Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Wed, May 23 2007
This is no time to waste time
CNN has been reporting that Osama bin Laden planned to use Iraq in launching attacks in the U.S. If that's true, we should have been, and should be now, assisting Iraq to build up its own security forces and get ready to meet any further outside challenges. The ongoing skirmishes that kill troops and civilians on a daily basis and that destroy Iraq's physical infrastructure could weaken the country's chances of defending itself against future anarchists.
I can certainly understand President Bush wanting to use declassified intelligence reports as a basis on which to defend our military actions in Iraq, but since we've already gone into Iraq and contributed to its defense against terror we also have to face the fact that our own actions have done some damage and cost many people there money and changed their daily lives.
The time has come to work as quickly as possible to assist them in taking control over their own destiny now or else we could be inadvertently opening Iraq up to even stronger terrorist infiltration down the line. And if our administration believes that opening up Iraq to terrorist infiltration threatens the U.S. then it becomes that much more imperative that we help them get their own schools, courts, hospitals, businesses, churches, roads, utilities and life in general back on track. Iraq is a mess after this many years of fighting and bombing. It's time to give the people there the kind of assistance they need to become autonomous. If we don't change direction with this involvement right now we're going to end up becoming long-term caretakers and caregivers to the people of Iraq. I'm not sure I see how that would make them feel more democratic than when Iraq was under the thumb of Saddam Hussein. We have to find a way to do this or else we'll compromise the dignity of the people of Iraq and the dignity of the people of the U.S. We'll not only have lost big-time in the war on terror, but we'll have given ourselves over to the very kind of long-term despair that terrorists will seize on and use against us.
posted at: 07:36 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
CNN has been reporting that Osama bin Laden planned to use Iraq in launching attacks in the U.S. If that's true, we should have been, and should be now, assisting Iraq to build up its own security forces and get ready to meet any further outside challenges. The ongoing skirmishes that kill troops and civilians on a daily basis and that destroy Iraq's physical infrastructure could weaken the country's chances of defending itself against future anarchists.
I can certainly understand President Bush wanting to use declassified intelligence reports as a basis on which to defend our military actions in Iraq, but since we've already gone into Iraq and contributed to its defense against terror we also have to face the fact that our own actions have done some damage and cost many people there money and changed their daily lives.
The time has come to work as quickly as possible to assist them in taking control over their own destiny now or else we could be inadvertently opening Iraq up to even stronger terrorist infiltration down the line. And if our administration believes that opening up Iraq to terrorist infiltration threatens the U.S. then it becomes that much more imperative that we help them get their own schools, courts, hospitals, businesses, churches, roads, utilities and life in general back on track. Iraq is a mess after this many years of fighting and bombing. It's time to give the people there the kind of assistance they need to become autonomous. If we don't change direction with this involvement right now we're going to end up becoming long-term caretakers and caregivers to the people of Iraq. I'm not sure I see how that would make them feel more democratic than when Iraq was under the thumb of Saddam Hussein. We have to find a way to do this or else we'll compromise the dignity of the people of Iraq and the dignity of the people of the U.S. We'll not only have lost big-time in the war on terror, but we'll have given ourselves over to the very kind of long-term despair that terrorists will seize on and use against us.
posted at: 07:36 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
