Five Years In

Hi there, Devin here.

Today marks the five year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Maybe it was was the teenage punk rocker in me that was against it initially, but here I am five years later still against it. I know that some day to make sure my soul is saved I will have to forgive George W. for the lies he has told, for the lives he has cost, and for the perhaps irreparable damage he has done to this country and the world. I am just not ready to do that at this point.

I don't know what his real motivation for going to war was. I doubt it was really to spread democracy and protect the Iraqi citizens. Otherwise he would not have worked so closely with other despotic countries. Otherwise he would have invaded all of the other countries with gross human rights violations. Either way, I don't know.

I believe, and you may disagree with me (please feel free to exercise your first amendment right and disagree with me), that the current president is too proud to admit that he was wrong and thus more American lives will be lost. He sent the country to war under false pretenses and now it will take years, if not decades, to clean up the mess. These false pretenses were cemented into history by a recent report published by the Pentagon confirming once again (and once and for all) that there was not a link between Saddam and Al-Qaida. Iraq did not attack the United States

I'm not saying pull every troop immediately. That would be unreasonable and unwise. I am just saying that as long as there is a huge Coalition presence (both militarily and monetarily) in Iraq, the Iraqi government will not need to do its job because it doesn't have to. Half a trillion dollars has been spent on the war in Iraq since 2003. Think about how much good that money could have done to benefit the American people.

So Laura is probably going to be pissed because I came on to the blog and did a huge political rant seeing as a lot of you are her family and friends. Still, this is the Fletchies' blog and I am a Fletchy. I just want to make my opinion known. I love this country very much and am constantly frustrated at the efforts on the part of the current administration to silence opposing viewpoints. That being said, I hope that those with any viewpoint don't feel frightened or intimidated into silence by the government or mass media or even this blog post.

Please write to:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

and let the president know how you feel about the war(whether you are for it or against it) and why you feel the way you do. That is why he was elec-. Oh excuse me, that is what he is in power to do, represent the interest of the people of the United States.

I end my blog with this quote, while I don't necessarily agree with all of her foreign policy, I agree with her on this point.

"Vietnam presumably taught us that the United States could not serve as the world's policeman; it should also have taught us the dangers of trying to be the world's midwife to democracy when the birth is scheduled to take place under conditions of guerrilla war.
--Jeane Kirkpatrick, 1979"

Much love and peace to you all. -Devin.