Posted by
Psychdoc on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 1:50:35 AM
While the headlines are being dominated by Sen. Obama's difficulties with his "crazy uncle" (still taking bets over here that the majority of our media and political pundits will try to kill this story before the end of this week) and the state of our economy (a topic for another blog post), let us not forget what this week represents and what it means for both the current presidential campaign and our nation.
This week marks the 5th anniversary of the onset of the war in Iraq. Five years ago, rightly or wrongly, we liberated a nation from the clutches of a megalomaniacal tyrant, and then proceeded on a blundering course of occupation and counter-insurgency that was only righted in the last year with the surge of troop strength and the sound strategic command of Gen. David Petraues.
Some would mark this anniversary by commending our brave men and women serving all of us in the armed forces for the tremendous job that they are doing in setting a path to a victory deemed an utter fantasy. Yet, others seem hell-bent on a desire to ensure a defeat that would saddle our nation with a misery that most would not dare to dream of in their most terrifying nightmares.
Why would anyone so deliberately pursue a course of defeat and denigration? Simply put, it is because such a course represents an easier path than the hard work and tribulation that doing things the right way would entail, and it is clear that a very significant portion of our society only wishes to follow the easy path when it comes to Iraq (it could be said that this same element of American society seeks the easy way out of many of the difficulties that we face as a nation, but for the purposes of this post tonight, we'll just focus on Iraq). Therefore, they will fall in line behind which ever political candidates will promise them the easy path.
As a case in point to illustrate the latter group, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a much-touted speech today on her policy plans regarding the war effort in Iraq should she be elected the 44th president of the United States. In the speech, she reiterated her plans to begin a withdrawal of troops within 60 days of her inauguration, and criticized her rivals for the presidency for their positions in regards to the war. For Sen. John McCain, her words reflected the standard disingenuous diatribe that he would continue to support the "failed Bush policy" and conduct war without end, in denial of the crystal clear facts that Sen. McCain was a lonely voice of reason criticizing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's nearly ruinous hubris-laden strategies 4 years ago, and was a chief supporter of the so-called troop "surge" before the phrase was coined. For her Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Clinton offered accusations, not without merit given Mr. Obama's penchant for political expediency in his handling of his sticky pastor situation as well as comments made by a former senior foreign policy advisor to a BBC interviewer on the subject of Iraq policy, that the junior senator from Illinois' plans for withdrawal from Iraq are just talk for the sake of political expediency, i.e. words meant just to ensure election without plans of delivery.
Yet, Sen. Clinton's speech articulates just how wrong the Democratic Party and many of their constituents are when it comes to Iraq. An observation of the discourse of most of the Democratic debate on Iraq since the beginning of the Presidential Primary process highlights a fundamental naivety on the meaning of the war, and what it represents in the broader ongoing struggle against fascists who reside under the banner of Islam. The Democratic Party, as evidenced by the words of its two "front-runners" for its presidential nomination, is hopelessly stuck in the past, longing to undue the invasion itself, as if the Democrats were in possession of a time machine that could allow them to achieve this end.
Whether or not we all agree that invading Iraq at the time that it was done was the right choice to make, the fact is that this choice was made, and action was taken, 5 years ago. There is no time machine that exists (outside of the human imagination) that will allow us to undue this event. Whether or not there was an Al Qaeda in Iraq prior to our invasion is inconsequential, because it very much exists now, and is allied with those who attacked us 7 years ago this September, and who would see our society and its people vanish off the face of the earth. We, as Americans, are presented with a choice now. We as a nation shall live in reality and do what must be done to ensure our freedom and survival, or we will surrender to denial, naivety, and fantasy. Will we be lulled by the false siren song of the easy path, of turning away from what we started, of retreat, of allowing the deaths of 3,990 of our fellow Americans to date to have been suffered in vain, or will we roll up our sleeves and engage in the hard work that needs to be done?
The consequences should we take the easy path will at first seem a relief, but will turn into an all-encompassing disaster as we hear the cries from our enemies that we are a mere paper tiger, that will run if only we are made to bleed, marking a call for more and deeper attacks not just on our interests abroad but on our own soil. If you don't believe me, just take a look at what Islamic fascists and their terrorist allies are saying in regards to the withdrawal of Great Britain from Iraq, and what their plans are for that nation. Should we cede Iraq and its vast resources to either Al Qaeda or Iran, we will only further enrich those who wish to destroy us and provide them with the means to acquire and/or develop weapons to destroy us, leaving Afghanistan hanging by a thread, and increasing the odds of an Islamist takeover in nuclear missile-armed Pakistan.
As we reflect on what this week means in our history and listen to the pundits and candidates, I would encourage everyone to look at who is telling the truth regarding Iraq, even if it is a bitter pill to swallow, and even if it requires diligence, discipline, and hard work, and to turn away from those who simply offer the easy path.