What I thought about the War on 9/21/04

Well, I supported the war initially, I thought:

1. It might make a positive change in the Israeli vs. Palestinian situation. I didn't like that Sadam was paying Palestinian suicide bomber's families $25k.

2. We had lots of troops and resources in the area being tied up enforcing the sanctions and no-fly zone. It looked like it could be a 35+ year sink like south Korea. Ending the sanctions would be good for everyone. (Now it looks like 20 years)

3. Having a major base in the region didn't seem like a bad strategic idea. It would get us out of Saudi Arabia and put pressure on Iran. (It's still not)

4. Nothing wrong with knocking over a gas station. Having a backup to Saudi Arabia would be a good thing.

5. Giving young Arabs a more local place to focus their anger seemed sound. (Clearly accomplished - but we'll likely pay for how bad it was done)

6. I believed (at the time) that Sadam could have supported Al Queda to retaliate against us, like he tried to assassinate W(rong)'s father. He did gas both his own people and Iran. I believed the story of the meeting between Sadam's guy and Mohamed Atta. And that Sadam was likely to have Bio/Chem Weapons.

I still think all but #6 are still valid reasons to have gone to war to end the regime.

That said, I believe this administration blew it over and over again. Miscalculating at every turn. The list of errors is legendary.

However, I don't like him or his team, I would have voted for him had he managed to get a peace deal w/ Israel in spite of all of this - he didn't.

I think the biggest problem with those of us who live on the coasts is that we don't understand those who don't. We don't understand those who have different value systems than we do. I certainly don't understand how someone could listen to news/friends/leaders/preacher's uncritically. At this point, it looks like a very close race because we don't understand each other.