I had a good conversation with my dad the other day about politics and where things are these days. He’s more on the conservative side of things, but we both are good at level discussions, so it was fun. One of the things he said, and that I’ve heard others say, in response to the lack of worlds support in attacking Iraq and building a true international coalition, was that France and Germany had oil interests in Iraq and so that’s why they were stalling the processes.
I’m fine with that. They can have their own interests to protect. The US and the British claimed to go to war in the name of WMD’s and the “clear and present danger” they were to our national security. Bush and Blair both said they had proof. The data supported their war. If this proof was so compelling as to send our country into a pre-emptive war for the first time in it’s history, why didn’t we share it with the international community. At best we would have had everyone on board. Even France and Germany, who wouldn’t be able to deny this “proof” unless they really wanted to look bad. At worst we would at least have had more than Poland and Japan, and we would have at least shown that there was a danger.
Instead we asked the world to trust us, in that there were WMD’s and they rightfully didn’t. And look what happened, there was a complete lack of them, even facilities to build them. Way to build trust in the world you seek to lead to great “freedom and morality,” lie to them.
The ends do not always justify the means. Now that there are no WMD’s, the administration points to the new freedom of the Iraqi people. Does the deaths of thousands upon thousands of people, be they American or Iraqi, justify us going and freeing another country when ours still needs work? What gives the American nation the right, or the will, to force our political views and ideologies on other nations? These very things are what Al-Quida is fighting their “holy war” against. Shouldn’t a people rise up and free themselves? Does freedom mean something to someone who hasn’t fought for it? Sometimes the fight for freedom needs a helping hand, and I don’t mind helping then. We got it in our Revolutionary War from France, but would we be the same country today if France had just decided for us that we should be free from British rule? I highly doubt it.
But now that we are in Iraq, we must to all that is possible to help get them set up and get our influence out of there. If the new Iraqi government is ever going to succeed and be taken seriously in the Middle East, it has to seem free of American influence and guidence. Get our men and women home from the battle lines and back to their families. I may dislike the war, but I want the warriors home as quick as possible.
