The war drops by the house

280 words written by dylan
Posted September 14, 2004 @ 10:38 PM
2 comments

My nephew (Susan's brother's son) has been informed that he will be deployed to Iraq come January. He's a lieutenant in the National Guard.

I hope he gets through in one piece. He's a good, upright Christian kid. Trained to be a teacher. Married. Upbeat. And thanks to Dubya, he's off to deal with IEDs, Shi'ite mobs, Ba'athist terrorists, and a big, hot country with negative pressure in its governmental zone.

Mind you, I always supported getting rid of Saddam; heck, I knew the confrontation was inevitable. I always thought, though, that since the UN started the war, the UN should have ended it. We could have arm-twisted a real coalition together, maybe even built an occupying force with our European allies and Muslim armies. Instead, we ended up with the current morass and the political handwringing and excuses.

Yet another reason why I'm not voting for Dubya despite my natural Republican tendencies. Fighting war for the sake of war without a plan to fight for peace is always a bad, bad idea. It's bad enough that we're fighting an open-ended war on terrorism without goals and objectives and a focus on the roots of terror; we do it while invading a country that had nothing to do with terror other than a lunch date in Prague that apparently came to nothing. And now we're stuck with this commitment for at least another five years no matter who gets elected (OK, Nader would pull the troops out, which makes as much sense as Crystal Pepsi).

So now, my nephew joins the next wave of Guards, er, people heading over there trying to keep Iraq's fragile democracy alive. Godspeed to him.

Comments

  1. We've got some gay, single friends if your nephew decides this isn't what he signed up for. :)

    And, because I'm an ass and can't resist... what are "natural Republican tendencies"? This just doesn't bring any pleasant images to mind. Surely they must include a complete lack of understanding of the most fundemental aspects of government, economics, educaiton, health care, society, etc., etc., etc. Dude - you're not rich enough to be a Republican. You're definetly well educated enough to not be a Republican. I guess it's that church thing then... pre programed "I believe in stuff that has no logical grounding". That is pretty Republican. :P

    Posted by: ben | September 15, 2004 05:55 AM

  2. Dylan, I enjoyed your post about Nathan. However I have a job for you and that is why I comment. My office needs a website and I told my boss that my uncle creates websites. I know we are very far away, but maybe you could still help us. Our office e-mail is pinsa@bellsouth.net. Our number 706-468-6415. We're open 8:30-5:30 Eastern time, or you could call me at home to get the general idea of what we need. By the way I found your website a couple of months ago when looking for pics of Annabel. Thanks Angela

    Posted by: ANGELA WALSH | September 16, 2004 12:25 PM