Cost Benefits

To hear John McCain, and others of that leaning, talk about how we’re finally winning the war in Iraq, it’s frustrating. That was a point that he made at the rally that I went to, and I’ve heard it from several different places. It comes down to what is an irreconcilable difference in the way that I view the world, compared to how the people across the aisle are thinking. I’m still trying to figure out whether this is merely a difference of opinion, that there are many different equally valid interpretations of the world. I don’t think that every point of view is equally valid, but I’m wary about drawing any line in the sand, saying that the beliefs that lie on this side of the line are reasonable, and those ones over there are completely absurd, because whenever I look at things this way, I do not share my side with the larger part of humanity. So, getting back to what I find frustrating when people talk about winning the war in Iraq. The war could have ended years ago, with Iraq rebuilding and well on its way to recovery, and I still wouldn’t be able to call it anything but a failure. Some people say that we must win that war, but when it comes down to it, winning seems to only be about some shallow notion of pride. Let’s view winning as meaning something akin to success. The goal of the war was to neutralize the threat that Saddam Hussein posed, either through his ties with terrorist groups, or his stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons. Since those weapons turned out to not actually exist, and Mr. Hussein’s contacts with terrorist organizations was fairly minimal, it’s hard to talk about success or winning. We went in with errant assumptions, which turned success or failure, victory or defeat, into a false dichotomy. The situation we were hoping to bring about would have existed whether we went to war or not. So it becomes a matter of cost. There are two paths we could have taken, one is what we actually chose, and the other would’ve been continuing on with the status quo, which wouldn’t have cost a penny extra. We have brought about on ourselves enormous costs, in reputation, honor, money, and lives, with no benefits that wouldn’t have been gained if we hadn’t gone about what we did. In this war, we gained nothing. You have to weigh the costs against that simple reality. Forty two hundred American soldiers, maybe a million people who used to call their home Iraq, when the cost is those people’s lives, and the gain is absolutely nothing at all, to talk about winning is shameful. I often let my emotions show through in my writing, I’ll throw in expletives, and sarcasm and I think that sometimes that creates an appearance that might be considered rash or impulsive. When I do that it’s because there are only so many ways to shout using text. Some people probably find that off putting, especially people who just randomly come across it. I’ve enjoyed reading some of the comments that have been left; some of the more critical ones were unexpected. I didn’t anticipate that type of reaction. Perhaps the vitriol overshadows the other parts, makes some miss the ideas behind the words. I think it’s been useful, constructive; I’ve got some new ideas on how to change my writings a little, change them around, find some improvements.

Thank You

This is almost ubelievable, after so many years of nothing ever going right, disaster after unmitigated disaster, I can't find the right words for this right now. Thank you, Mr. Bush, I think this will turn out to be your true legacy. We couldn't have made it without you.