April 7, 2007

• This war needs to end, now.

  Does anyone else share that feeling with me? See, I realized something this morning. I'm sick of people losing fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and loved ones for a part of the world that a majority of America doesn't care about. Civil war is a horrible thing, of course, and I would never wish it on another country. And I also understand that the Middle East is an incredibly unstable region, and there's a lot of things that are happening there that have the potential to be very dangerous.

  But here's my point. When Ronald Reagan first employed "cowboy diplomacy" in the 80's, it was appropriate. Putting aside my highly negative feelings about anything remotely related to Ronald Reagan, he was one of the main factors in the fall of Soviet Communism. Cowboy diplomacy worked against the Soviets, because we knew who they were. We could openly threaten them, and then back it up. But I'd like to offer a fresh perspective on today's war.

  When you learn about the American Revolution, what is the first thing you learn? Simply put-- the colonies won because they knew the land and they used the tactics that would be effective with the land and the terrain. The British used outdated fighting styles that may have worked 20 years before, but for that war and that new enemy, were out of date and completely ineffective. But did the British admit their mistakes and adopt new fighting styles? The answer is not really. They did, a little bit. But for the most part, they assumed that their superior numbers, experience and powerful global position would eventually propel them to victory. What happened? They ended up tucking their tales and running. Yes, I know that's not exactly how it happened. There is more to it then that, but on the most basic level, the colonies won because they, in essence, were terrorists. They fought under the cover of night, they used deception; you could never know exactly where one of them was going to strike at any given time. The British had never experienced this before; their wars were fought out in the open, and won by the side who managed to muster up the most men who could aim a rifle at a line of golden-clad Frenchmen.

  We're doing the exact same thing. This war is a few things. One, it is an infringement of national sovereignty. Did I think Saddam needed to go? Eventually, yes. But lets be frank here. If the interest of the United States was to challenge the nation who posed the most danger to our existence, we would invade Iran tomorrow. But let me put this very simply. Say, for example, the hostage crisis between Britain and Iran had escalated, and Iran eventually executed a few of the hostages. We do not have the manpower or ability to uphold our commitment to NATO. We would have to leave our British comrades, our bravest and most loyal allies, to fight their own war against a much more volatile and evil-minded enemy. Our presidential candidates are not allowed to say this, but the over 3000 young men and women who have died in Iraq have died so that one man could finish what his father started, and so that we could all enjoy gas at a lower price (which hasn't even happened). They are dying in the most honorable and brave way possible, for a man who dares to pretend that his actions were genuine. President George W. Bush deserves to be impeached, more then any other president in the history of the United States. More than Nixon, more than Johnson, more than Clinton. The man is a dishonor to the Presidency, and he has cost 3000 people their lives, 3000 families their husbands, wives, sons, daughters, fathers and mothers, and he has made the global bodies turn against the United States. It's time to let these countries handle their own situations, so that we can address ours, and only ours. Two things need to happen.

  One, Bush must be stripped of his additional executive powers, and should be forbidden to send additional forces or take any military action without the approval of Congress. I understand forcing this is nearly impossible, because of the addition of Roberts and Alito to the Supreme Court, but it needs to happen.

  Two, we need to leave Iraq. We need to stop letting our young men and women get killed. See, we're fine with civil war and mass murder in every other region of the world; we only care about "the people of Iraq" because they affect our approval rating. Let nations handle their own fate, and allow our military to regroup and be prepared in case a true threat emerges onto the global scene. We can accept absolutely nothing less.

  Bring our troops home.

  • 11:39 AM
  • 2 Comments