Mar
About the war
By writing, I hope to rationalize my mixed feelings about the war in Iraq.
First of all, I feel it was a good thing to have toppled Saddam Hussein who was no doubt an oppressive dictator. I am comforted by the notion of America being the good international cowboy, assertively stepping into problem areas around the world. But does America always do this with the best, most thought out intentions? I fear not.
If liberating Iraq from an inhumane dictator was America’s mission, then there would have been extensive international cooperation and thorough deliberation put into the process of rebuilding post-Saddam Iraq.
Instead, we have the military-industrial complex riding the cowboy saddle, racketeering profits in the name of a ‘just police’, while defying democracy by ignoring the voices of its citizens. This obviously profit-driven war has gotten out of hand, and the Iraqi people and the US soldiers (and their families) are suffering the consequences the most.
We are lucky to be able to protest the government in the United States. These women know this, and wish the same for their country, but at what cost?
So, what now?
On one hand, I feel it would be irresponsible for the US to simply pull out. On the other hand, how many more lives need to be sacrificed for there to be any stability? (So far, there has been an estimated 50, 000 Iraqi civilian deaths and 3200 American deaths). MSNBC
As one of the many british people who wrote to our prime minister before the war to urge him not to support the intervention. I agree with your views on the current situation. I wonder how many other dictators would be targets if their countries had lots of oil ?
March 19th, 2007 at 2:30 amI recieved a standard reply at the time from the PM’s office “The Prime Minister has asked me to thank you for your recent letter and tell you that the views you expressed have been carefully noted.” All the other people got the same reply !!
…Governments got some kind of influence?
… Practice democracy or playing democracy?
I mean the people learned to overlook everything, governments always find the key to keep us willing to survive inside their “freedom”…
The real deal as I could see is just greed.
Greed affecting me , you, your neighborhood, partners, co-workers, bosses, politics…
Things cannot go worst in any case and leaving Iraq it’s just the assumption of failure in purpose… but anyway the malignant addiction will stay here and there for a long time, the worst hangover to erase mankind, thanks to an addiction called greed!
March 20th, 2007 at 5:31 amI find myself relating to your views on the war… I support the troops fully, love democracy, and agree that Hussein needed to be removed. Unfortunately, I’ve lost focus on why we’re still there… in fact, as I think about it, I couldn’t give you a good, reasonable explanation if you knew -nothing- about. I don’t think it’s a huge conspiracy to make profit for some huge corporation, though.
March 20th, 2007 at 4:48 pmToo much of our government’s time and energy is spent pursuing things that only benefit their own pocketbooks and wallets.
If our politicians could devote more effort towards helping our own people more, we’d keep from getting so involved in everyone else’s business. I know we can’t completely remove ourselves from all situations in the world, but our government lied to the people about Iraq. That’s definitely not democracy.
I fear our nation is in a “cycle of stupidity” that won’t get fixed without something drastic happening, and I don’t even want to imagine what that could be.
ps- is that one of the “hippies” from Amazing Race on the left column there? Those guys were awesome!
March 20th, 2007 at 7:09 pmMr. and Mrs. Brown, I’m surprized that the PM (staff) gave a reply at all! Letters mean a lot, especially a lot of them!
Nyuudo, “greed”. if you disect the concept, “not to be greedy” can mean “not to pursue anything more in life”? mmm.
I see you like Japanese films, have you watched Tyler’s documentary http://www.kintarowalksjapan.com ?
Cory; .. “I don’t think it’s a huge conspiracy to make profit for some huge corporation, though.” Yeah, I agree, it;s just wrong when it steps the line into politics. i feel more assured by your comment. thank you.
Tom, I too, feel the US government is neglecting its own people. First things first, your own country, then others if possible.
P.S. The tall Hippie is my boyfriend. Awesome guy, really. Yeay!
March 20th, 2007 at 11:15 pm“not to pursue anything more in life�
Sorry to be misunderstood… Pursue anything is completely natural… genetically tattooed in our brains, I think.
Have a place to live, food to eat, own family, friends, learn, fun, create, live…
What I mean is: Do any of us really need million of dollars to satisfy our lifestyle? Who is ready to “pursue” nothing but money they don’t really “need”? and who’s promoting that liberal greedy attitude towards life assumed by common people and even justifying war, hunger and disease?
that’s all.
…and oh yeah! I’ve already checked your boyfriend’s film on Google! way cool! you’re a nice couple… cute and gifted girls like you make men do super-crazy things!
March 21st, 2007 at 3:21 amI must say, I relate to your views and agree. But why can’t we leave, or maybe just backdown and let them (Iraq) work it out, sure, there’s going to be loss of life, but, the sooner they face their foes, the better off everyone is going to be. America will never stop the killing over there. They have too.
March 21st, 2007 at 6:22 amTo me, it would have been okay if we’d ousted Saddam Hussein back when he gassed the Kurds, or when he drained the reeds area, changing the culture of an entire area because he was insane. But one should never take lightly the urge to invade another territory. I was in favor of going into Afghanistan and opposed Iraq. We might not be botching Afghanistan if we hadn’t spread ourselves too thinly. All we’ve done is create more terrorists. If a young man loses his mother in a bomb attack, will he blame the bombers or the Americans who took away the stability of the dictatorship? I think he’ll grow up blaming us.
March 21st, 2007 at 8:33 amYour blog is discussed in the photo essay about this protest on zombietime.com
March 29th, 2007 at 1:23 pm