hole of debt. As Barack Obama said in his Senate speech, “I certainly do not oppose all wars, but dumb wars – rash wars. Because there is no decision more profound than the one we make to send our brave men and women into harm’s way.”
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Quoting sources that support your own view do not make for a very convincing argument. If you really want to back up your opinion, state facts. Someone else’s opinion, even if it is a presidential candidate, doesn’t prove anything.
Nice analogy with “Sara”–made for an attention-getting intro.
One more thing: You don’t feel that the loss of lives is worth it. But clearly the soldiers who are fighting do, so more power to them.
If you have a problem calling those evil that seek to, “do to America what they did to Russia in the 80’s” at any cost, I have a problem with your humanity.
Justin, can you please elaborate on your comment? I don’t understand what you have typed.
First of all, did you ever hear about the 500 tons of “yellow cake” uranium we found in Iraq last summer? (FYI, “Yellow Cake” uranium has no peaceful purpose and can only be used to develop nuclear weapons). That alone justifies the entire war, not to mention the humanitarian goals of stopping the genocide of the Kurds, removing an oppressing dictator, and giving the people the freedom to even show their face in public that they did not have before. These humanitarian goals do seem to be what most people on your side of the political spectrum want us to do in places like Darfur, Cambodia, and Serbia.
The problem with our cost of life in Iraq is that it is so low, that the press looks at every single one as a tragedy, instead of a statistic like in wars past with triple the amount we have lost over 5 years dead in a matter of hours. Though each life lost is a sad thing, it should not be a deterrent to our overall goal. The cost of money is an investment in a country that in ten years, if we stay and nurture their democracy, could be as fierce of an ally as Israel. In a recent poll, 72% of Iraqis have a positive opinion of the United States. This percentage has been growing steadily since late 2006, when only 30% had a positive opinion. Under our watchful eye, Iraq really has adjusted to democracy and fights their own fights. Our presence has a tremendous morale boost to their security forces. Though we can reduce the number of troops on the ground, we cannot abandon our allies in their current state.
@Justin: What America did to Russia in the ’80s? We were able to fund our arms build-up, they were not. The lack of funds collapsed the Soviet government from within and they split into several sovereign nations. We defeated our most powerful enemy we have ever faced with our economy. I fail to see the point you were trying to make here, or even which side you were taking.
” If one wishes for peace, he must prepare for war.”
Plato-
War is a necessary evil that must be accepted at times to achieve certain goals. If you feel war solves nothing explain to me why your an American not a Britain. Why you speak English instead of German or Japanese. How millions of slaves gained freedom. How millions world wide receive aid and support. Military might is what has given us the lifestyles we live. Power grows from the barrel of a gun. The crucial part is leadership if when to use it.
I applaud Mr. Thayer for his incredibly clever and well written rebuttle however I still fail to understand the true connection other than you are overly idealistic, naive, and foolish. My comments regarding PHS are very specific in that this school accepts mediocrity far to often, and squanders its students talents. Yours are clever wordplays that create a veil of an aruguement.
Regarding the topic of war…
The goals are refer to include removing a tyrannical Anti-American dictator (one of many).
Creating a strong Mid-Eastern presence to aid both our Isralei allies and to help monitior terrorist actions against NATO forces.
Your comment to “Military Might” Is juvenile and offers no true counter argument with what you have presented.
Regardless of what “ideals” you hold history has taught that military might protects peoples, liberates nations, and defends ways of life. I also made the greatest point however in that the true power comes from those who make the decision to use war.
Regarding aid from war-
Look up the following…
Marshall Plan
Rebuild of Japan
West Germany
Isreal Aid
You will find that after and during every American conflict we have spent Billions in rebuilding the peoples way of lives. By removing the threats their former goverments poised to us, our allies, and their own people.
As for your question to pull our aid into Education I wholeheartedly and adamantly support. I truly wish we could however I am not that naive. I agree that we must spend less on useless goverment projects (Social Security, Welfare, etc.) and should greatly increase spending on Education. You kill poverty with strong education not with homeless shelters.
War is awful, I have friends who did not come home… Its not something I want us to ever have to do, but it is simply the way this world works. Dont give me any crap about “Its only that way cuz of people like you!” either. It is a sad day everytime we must fight. My quote from Plato is not one of a warmonger either, It speaks on the readiness of a Nation will insure peace far beyond any attempt to make peace the constant. Ask yourself the question. “Is war the interlude to peace? Or is peace the interlude to War?”
You never responded to any of my mentions of what War has accomplished care to explain? How did Nazi Germany fall? Imperial Japan? The Confederate States? Take alook also at Thomas Briggs article for your proof of a military reason to the current Iraq War by the way…
Your writing is clever however your logic is faulty. And you demean yourself and your writing with unnecessary drivel like your intro.
You want to have further discussion heres my email howler1991@comcast.net