Quote from AAAintheBeltway:
Excellent points. I have repeatedly voiced my disgust that more attention has not been paid to preventing casualties, but some casualties are inevitable. I don't recall the Lynn Cutlers of the world being too concerned whne Wes Clark was running a terror bombing campaign over Serbia or when our sailors were killed on the Cole or at Khobar Towers.
Americans are spoiled, I think that fact is indisputable. We want freedom and security, but no blood loss.
This is not realistic in life, nor is it reflective of reality.
We were awakened to reality on 911.
Life is messy, and people are going to die....each and every one of us for that matter at some point.
Some percentage of policemen, firemen, and soldiers are going to die in the line of duty.
Where we need debate and a long term plan (which I don't think we really had when we invaded Iraq) is not whether people will die in the process, but how do we minimize death and destruction in the long run.
One point that is not in our favor, is our enemy that is of the Muslim extremist persuasion doesn't have the same value of life that we do.
Terrorism works when people can be terrorized.
These people see being able to be terrorized as a weakness, especially when we value a few lives before our National well being, and they play upon this as it is a weakness of ours as a country at present.
We as a country need to buck up, no matter what we agree to do and demonstrate a sense of resolve no matter what...a stiff upper lip if you will.
This doesn't mean I think what is happening in Iraq should necessarily continue or not continue....but the debate needs to be geared to what is in the best interest of our society in the long run.
We are there now, and we now must do what is right in the long run.
Life requires making the best decision based on the reality of today, not looking back and laboring on what should have happened yesterday.
It is also a fact that every president we have had, or will have, is human....and will likely make mistakes from time to time.
I accept this, I think others should too.
All I ask is that we have leadership who actually leads, but is also strong enough to admit when they are wrong.
Presidents who live in fear of public opinion polls will never make good leaders, and despite what Bush says, he lives and makes decisions on the basis of these polls all too much.
This is bad policy, and is crippling the ability of the presidency to get the job done in many instances.
We have a representative democracy, not a direct democracy.
We have a congress who approved Bush's power, yet you don't see the outcry against the democratic senators who granted Bush that power.
It is a slippery slope that we currently are perched on, as public opinion is most often uninformed and manic in nature.
What happened in California sends shudders down my spine to think that the whim of the electorate can so quickly make changes in context of our system of government.
Were that to happen in Washington, that would be the end of our precious system of government.