The Politics Behind Iraq: Support the Troops, Not the War

I have been on Myspace for the past two years. In that time, I have found many people I have known throughout my past; friends…classmates…relatives. In total, I have nearly 75 people on my list, only a small handful of them I have met online. The rest are people I’ve known for years or who I’ve met through my long time girlfriend, Ashtyn.

On my list, I would say a few are in the military and even more of them are the wives and girlfriends of men in the military. As a result, I receive quite a few bulletins about the war, supporting our troops, and justification for being in Iraq. Most of the time I just read them, form an opinion of whether I agree or disagree, and let it pass. However, the latest bulletin I’ve received, from a wife of a solider who has been to Iraq made my blood run cold.

Do the troops really believe we as Americans who do not support the war in Iraq also do not support our troops? Are we all considered anti-American because we wish them to come home from the hell that is Iraq? I’ve heard horror stories about what actually goes on in Iraq from the soldiers who have actually been to Iraq, and how much the media does leave out.

Unfortunately, this bulletin, which says you cannot believe what the media says, paints a much rosier picture for what the soldiers are doing in a country they should never have invaded.

I support the troops. I think it takes a lot of guts to serve your country. The military isn’t easy. Like nearly everyone in the United States, I have military members (or former military members) in my family. It isn’t the troops I am against it’s the invasion of a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. It’s the destruction of a country that was considered the cradle of civilization. It is the barbaric and senseless nature with which our government fights Iraq, while the real masterminds behind 9/11 remain free, unpunished, and able to plan the next attack.

Most Americans do not know that not so long ago, we were on the side we are fighting against. We provided weapons and trained the armies in Afghanistan, back in the 1980s when they were fighting against the United States’ biggest enemy during the Cold War, the Soviet Union. We helped arm, finance, and train the Afghanistan Mujahideen. Amongst them was a man named Osama Bin Laden. The wealthy son of a Saudi Arabian family, Bin Laden helped to lead the fighters in jihad against the Soviets. What many do not realize is once the Soviets were no longer a threat to us we left these fighters, those we trained to fight, and refused to provide weapons, once they no longer served our purpose.

This was a major cause for the hatred and ill will directed at the United States. Bin Laden & Bush actually practice the same methodology when it comes to war. For Bin Laden, if the U.S. was not with them, they were against them. As a result, we had to pay the price and that price was the 1993 bombing at the WTC. It was the USS Cole attack. It was 9/11. They used the training we gave them and used it against us. This does not MAKE any of these attacks right. Violence, death, and destruction is never the answer, but it makes sense to think the United States government had an idea of what might be coming to them….to the people. We pay the price for bureaucracy. It hardly seems fair, but nothing in life ever is.

After 9/11, Bush gave a speech in which he said we would fight back. We would not let the terrorists’ responsible get away with the destruction they caused. The country was united for the first time and Bush was hailed a “good president” by most. Yet, I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Not a fan of Bush, I somehow didn’t believe that he would go after the terrorists. Something in my gut told me otherwise. It is sad to say that, six years later, I know for a fact that gut feeling was right.

We went to Afghanistan for half a second and decided to invade a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 instead. It appears that Bush and his administration used 9/11 as a way for us to get into a war his father had lost a decade prior. He had unfinished business in Iraq, and by lying about the potential danger of Iraq and lumping the Iraqis together with those who cause 9/11, he was able to justify a war that should never have been fought.

This is what I do not support. As we fight in Iraq, as our men and women die daily in the hell that Iraq has become, the real terrorists have the chance to plan attacks in London, in Spain, and plot to attack on U.S. soil again. We are letting the real masterminds behind 9/11 run free as we get involved in a domestic nightmare in Iraq, forcing our way of life on a country that loathes us and hates us for attacking them unprovoked.

Meanwhile, the beautiful history of Ancient Babylon, a place that was at the heart of human development and a major center of the Ancient world, is being destroyed layer by layer by bombs, guns, terrorist attacks and more. Ancient relics are disappearing and with it the history of a land where the first recorded laws (that we know of) were established, perfected forms of irrigation and farming were established, and many modern inventions were first developed.

Without Babylon we would have no Hammurabi or his code, the basis for which all other laws and governments have been established. There would have been no place for Alexander the Great to invade and expand the world, on his quest to unite every distant land as one people, one culture, and one race. Yet, one war has had the chance to destroy those Ancient walls, relics, buildings, and anything else that depicts the proud history of the land.

I do not support the murder of innocent women and children. Yes, there will be casualties of war, but some of the fighting seems unjustified and some Americans have even admitted to killing just to kill with little regard to who they were killing. I am not against our troops, but I will fight adamantly against the Iraq war. I will fight for our troops to go fight the real terrorists. I will fight for justice to truly be served.

Technorati Tags: Mujahideen, Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden, 9/11, Iraq War, Support Our Troops

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Written by Dominick - Visit Website
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Dominick Evans is in his late 20's. He spends his days working as a full time writer/editor and a part time musician/composer. His passions in life include music, directing films, watching movies, reading books, watching sports, wheelchair football, politics and spending time with his family (fiancée Ashtyn, son Robert, and shih-tzu Oliver). Other interests include being an advocate for the disability and GLBT communities.