Today I spent most of the day reading various political articles on Iraq. Now I am spent and conflicted. You know, it would be nice to live in a perfect, peaceful world where everyone is happy and safe and healthy. That would be awesome. It's too bad we are a LONG, LONG way from there.

I decided to find some blogs by Iraqis - or others in Iraq now. I wanted to get an idea of what the people are going through, not from a newspaper or other biased source. I was hoping to find...well, hope. But what I found was Bush-bashing, horror stories of the effects of depleted uranium, general discontent with the state of the country, etc. etc. So, it seems to me now that maybe the Iraqi people didn't WANT to be 'liberated' from Saddam. Now they believe they are an American 'colony', and that the new government is a farce....just puppets put in place by the American government.

I don't know what is true and what is fiction after reading from so many different sources. We (Americans) come across as the enemy, but when I look at the build up to this war, I can see the justification for it. And it is not just me...Bush had the support of Congress, and a very high approval rating from the general public. We can only hope now that Iraq will soon be governing itself.

What incensed me throughout my reading was the criticism for each and every action. Bush and his Administration did not see the 9/11 attacks coming. Well, you know, hindsight is 20/20. It doesn't take much to point the finger after the fact and say, "see, this is where you went wrong."

The CIA/FBI didn't "connect the dots" and come up with a way to avoid the 9/11 tragedy. Ok. Maybe they should have. Maybe Clinton's administration should have known something was brewing. I've read and heard reports that he also got intelligence that showed Bin Laden was out to get us. I even heard that our armed forces/Clinton had the chance to apprehend or kill Bin Laden but didn't do it. Ok. So maybe that was a mistake, or perhaps not.

Now, for the intelligence that lead up to this latest Iraq War. Well, it seems to me that the intelligence agencies got burned for not connecting the dots on the 9/11 attack...so, maybe they connected a few too many dots in pursuing a reason to go to war against Saddam.

The point is, that only time can tell if the choices that were made were correct. It is a real injustice that we cannot tell the future. We can only make the best choices given the information at hand.

I wonder now what John Kerry will do in Iraq if he is elected? I don't believe for one minute that he is truly the person he portrays in his speeches. I've read and heard too much against that. So, the choice...re-elect Bush and stay the course, or, elect Kerry and see what happens. Because once elected, he'll probably come up with a whole new set of priorities.

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. - Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

Posted by Wendy at August 3, 2004 07:56 PM