Iraq... a culture of life?

In 2003 I spent time knocking on doors for “moveon.org.” My instructions were to ask people who they were voting for… (A waste of time if you ask me. I should have been asking them to vote FOR Kerry.) Those who told me they were voting for Bush invariably said it was because he was a Christian. Many went on to tell me they hoped “Roe v. Wade” would be overturned. The edge that allowed Bush to reach beyond the Republican base was “Christianity.”

A culture of life…

Iraq.

Whenever I hear the latest casualty reports,… whenever I wonder how many Iraqi civilians have died… I think about Cheney and the seemingly endless interviews he gave leading up to this war. Does anyone remember how smugly he assured us that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction? Who remembers his relentless linking of Iraq to 9/11…

http://www.why-war.com/news/2002/02/15/cheneysa.html

Bush and Cheney thought the Iraqi people would welcome us with open arms… A simple plan… if we could set up a modern, stable, democratic, U.S. friendly state in the middle-east, then the U.S. would have a base to operate from and it would be easier to stabilize the area. A happy extra would be the possibility of breaking OPEC’s control of oil prices. The administration made no plans for a post-invasion Iraq… choosing to believe expatriates such as Ahmed Chalabi, now Iraq’s interim minister for oil and a deputy prime minister, who assured them the Iraqi people would be so grateful to be relieved of Hussein they would gladly support the U.S. invasion… a short war, no need for a post war plan. Much of the U.S. pre-war intelligence on Iraq came from Chalabi. (– a quick look at his resume should have given us a clue how dependable he was.)

The problem, of course, is that we are now embroiled in an ongoing conflict which has not only distracted us from the real “war on terror,” it has served as a rallying point for those that would vilify us. A country that was previously dominated by an egomaniacal dictator, is currently destabilized, with fluid borders and American and British soldiers providing ready targets for the zealots of Islamist fundamentalism.

And now, can we really leave that we’ve created a haven for terrorists? Can we, in all good conscience, leave? Is there an answer to this? (I think I’ve finally decided that leaving is the only option.)

The only way we can win the war on terror is by being the “good guys.” When will we turn our attention to the problems of the world… If we take the high road… If we had rehabilitated Afghanistan… If we attacked genocide wherever we find it… If we follow a course of generosity and true leadership… How can we be vilified?

Imagine a culture that protects (existing) life.