Freeing Iraq

I did not want us to go to war in Iraq. In fact I wrote to President Bush twice explaining my concerns. One of those concerns was that I don’t think the US should ever start a war.

Having said that, -- I subscribe to the bully in the playground theory. If the big tough bully in the playground is picking on the little guys, even those who are his own supposed friends, then somebody has to stop him. Who, you may ask? Well, it would be the teacher’s responsibility, but in reality, whoever could stop him, should stop him. We are not the teacher, or the police, but since we could stop Saddaam we probably had a responsibility to do so. However, I think there were a lot more politically feasible methods we should have tried before resorting to violence.

One of the ‘reasons’ given for going to war when we did was the “weapons of mass destruction” fear. Enough of our elected leaders believed that that was a problem that they voted to go to Iraq, only now they want to claim they never did want war. Well, I for one believe that we found enough weapons and enough proof that weapons had been there, (or were trying to be there) to actually justify a sweep on that account. However, I never thought that enough of a reason to go to war.

We also had the post 9/11 outcry of ‘make ‘em pay”. However, we know it wasn’t Iraq that caused our pain on 9/11 but al’cida. (I don’t know how to spell that) Using that as a reason for war never held water with anybody except the people most in pain at the moment, who wanted somebody to be at fault and be punished. Those people have long since changed their minds because they now know, as we all must learn, that payback doesn’t bring back your loved ones or make you feel any better.

We did, however, go to war. Now the problem is simply ‘how do we get out of there?’ As time goes on, more and more of us want out, even those who originally thought we should go to war. The only hold out seems to be President Bush.

I do not believe President Bush is evil incarnate, or even a particularly bad person, but he is incredibly stubborn on this topic. Yes, we would all love to see the Iraqi people free of destructive laws and influences, and particularly we would like each to be able to make his or her own religious choices. We would like it if no one in the world were forced to live in a way contrary to their own beliefs and we as a people do not like tyrants and bullies.

The people in Iraq however, do not trust us to bring about change. In fact, they are so used to having someone tell them what to do and how to live that they seem unable to imagine life without a dictator/leader. We, as a nation, are currently a poor example of freedom, since we are so enamored with “do your own thing” that we have forgotten the responsibilities that come with freedom. And our lack of modesty in every area of life would scare any thinking people. There are few Iraqis with the imagination to see that we could bring them great good, and in the end their lives would be better. Even those with that kind of imagination don’t believe we will really get out of there, after.

Therefore, the only way to prove to them that we want their lives to be better, in my opinion, is to leave. Then, from a distance we can offer help in setting up a democratic government, building useful infrastructure and educating the children.

If we stay, we simply took over as the ‘in charge’ guy, instead of giving them freedom.