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I'm sorry, but this has to be said
Mar. 22nd, 2003 12:38 amI'm trying to avoid war talk here, since it's everywhere right now, but I can't NOT say this. (If you're avoiding war talk, scroll on. But I don't want to hide this behind a cut tag)
Now, I am, in general, against war, on general principle. To me, it goes without saying that you try every other means possible before resorting to war. That's a big part of why I opposed the current action in Iraq - I didn't think we'd done that, and the case for why the Bushies thought we had weren't convincing. I realize this makes me somewhat different than some anti-war folks, because I pragmatically accept that sometimes, it is necessary. HOWEVER.
We're in it now, and the people who are continuing to protest the war are starting to PISS ME OFF. We lost. There's a war on, whether you agree with it or not. Accept it, be horrified by it, but for God's sake, move on.(see footnote) Blocking traffic in major cities, throwing blood on pretend dead people, and screaming your fool heads off is accomplishing nothing except making the entire against-the-war side look like wingnuts and idiots. The majority of the American people already KNOW that people die in war, that war is bad, and yes, even that the innocents sometimes die in war. We already KNOW that. We don't need your theatrical play acting to remind us.
And really, what good comes of stopping the bombing now? Yes, we would spare the lives of civilians who might perish, certainly. But what else? We would leave ourselves without a shred of credibility in the world community - at least if we "finish" the job, we may be able to show proof that we were right about Saddam, and the UN should have listened to us. We look like bomb-happy bullies to the rest of the world, but of the worst kind - the kind that is unwilling to follow through on its threats. Most importantly, and worst of all, we leave Saddam in power, angrier and full of even more hatred than he has now, so that we can repeat the entire exercise in another ten years. As well, we remove the possibility of our ability to do ANY good in the country - rebuilding it, helping the survivors, using the rebuilding time as a way of showing the entire world, and particularly the Middle East that we are as willing to help the people as we were to remove their government (whether we are or not is a question up for debate, and I'm getting to it).
So what should we be doing instead? First and foremost, organize NOW to get the wheels in motion to do everything we can to ensure our government follows through on its vague promises of aid to the Iraqi people once this is over, assuming we win. Treating the people as humanely and magnanimously as possible will do more to ensure a friendly-to-America Iraq than any rah-rah government we can install. Start addressing NOW (or trying to) how we will install a government in Iraq, again, assuming we win - if you're a voting Democrat, try to give your Congress critter a backbone - insist that we take into account what the Iraqi people want - after all, we should be instilling democratic freedoms there, not our own flavor of dictator. Start donating to the Red Cross and the other organizations that will be going in to do the humanitarian work once the bombing is over, or if you can, volunteer yourself. Go. Do what you can to fix what we've done. Prove to the people there that we're not all monsters. (Seriously, if you have enough time to organize and participate in pointless protests, you have the time to do these things.) For God's sake, VOTE in the next election. Vote for politicians who opposed the war. Anyone at ANY protest of any kind who didn't vote deserves a sharp stick in the eye. Send care packages to our troops who are over there. Even if you don't approve of their being there, they are, at the behest of YOUR government. We should respect that they are putting their own lives on the line for us. Do some of this, do all of it, I don't care. But please do something constructive instead of destructive. Stand behind your ideals in more ways than the easy ones.
FOOTNOTE: I will say that the one exception I would make to any call for stopping the protests is if there is any evidence that our troops are in any way deliberately hurting, terrorizing or killing non-combatant Iraqis on a hand-to-hand level. This is so clearly different than the collateral damage of war that we should NOT stand for it. Protest it, demand that the perpetrators be punished as war criminals, and do everything we can to make that happen.
Now, I am, in general, against war, on general principle. To me, it goes without saying that you try every other means possible before resorting to war. That's a big part of why I opposed the current action in Iraq - I didn't think we'd done that, and the case for why the Bushies thought we had weren't convincing. I realize this makes me somewhat different than some anti-war folks, because I pragmatically accept that sometimes, it is necessary. HOWEVER.
We're in it now, and the people who are continuing to protest the war are starting to PISS ME OFF. We lost. There's a war on, whether you agree with it or not. Accept it, be horrified by it, but for God's sake, move on.(see footnote) Blocking traffic in major cities, throwing blood on pretend dead people, and screaming your fool heads off is accomplishing nothing except making the entire against-the-war side look like wingnuts and idiots. The majority of the American people already KNOW that people die in war, that war is bad, and yes, even that the innocents sometimes die in war. We already KNOW that. We don't need your theatrical play acting to remind us.
And really, what good comes of stopping the bombing now? Yes, we would spare the lives of civilians who might perish, certainly. But what else? We would leave ourselves without a shred of credibility in the world community - at least if we "finish" the job, we may be able to show proof that we were right about Saddam, and the UN should have listened to us. We look like bomb-happy bullies to the rest of the world, but of the worst kind - the kind that is unwilling to follow through on its threats. Most importantly, and worst of all, we leave Saddam in power, angrier and full of even more hatred than he has now, so that we can repeat the entire exercise in another ten years. As well, we remove the possibility of our ability to do ANY good in the country - rebuilding it, helping the survivors, using the rebuilding time as a way of showing the entire world, and particularly the Middle East that we are as willing to help the people as we were to remove their government (whether we are or not is a question up for debate, and I'm getting to it).
So what should we be doing instead? First and foremost, organize NOW to get the wheels in motion to do everything we can to ensure our government follows through on its vague promises of aid to the Iraqi people once this is over, assuming we win. Treating the people as humanely and magnanimously as possible will do more to ensure a friendly-to-America Iraq than any rah-rah government we can install. Start addressing NOW (or trying to) how we will install a government in Iraq, again, assuming we win - if you're a voting Democrat, try to give your Congress critter a backbone - insist that we take into account what the Iraqi people want - after all, we should be instilling democratic freedoms there, not our own flavor of dictator. Start donating to the Red Cross and the other organizations that will be going in to do the humanitarian work once the bombing is over, or if you can, volunteer yourself. Go. Do what you can to fix what we've done. Prove to the people there that we're not all monsters. (Seriously, if you have enough time to organize and participate in pointless protests, you have the time to do these things.) For God's sake, VOTE in the next election. Vote for politicians who opposed the war. Anyone at ANY protest of any kind who didn't vote deserves a sharp stick in the eye. Send care packages to our troops who are over there. Even if you don't approve of their being there, they are, at the behest of YOUR government. We should respect that they are putting their own lives on the line for us. Do some of this, do all of it, I don't care. But please do something constructive instead of destructive. Stand behind your ideals in more ways than the easy ones.
FOOTNOTE: I will say that the one exception I would make to any call for stopping the protests is if there is any evidence that our troops are in any way deliberately hurting, terrorizing or killing non-combatant Iraqis on a hand-to-hand level. This is so clearly different than the collateral damage of war that we should NOT stand for it. Protest it, demand that the perpetrators be punished as war criminals, and do everything we can to make that happen.