My thoughts on the Iraq situation

How does watching that video make you feel? At face value this behavior looks like a very good indicator of why America might be losing (already lost?) the war in Iraq. The Iraqi people probably see this everyday and view the American presence as an occupying force. They certainly have an argument.

However, the justification of this behavior is that if the humvee stops for more than a few seconds chances are reasonable that they get blown up by a bomb or RPG. They simply can’t stop.

So on one hand you have a whole lot of pissed off iraqis and the other you have a bunch of American Soldiers facing the proposition of a fiery death if they don’t keep the humvee moving. Those ingredients don’t make a good cocktail.

I’m not picking sides on this because honestly the situation is a lot more complicated and delicate than I, or the average person, can really understand. There are so many factors at play. I was never on the supportive side of going into Iraq in the first place. But now that we are there we should be responsible for fixing it.

The question though, is how much fixing can we actually do? I tend to think that perhaps we’ve done everything we can do. As soon as weapons became easy to obtain, War changed. No longer do you have one side versus another. You have one side versus 1000 or 10,000 or whatever. The ‘enemy’ can operate as individuals and constantly attack US forces from any and all sides. There is no way to win in that situation. We will probably never again see a white flag of surrender or a treaty being signed to signal the end of a war. Those days ended after World War II and before Vietnam.

So now that we have captured, tried, and executed the evil dictator and helped establish an Iraqi government to replace the old one, what is left? It seems Bush isn’t ready to leave until there is not a single drop of blood being shed anywhere in the country. This is just a pipe dream that will never happen. The only way to end the violence is to make the people happy. I think they would be at least a little bit happier without America over there. If they then can’t work out their political/religious differences in a nonviolent way, perhaps they deserve the chaos.

Like I said, I’m kind of uninformed about things but I really don’t think Bush can handle this quagmire he drove us into. There is no easy solution and he seems to think it’s a very cut and dry situation where brute force is the answer.

I am not a hater of the soldiers who are risking their lives and I am not posting that video for that reason. I’m using the video to illustrate my point about it being a complex mess that must be viewed at more than face value. My brother will be in Iraq soon and I have other friends over there and I have nothing but the utmost respect for their sacrifices. It’s the Commander in Chief that I have problems with.