I think it’s pretty safe to say that no one would accuse me of being a fan of Saddam Hussein. Any leader who harms his own people and punishes erring ones by allowing sewage in their water lines is rather despicable in my book. And don’t get me started on his playboy sons and their treatment of women. In the beginning I was for the war in Iraq. Perhaps I was living in my imaginary world where USA represents all that’s right in the world and we had to fight off those evil dictators and rescue the poor Iraqis. Sure, it’ll be great to liberate Iraq. Then those people will be free like us! Whoo hoo….get ‘em, boys!
For one thing I thought this was going to be a remove-Saddam-and-get-out deal. NEVER did I think we’d still be there to this day. I have been tired of the war for, oh, years now. We quickly got to Baghdad, even found Saddam, but why are we still there?
Reading things outside of the American media has opened my eyes to some of the realities. The imaginary world has been shattered and I’m left facing the ugly reality. Perhaps my more enlightened Americans will berate me for this and show me where I’m wrong, and that’s all well and good. But I’m just telling it how I see it after listening to people outside my normal circle. Maybe they are feeding me a lie and I’m falling for it. Who knows? But somehow I don’t think so.
For starters America is not making fewer terrorists by it’s preemptive wars. No matter how we justify it, we don’t win friends by tearing up a sovereign nation. And staying there. For years. If we were so wanting to truly help the Iraqis, why did we use weapons that have created so much lasting damage? Not just to buildings, but to people … I’m talking about weapons containing depleted uranium (DU) which, by the way, has not only caused a rise in birth defects and rates of cancer in Iraq, but also among our own soldiers! So why all that just to remove Saddam from power? Did we have to leave this nasty gift for the Iraqis to deal with? Some reports say DU can affect generations of people giving Iraqis a great reminder of what evil American WMDs can do. We didn’t find WMDs in Iraq. They may have been there and moved elsewhere, but that’s beside the point now. Sadly, America brought her own.
And in so doing we have given evidence of our own brand of terrorism … something that Iraq won’t soon forget. As their children are born with defects and suffer higher rates of cancer, don’t think for a minute they will be blessing the liberators from the West. I see them instead simmering in their hatred and desiring justice. Who will avenge them of their losses? Their shame? And we wonder why the ranks of the terrorists grow.
Sadly, we are our own worst enemy in this (recently renamed) “war on terror.”
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March 28, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Achelois
Thanks for posting this, Susanne! Its nice to hear the truth from an American. Thank you.
April 2, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Lofter
I have surely wondered the same things… but then, I’ve never trusted the main-stream media. Whenever you want to know the truth, follow the money. At the end of that trail you’ll find which group wants what and why… and it doesn’t matter to them which cause they “rally” behind, or which religion they hijack to justify their actions.
For the record, I’ve never agreed with the war in Iraq. Yes, Saddam was a tyrant, but he was not America’s problem to solve. With children going hungry in our own cities, I’ll never understand how the American government can funnel trillions into military action such as this… unless there is a pay-off at the end, right? Bottom line, IMO, Saddam was the Iraqi people’s problem, and all that simmering hatred you wrote of would’ve eventually caught up to him, without any outside “assistance.”
Don’t get me wrong, though… I support the American military. Don’t confuse the morons who make the decisions with the brave men and women whose jobs it is to carry them out. We don’t always have the liberty to agree with everything we have to do, and while there have been plenty of “bad examples” for the main-stream media to hype forever and a day, the majority of our military are honorable and respectful men and women. Those I salute.
Sorry for the extended comment! I’ll try to keep my responses short and funny in the future! LOL! :->
April 2, 2009 at 4:02 pm
susanne430
Achelois, thank you for your comment. It’s hard to admit you were wrong, but needful at times. The more I learn about the truth, the more I am sickened that I supported something I thought would be good, but has turned out so bad. :-S
Lofter, your long comments are welcome. I greatly enjoyed what you had to say. I totally agree with what you said about our military and you had great points about following the money trail. Very wise! Samer often tells me the same thing about Saddam being IRAQ’s problem, not ours. Like you said, he tells me that Iraqis should have taken care of him (if they wanted to) and it was no business of ours to do so. I wish I’d been so reasonable back in the day.
Please feel free to always come by and leave your thoughts. They are welcomed and give me great things to ponder.