Response to open letter to the "Bring Them Home" group


Dear Zak, Your frustration and anger are understandable; try living here in the U.S. Most of my neighbors and even many friends and family simply want to trust the government. Especially Republicans. Don't ask me why. Most are not business owners or CEO's or have great investments, but they hate the Democrats (who they believe want to tax everyone to death). You can talk to them for minutes or hours, but the same glaze comes over their eyes and you will have been shut off. What people are most concerned with is how to pay their bills, keep or get a job, plan their kid's futures, and maybe enjoy what little time off they get. Having to think about Iraq, the US being wrong and their own complicity in that is just too much. I for one welcome any dissent and crumbling of the front that believes the war was just and that Middle-East Disney will be opening anyday now. Hypocrisy? Lack of Depth? Fickle? Cowardly? It dosn't matter if it gets soldiers out of an occupation they cannot sustain and the native peoples cannot tolerate. Do you really expect the US public to learn a lesson from this? If people really learned from such things how do you explain any atrocities after the Genocide of the Jews during Hitler's third Reich? Just the other night on ABC Nightline Ted Koppel was raising "questions" about the decisions that led to the Iraq invasion. This is mainstream news, this is what most US americans are watching to get their information. It is a year too late and I think, too, it is shameful how the press is starting to flip, when it was the exact same networks that slanted everything and seemed to actually be lusting for the war. (The reporters got to be embedded, you know. Got to ride around on tanks and hummers and use their special new technology to play live to the US audience. Ratings were good!) But the real hope lies in that they are asking the questions. It is no longer only the alternative press that is pointing the finger. This is good news. Bad news is that many Democrats (and Republicans) want to send more troops to Iraq as they (rightly) believe that the numbers on the ground now are not adequate for the job. There is still a strong belief that the US must complete what it has started. And there are legitimate questions to ask about how best to end an occupation. Would it be right for the US to simply pull out all troops tomorrow and leave the people of Iraq to themselves? I do agree with Claire, and think you are generalizing a bit. But I also don't think you said anything false. I don't know, however, what you mean by, "There comes a point when even the most politically naive people cannot be allowed to plead ignorance as an excuse for supporting a vicious and tyrannical regime." What do you mean "allowed"? If you mean allowed to get away with: ie. not held accountable, I agree 100%. But otherwise I do not know how you mean to stop people from being ignorant. If you figure that out let me know, I want your recipie.

Created By: Gary Nihsen