Tue, 24 Apr 2007

War Funding and Political Posturing

So the Democrats are proposing a pull out timetable along with their funding bill. Bush says he will veto it and uses every opportunity to say that the Democrats are not supporting the troops. All of it appears to be political posturing on both sides. It's a game of political chicken. You know, like the teenage boys coming at each other full speed in their hot rods to see who will veer off first. Being a moderate, I can see both sides of the argument. I must admit that I'm strongly inclined toward the Democrat's position. I have felt that the war in Iraq was a mistake from the first and am more firmly convinced of it each day it goes on.

Bush and his supporters argue that giving the enemy a timeline means that all they have to do is wait us out. Maybe that is true, but just who is the enemy? Is it terrorists, the various factional militias, who? What do you do as a soldier when one day you go out with someone and the next day you are sent to arrest or kill them? Just who are we fighting this war against? Are we causing more of the problem than we are solving by being there? I really think that we are.

What will happen when (if) we pull out? For one thing lots of Bush's friends will stop making millions on the conflict. I think that's a good thing. The country might go in a direction which is unfriendly to the U.S. No great loss, I wonder just how many of the Iraquis are all that friendly to us now! Could we loose some oil? We detinitely will loose some oil revenues and I'm sure that is a large part of Bush's reasons for wanting to stay.

Will we foster a terrorist haven? Somehow, I don't really think so. At least not any more than there is now. In fact, I think we might even take away one of the terrorist's primary recruiting tools -- the occupation of Iraq by the U.S. Occupation in the eyes of those who don't really like the U.S. anyway.

Might Iraq split up? I guess so. I really don't know all that much about the region, but I do know that the Iraqi ethinc Kurds wouldn't mind it one bit. It's Turkey which really doesn't want that to happen, fearing problems in the south with their ethnic Kurds.

It's a complex situation, one well beyond my knowledge as a private citizen. But, I think that killing young Americans isn't the answer -- no matter how many of Bush's friends are getting rich from the war. I think we need to get out and let the region go the way that it will. I say, Democrats, go for it.

posted 17:23 [/Moderates] permanent link