Freedom Fries
One of the headlines on CNN.com today includes Republican Walter Jones of NC (a supporter of the tremendously successful "freedom fries) claiming that it is time to begin "debate" on the subject of bringing American troops home.
"We believe it is time to have this debate and this discussion on this resolution."
13,700 casualties later, good timing! 200 billions dollars later, good timing! Losing support in the war, even better timing! What better time for a republican to speak out against the war then when people start to realize how bad it really is. Is this how we're going to conduct war in the future? Preemptive action that leads to huge sums of money and even more importantly lives lost, all until people decide "hey this isn't as easy as we thought it would be," then just pull the plug on it? In between assassinations and suicide bombs and protests and battles... and. In between all of it, maybe people have come to the conclusion that not only is it not going well, but it was a bad idea to begin with.
I'll admit I'm biased, both of my parents, despite their divorce, are unanimously against war. Can you blame them? Do you call them unpatriotic? Are they "wimps?" and if they are, what are you? Are you a blame laying, patriotic, super-hero? I sit here, and I listen to Miles Davis on my MP3 player, while typing this article on an Apple notebook. I can't even, and won't try, to comprehend what life is outside the box of America. The box of capitalist wonder. The box that is our everyday picket fence lives. I look outside that box, and the first thing I do is inform people outside of the box that its nice and warm inside, with network TV and home shopping networks. Comfort. But the last thing I would ever do is force the idea that it is warmer and more entertaining inside. I don't need to pull people inside my box, if they want to come they're perfectly welcome. If someone has a not-so-pleasant box surrounding other people, well then its up to those people to determine whether they want in the box I'm in. My box is welcoming, but not forceful. Patriotism includes the idea that people should want to love their own country, and fix it as they see fit. Whether that fixing includes the elimination of major leaders or not is up to them. My idea of a country is representational, but not demanding. Too bad my ideals go unnoticed. Too bad for everybody but me and my conscious.
So now here we are, however many lives later, however much longer, and however many people crying for every, any, and all reasons later. People crying for lost lives, lost homes, and lost livelihoods. I don't know this from witnessing it first hand, but I know it all the same because with war it is beyond denial.
"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
"We believe it is time to have this debate and this discussion on this resolution."
13,700 casualties later, good timing! 200 billions dollars later, good timing! Losing support in the war, even better timing! What better time for a republican to speak out against the war then when people start to realize how bad it really is. Is this how we're going to conduct war in the future? Preemptive action that leads to huge sums of money and even more importantly lives lost, all until people decide "hey this isn't as easy as we thought it would be," then just pull the plug on it? In between assassinations and suicide bombs and protests and battles... and. In between all of it, maybe people have come to the conclusion that not only is it not going well, but it was a bad idea to begin with.
I'll admit I'm biased, both of my parents, despite their divorce, are unanimously against war. Can you blame them? Do you call them unpatriotic? Are they "wimps?" and if they are, what are you? Are you a blame laying, patriotic, super-hero? I sit here, and I listen to Miles Davis on my MP3 player, while typing this article on an Apple notebook. I can't even, and won't try, to comprehend what life is outside the box of America. The box of capitalist wonder. The box that is our everyday picket fence lives. I look outside that box, and the first thing I do is inform people outside of the box that its nice and warm inside, with network TV and home shopping networks. Comfort. But the last thing I would ever do is force the idea that it is warmer and more entertaining inside. I don't need to pull people inside my box, if they want to come they're perfectly welcome. If someone has a not-so-pleasant box surrounding other people, well then its up to those people to determine whether they want in the box I'm in. My box is welcoming, but not forceful. Patriotism includes the idea that people should want to love their own country, and fix it as they see fit. Whether that fixing includes the elimination of major leaders or not is up to them. My idea of a country is representational, but not demanding. Too bad my ideals go unnoticed. Too bad for everybody but me and my conscious.
So now here we are, however many lives later, however much longer, and however many people crying for every, any, and all reasons later. People crying for lost lives, lost homes, and lost livelihoods. I don't know this from witnessing it first hand, but I know it all the same because with war it is beyond denial.
"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
Nathan Lotz at 2:11 AM
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