Last night, Daryl and I went to a local restaurant for a quick dinner, and our waiter recognized me as "Tyler's mom." Jeremy, in his early 20's, is a friend of my son's, and Jeremy told us he'd just joined the Marines. His recruiter told him that, most likely, he's headed for Baghdad after he finishes his Paris Island training next month. No real surprise there, but, as I listened to Bush tonight, I didn't think about some generic soldier-I thought about Jeremy.
Tonight, the President said that we will be in Iraq for the foreseeable future, much as we are in Korea. I have believed for a long time that if this administration had it's way, we would be in Iraq from now on (how else can we babysit the middle east's oil?). Tonight, Bush said as much. I wonder what that will mean for Jeremy? Will his tour be much longer than expected? I'm not fine with that, and neither is John Edwards, who spent some significant campaign treasure to make that point tonight. There is an alternative to Bush's plan. Here's what John Edwards spent his two minutes saying:
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Are We in Iraq Forever?
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5 comments:
Well, I guess we know now that it's more important than ever to elect a Democrat president no matter what. It's the only way we can avoid Iraq becoming another Korea. There is not one Republican presidential candidate other than Ron Paul that is going to handle this any differently. And I could see Fred Thompson being the one that would follow the exact same course that Bush and friends have laid out for us.
But in the grand scheme of things, I really don't believe Iraq will be like Korea. It will be much worse. At least in Korea, there has always been a segment of the population that wants us there. With Iraq, I do not believe that segment exists. We're occupiers, not liberators to them. And for that, they'll spend however long it takes and spill as much blood as it takes to drive us out. It's an absolute no win situation for the United States.
How can Republicans now honestly say that they're the party that supports the military? They're using them as a private police force there to be on hand to serve their own private interests, not our national interests. Democrats need to join hands with groups like votevets.org and change 25 years of thinking. The Republicans are not looking out for people like Jeremy. He'll be just a pawn in a game to keep their business interests happy.
Jeremy is a good kid, and I hope for a President who will take good care of him and good care of the country.
Okay, I feel really bad for the patriots who went out and enlisted after 9/11, as I wished I had the cojones to do, back when we had a war worth fighting. But what on God's green earth was Jeremy thinking enlisting NOW? I don't care how tough times are -- move in with an ex-girlfriend, mooch off your parents, start growing dope in a closet for crying out loud, anything's better than suicide for a stupid war in the hope you'll live long enough to go to college on the GI Bill.
Button may be right in that Iraqis will never tolerate any kind of sizable US presence in their country (although I'm not sure there's no way to strike a balance); however, if we *could* turn it into another Korea, I'm not sure that'd be a terrible thing. How many combat deaths have we had there since the cease-fire? I've had friends serve their tours over there, and apart from it being colder than a you-know-who's you-know-what, they didn't have much to complain about. We've gutted Iraq and turned it into the potential next Afghanistan. I hope the next, Democratic president can find a way to redeploy a modest US force to the outskirts of Iraq and see if there isn't any hope left of training those crazy fools how to secure their own country.
The size of that huge fortress-like embassy compound that is being built in Baghdad indicates to me that Bush has no intention of the US presence leaving there any time soon. Also think of all the contracts that have been let out to various corporations like Halliburton etc.
I couldn't even watch Bush on TV---too tired of his face and his doubletalk.
All I can tell you is that Jeremy is a fine young man-smart, too. It's my impression that he is showing initative, sees this as a way to move his life forward and is positive about his choice. It's not a choice I would have made, but I have a lot of respect for him.
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