Democracy and the Iraqi Incursion

There are still many supporters of our intrusion into Iraqi affairs who believe we, as a country, are doing the right thing. They refuse to believe that the war in Iraq was nothing more than an attempt by George W. Bush to redeem his family honor and an effort by Dick Cheney to increase his personal wealth and influence with Halliburton when he retires from office. It’s a shame that we have suffered so many losses because of this war, both human life-wise and money-wise. When it comes to being followers, most of us were obedient sheep, duped into sticking our necks out for slaughter.

I won’t say that Saddam wasn’t an evil man and a ruthless dictator, but an immediate threat to us, he wasn’t. It was highly unlikely that he would have ever been, as no physical proof was ever produced to that effect. The evidence given was anything but concrete, but it was handed to us like the Gospel. At this point, it’s too late. Now, Bush and his cohorts are labeling us as “spreaders of democracy” to condone a useless attack on a once-sovereign nation. Indeed, this is the biggest affront to democracy, in the name of democracy, the world may have ever seen. Basically, we’re telling all nations, “You’re going to have a democracy and live in peace, whether we have to come over there and kill for it or not.”

Being against this war is not the same thing as being against the troops who served (or are presently serving) in it. The whole country was tricked into thinking Iraq was somehow involved in the World Trade Center attack. Anyone who stated otherwise when this plot was evolving was brutally criticized and labeled un-American. With all we know today, supporters of the war still call opponents idiots and wimps. This is not the case; they simply want to prevent further American bloodshed on Iraqi soil. Since the beginning of this incursion, many thousands of our troops have been injured or killed. Countless more Iraqi innocents have also met untimely, hideous deaths. George W. Bush, through his well-conceived, manipulative war, has killed far more Americans and Iraqis than Saddam Hussein could have ever dreamed possible. I’m certain this will bring some comfort to Mr. Bush later, when he is in a much warmer climate.

Through all of this, we have yet to see Usama bin Laden face the music for his part in the September 11th attacks. We, as a country, lost focus on the reportedly true villain of the worst terrorist assault on U.S. mainland soil and turned our attention to something far less threatening to our national security. After September 11th, our emotions ran wild, making it easy for Bush to press his will on the American people with ill-constructed evidence. Instead of conducting a massive manhunt for bin Laden, we wound up fighting Bush and Cheney’s personal war. Their sinister plot has cost us more than just the many young soldiers who were killed, it cost us international respect. In truth, our country is fighting one battle and losing many wars.