Bashing The President, Killing Our Soldiers

President Bush is being totally bashed now by more and more of the populace. It has become the "In Thing" to bash him. I just read in a news article he has had a very low approval rating for the last three months, less than 40%.  I fear for our country when we publicly bash our leaders.  I also fear for the soldiers fighting for us in Iraq as well.  Our negativism toward our president only fuels the terrorists hatred, and feelings of entitlement to keep sending suicide bombers and making attacks, as Iraq tries to get back on it's feet once again.

People die in war. It is a fact, a miserable one.   We have lived, for the most part, quite comfortable.  The majority of the population has not had to deal with a war like this ever in their lives. Even Vietnam was decades ago. We can thank those who fought for our stability and security that are no longer with us. We only need to read history books to find out how many fought for the comfortable lives we have had for so long. When we  started the war in Iraq, most of America was for it, Democrat and Republican alike.  911 woke us up to the fact we are not invincible. We wanted to fight back. I don't think any of us were prepared for the fact, taking out their leader, a grizzly dictator, Saddam Hussein, and trying to build a new government was going to take so many lives of our soldiers.  And, that getting Iraq to stabilize in the aftermath would take years.

I think leaders make unpopular decisions at times. President Bush has had to go through some hard times and has been put in the difficult position of making tough decisions. I am one of the few that respect what Bush is doing.  He is working on rebuilding Iraq. Given we started this deal, I think it would be inhumane to leave before Iraq is stable enough to go it alone.  Rebuilding Iraq will take time.  The President will make errors, have to learn some hard lessons, and have to take all our complaints and indignation.  I think the most difficult thing for him as President is he cannot fully share what he is doing, and why he is doing it all the time ,as it only gives information to the people we are fighting, and therefore works against us. How tricky and personally frustrating it must be for the President to maneuver in such a situation, an untenable situation. 

Recently, Several people holding government positions, who have helped the President fight this war have been let go for their part in the goings on in Iraq.  So many guys to take the fall. Somehow, it is supposed to give us some sense of security that things will change for the better if we get rid of this person or that.  Has anyone thought that now new guys have to come in and learn from point zero?  How are they supposed to do any better? 

There has been a lot of talk about the war being "unwinnable."  I promise you, if we say it is unwinnable we create, in fact, that it will be unwinnable.  We create our realities. I won't say it, because I know there is power in making it so just by the declaration of it.  And that is not a reality I want to live in to.  I say, it is not about winning at all. Not at this point, It is about getting Iraq on it's feet.  A while back, I read a book called, A Hundred And One Days, a Norwegian journalist wrote the book.  She was there a couple of months prior to the war and through several months that followed. 

In the book, she discussed how their government had regressed back to twenty years prior.  How people were dieing if they opened their mouth and criticized Saddam Hussein.  How the Iraqi people wanted us to help them, an yet hated us. One reason is there is brain washing about the ways of the West, the other is, it was showing the world how powerless they were in their own country.  How humiliating it must have been for them. Basically, it was come in, take our leader out, and get the hell out of here.  How naive on their part.  Of course, the problem would be in getting a new government going, and that does not happen over night. 

I find it frightening the power the extremists have over in Iraq and in the Middle East. I listened to our Congressman last week and how he said that is was surprising how many soldiers that were in Iraq wanted to return there after they came back to America. My brother has friends who are in the forces.  They insist we need to be there to get things to settle or the terrorists will be heading our way, on our land. Read The Terrorist Hunter, there are many people living in America today that are Anti-American.  It is frightening to say the least. The men in service again and again have said they are making a difference over there and are proud of it. One of my brother's friends lost partial feeling in one of his arms and hand.  He went back willingly.  These guys open my eyes. They are there risking their lives and want to go back. I only know what I read in the paper and hear on the news.

So much of what we read and see on the news is to stir up emotion and make head lines.  Pictures and videotape of people dieing surly will sicken us.  That is a 100% guarantee.  Over time it has made us decide we don't belong there-this war was a mistake- Bush is crazy and now working against us.  I wonder at times if I am truly one of the few that know I know very little about this war, I only know what I've been told. I don't feel I have much room to throw around any opinion.  I am not a soldier and my experience with war is nil. I feel it necessary to have faith in the President, he has the best advisers at his disposable to make his decisions. This is a complex situation, I expect it getting sticky at times.

Prime Minister Blair came to America and had a press conference.  He renewed my faith in our President and our reason for being in Iraq. It is taking time to get things settled.  Rome was not built in a day, why should we believe Iraq can be? I will tell you what though, our bashing of the President will only slow the progress.  That I am a firm believer of.  We cannot just support the soldiers there, we have to support getting the job done. Where is the faith?

I did a seminar once and we learned this, It "is" what you say it is.  We create our realities.  If we say it is unwinnable we will create "it is unwinnable. "  I refuse to say it.  Too many of our soldiers have died for it to NOT be unwinnable.  In their name, I just refuse.  I say, we will help build a new government there, make a difference, and will stand behind those words.

I don't fear not being part of the majority, I never have. I think in many ways in my life, it has helped me.  It never hurts to have a different perspective and at times it opens people's eyes to something they were not seeing.  I believe we started this war believing it was necessary, took out a leader and the government toppled with us being there.  I respect Bush being there to get the government back on it's feet now.  It seems the respectable thing to do.  It is awful that people have to die.  I don't blame Bush for the troubles in Iraq today.  I blame it on humanity as it stands now.  I have little respect for the United Nations and their ability to make necessary changes around the world.  As the world is getting smaller the need for the United Nations to monitor and control things globally becomes a geater necessity.  There should universal moral codes that are upheld. Our soldiers are being killed by other human beings in such destructive ways in Iraq.  I am not mad at Bush. I am mad at the United Nations for having greater control over groups around the world that kill people for obscene reasons, and in such ghastly ways.

I have read many books on the war.  Cobra II was quite an eye opening book. It's hard on the President.  But America wanted to initiate this war, no doubt. At least in reading this book you become more educated on the facts. It makes you realize how little information we the public really have. Keep in mind, does the president jeopardize his strategy by sharing all the facts? After reading this book, I keep up with the news daily. I listen to the guys who were there fighting and still are. I wonder how many Americans realize how little knowledge they have to go on before making their opinions on President Bush and weather we should still be in Iraq now.

If we leave early, will things regress to where they were before we came in in the first place? What a shame that would be.  How many lives have we lost just to have the result be a civil war that leaves Iraq worse than where it was when we arrived? And by leaving while things are a mess, are we showing the terrorists that their ways of handling things is powerful enough to make America retreat ?  Therefore, having them strike again and again like this in Iraq and elsewhere? I will say this,  I have respect for the President.  Can you imagine being in his shoes right now?  How difficult it must be coming up against all this criticism and public bashing and trying to make a difference in Iraq?  He is a strong man.  I respect him.  I have seen him again and again seek out information to determine what he should do next.  He has not given up.  He believes we need to be there and finish the job.

I don't believe the war is winnable because I don't believe at this time there is a win or loss to be had.  This idea seems ludicrous to me. I think we need to help Iraq get stable enough to get back on their feet.  Whatever it takes.  We started it over there, we should finish.  And the idea of it being done in one year or we should leave, I find this the most ignorant statement we can make.  We are telling the terrorists if you keep up what you are doing for one more year we are leaving and you can take over.  We are feeding them to come on hot and strong for a year, frighten the citizens there so they give in to them when we leave. We are creating more instability over there and destroying the progress we already have made when we push this one year dead line deal. Does anyone else see this?  Also, is it not arrogant of us to believe we can make things stabile enough in Iraq at this time, that we could possibly leave in one year?  New governments do not become stabile that quickly...show me any new government that thrived alone that quickly after their leader has been taken down.  I don't know of any.

War is ugly.  I feel for our President and the next one that comes in office.  It is not an easy thing to manage.  As for the Democrats...I would not want to be a Democrat and be the next President, not after all the bashing they have done to Bush anyway. (By the way, I don't vote on behalf of one party or the other) Iraq will not settle in a year or two or several years.  The next President will face problems just like Bush.  In time, he will not look pretty either.  To be the President is a very difficult job.  A job surely I would not want.  Three cheers for the President! He takes our shit and still stands on his beliefs, with a hell of a lot more information than any one of us citizens have on our own.

Here is my humble opinion about President Bush and Iraq. We wanted this war initially.  We went in and toppled the dictator.  But our work is not done. We are making progress. But there is a job to be finished. The negative opinion of our people is causing more deaths to our soldiers as we are feeding to the extremists we don't belong there and firing them up even more. We should stand for getting Iraq on it's feet before we leave. Show the soldiers that died in our name, their purpose there and the lives lost there was not in vain.  End of story.  Try on, if we say we can...We Can!

 

Comments

[Don Dodge]

I have a personal rule not to talk about sex, politics, or religion online or with people I don't know. It is a good rule but I will ignore it for now and jump in here.

The puzzling thing for me is this, what is the definition of success in Iraq? We toppled a dictator, Sadman Insane, or something like that. We helped them write a new constitution. We helped them hold free elections. We have trained their security forces. We have rebuilt schools, hospitals, roads, and infrastructure. When are we done? When do we declare success?

The sad truth is if we were to leave now Iraq would crumble into chaos. Far worse than it is now. That would not be fair to the soldiers that have already died or to the people of Iraq.

Winning a war is easy. The war was over after a few weeks or months. Once Saddam was caught all Iraquis could breathe a little easier. But that was a long time ago...

This looks like another Korea where a peace keeping force will be necessary for a long time to come. This is where the UN could and should step in just to keep the peace. And it provides an honorable path out for us.

The middle east has been a violent and volatile place for a long time. They fight with each other all the time. In fact this is what we have in Iraq now. The Shiaas are fighting the Sunnis...both Muslim sects.

In Lebanon we have Hamas fighting Hezbollah...both Palestinian groups. And sometimes they band together to fight the Israelis.

Religous wars are the worst. There are no reasonable answers. We started a political war in Iraq and won it. Now we have a religous / civil war and it seems the best we can hope for is periods of peace and stability punctuated by random violence. A UN peace keeping force would seem to be a reasonable answer...but who knows. Middle east politics is a complicated subject with lots of questions and very few answers.

[Robin]

Don,

There are no easy answers. And Iran cutting in and making the fighting even worse surely makes then an atagonist to say the least. Will there be a day of reckoning? Where is the UN in all of this-sitting back, watching for entertainment? Sadly we give so much money and support to get little if nothing in return.

The UN should have a universal moral code we all have to abide by. Any group that breaks that agreement should be punished. It seems almost too easy. Religious or Ethnic cleansing should not be tolerated.Have we not evolved enough as humans to see to stop this is a necessity? What is in it for the UN to not have such controls?

There are no easy answers. We are confronted by other countries and their input as well. Not only has this been difficult for Bush this will be a handful for the incoming President. We need to stop the name calling and blame and work together to solve the problem we are having in Iraq.

Times are changing...we need to protect our interests and work together, not divided. We have enough Anti-Americans, we hardly need to turn on our own.