23rd May 2004, 7:00 PM
The war on terror can't really be compared to World War II. In WW2 we knew what we had to do to win the war. In the war on terrorism I don't think it is ever possible to fully "win" the war as there will always be people who hate the United States who will resort to terrorism. Nevertheless, I agreed with the decision to go to Afghanistan because it was obvious there were many Al Qaeda operatives in the country. I also supported the decision to go to Iraq based on what we were told about weapons of mass destruction and Hussein's attempts to use them on the US or give them to terrorists. I lost my respect for the administration when it turned out we were misled and they still don't want to admit they made mistakes. I can't stand the fact that we are in a prolonged war and the initial reason we went into the country was either a lie or shaky intelligence (most likely).
Don't get me wrong, though, it is definitely a good thing Hussein is out of power, but it just seems like we didn't plan very well for a post-war Iraq. Can you tell me who is in the running to intermittently lead Iraq come June 30th? One of the most likely candidates is dead, and another has ties to Iran and is now under investigation. The whole situation is a mess, and I think the resources of the US could have been better used to help rebuild Afghanistan and hunt for Osama bin Laden.
For a while I appreciated Bush's "bring it on" approach, but I can now see it is not in the best interest of the United States. He has alienated some of our closest allies and made our enemies hate us even more. It also bothers me that he never, ever admits to mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, but they should be able to fess up to them which is something no one in this administration will do. When something goes wrong you can watch the news channels and every single Republican will come out defending the administration with the exact same lines. I'm not saying they say similar things, I'm saying they spout out the same party rhetoric that they've been fed. I'm not saying it doesn't happen on the other side of the aisle either, but it is not nearly as ubiquitous.
I just don't like the direction the country is going in right now, especially since I've gotten into education and seen what No Child Left Behind is really doing. I don't know about Kerry's ability to keep up the war on terror, but I at least think he can smooth over foreign relations and try to bring more of our allies to our side like they were following 9-11.
Don't get me wrong, though, it is definitely a good thing Hussein is out of power, but it just seems like we didn't plan very well for a post-war Iraq. Can you tell me who is in the running to intermittently lead Iraq come June 30th? One of the most likely candidates is dead, and another has ties to Iran and is now under investigation. The whole situation is a mess, and I think the resources of the US could have been better used to help rebuild Afghanistan and hunt for Osama bin Laden.
For a while I appreciated Bush's "bring it on" approach, but I can now see it is not in the best interest of the United States. He has alienated some of our closest allies and made our enemies hate us even more. It also bothers me that he never, ever admits to mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, but they should be able to fess up to them which is something no one in this administration will do. When something goes wrong you can watch the news channels and every single Republican will come out defending the administration with the exact same lines. I'm not saying they say similar things, I'm saying they spout out the same party rhetoric that they've been fed. I'm not saying it doesn't happen on the other side of the aisle either, but it is not nearly as ubiquitous.
I just don't like the direction the country is going in right now, especially since I've gotten into education and seen what No Child Left Behind is really doing. I don't know about Kerry's ability to keep up the war on terror, but I at least think he can smooth over foreign relations and try to bring more of our allies to our side like they were following 9-11.
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