John McCain has only two hopes in this presidential race – capitalize on our fear of terrorism or pray that the fight for the democratic nomination becomes so nasty that the American people become disheartened with the Democratic Party in general.
Due to the fact that he has little influence in the latter, we will focus on the former. And in this vein, McCain has already started baiting his opponents on the all too familiar partisan debate centered on our presence in the Middle East. In response to criticism last Thursday, Barack Obama was quoted in a CNN article:
“John McCain may like to say he wants to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but so far all he’s done is follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq.”
The GOP has a fine line to walk between standing by our presence in Iraq and responding to the general disapproval of the Bush administration and everything it stands for. McCain has taken the line that American safety comes first and our continued presence in Iraq is necessary to assure this safety. Democrats on the other hand have numerous proposals of exit strategies, claiming that Bush’s “war on terrorism” has already gone on too long.
Obama goes so far as to say, “There was no such thing as Al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq.”
But this war did not start with George W. Bush and his generation of party supporters. We can thank the beloved Reagan Administration and George Bush Sr. for planting the seeds to this drawn out battle. Weren’t they the ones who knowledgeably armed Iraq in the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980’s? Before there was a threat to homeland security we supported the Taliban, despite the terrorist attacks they continued to make on their own people.
So we sent weapons. And money. And trucks. And chemicals. All of which were used to force a peace with Iran. Oh, and annihilate their own people, the Kurds in the North. We refused to sign international treaties condemning Iraq as a terrorist country. We supported Saddam Hussein and the tyrannical government he represented, until the terrorism turned on us.
No one will deny that George Bush was put in an impossible situation after September 11, 2001. He had to watch as the twin towers fell, as the people that he was appointed to protect were killed by the thousands. And after intelligence was released pointing the origin of the attacks to the Taliban, it was inevitable that we had to attack.
But the infidel presence we created in the Middle East created an entirely new type of terrorism. Seven years later, we are no closer to making this world a safer place. Suicide bombings and attacks continue to litter news headlines on an international scale.
As for Al Qaeda in Iraq? It is undoubtedly a sign of naivete to assume that they were nonexistent before our military presence in Iraq. And just as naive to think that our presence hasn’t heightened their hatred of America and everything we represent. Obama refers to George Bush and John McCain’s creation of the Al Qaeda we know today. The Al Qaeda that continues to terrorize the world and the minds of Americans just waiting for the next attack.
We went in with force, but forgot to look for an end. We started a war to stop terrorism and instead smashed a relationship that becomes more and more irreparable each day.
The solution to our current situation is obvious – slowly yet methodically remove American troops from Middle East in such a way as to create the least turmoil, salvage any type of representative government we can and then get the hell out.
But John McCain has other plans. He believes in our continued involvement in Iraq. He says it’s necessary for our security and economy. And he will use the fact that situations have improved as of late. He will claim that the daily news reports of American troops dying have stopped. He will play to our fears and show “evidence” that terrorism is still alive and rampant.
John McCain cannot protect us by continuing this war though. Obama was right; McCain has not gotten anywhere near Osama bin Laden by blindly following George Bush into Iraq. It’s time for the American people to take control of their own safety, to elect a leader who wants to withdraw this never-ending “war on terrorism”.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Is this the blog entry I spoke with you about? It seems you took a drastically different direction than the given, objective information would have reasonably led to.
Your malice blinds your judgement. The leaders of the past did exactly what the leaders before and after them did do and will do, respectively; they make the best decision they can with the information given. It is hard for me to imagine a scenario in which your beloved Obama, at the time, would have shunned the idea of arming a little known underdog group in it's homeland fight against an invading super power. The fact that those fighters and their American weapons became the threatening Taliban jihadists we know today was unforseeable.
Instead of pointing the finger in a usueless blame game you and Mr. Obama should foucs on the only thing we can ever change; the future. When I say future I don't mean the stump speech future of democratic speeches. I don't mean a simple-as-that timeline and troop withdrawal. I mean the reality of the situaion. The reality that with every step America takes away from Iraq, Iraq takes a step towards social unrest, cultrual conflict, and a bloody civil war. Given his gross lack of experience in international relations and conflict resolution I'd understand if this concept would be difficult to grasp for the junior senator from Illinois.
This is why I find it absolutely backwards for you to consider Obama more capable of conducting, winning, and cleaning up a war than his opponent. Should we take a look at John McCain's foreign affairs and military experience?
Post a Comment