The Times They Are A'Changin'

Four years later... and we're still fighting. Did I miss something? Didn't our fearless leader declare the war in Iraq over three years ago? Then why are we still fighting? Did we formally declare war? On who?

...And if the war is over, why did we not sign a formal treaty? Somebody please explain to me what the heck is going on!

I have never supported this war, or police action, or crusade, or whatever Bush, Junior wants to call it. Ill-concieved, ill-advised, and illogical-- not a good mix. It makes me sick.

But what makes me even sicker are the new guerilla tactics being employed by the radicals in the Middle East. To take a car, use children as cover to gain access through a checkpoint, and then blow up the car... WITH THE KIDS INSIDE! That's just the grossest misconduct of human nature. It's worse than the Russians strapping bombs to dogs, and sending them after German Panzer Tanks.

...and the end result? The Germans started shooting any dog they saw.

Ahh... you just saw the connection, a history of over-reaction. Isn't that how we got into this mess? An over-reaction. Yes, many innocent people died in September of 2001, but instead of a diplomatic and proportional response, we began a crusade against the Muslim peoples of the Middle East. Call it anti-Terrorism if you want, it still doesn't make it right.

Really, what reason could anyone possibly have for sacrificing those who don't know better? Dogs have feelings, as do children. More irrational-- you can't even argue that the children will be rewarded for killing infidels... 72 long-haired virgins mean nothing to infants and toddlers... among other obvious reasons. Inexcusable... and the Good Lord is watching. It is a violation of human rights to purposely exhaust the life of a non-willing person-- it even violates the Old Testament stance of 'an eye for an eye'.

The point is, we don't even know who we are fighting. We've been after bin Laden-- can't find him. We found Hussein, and put him to rest-- well done, there. But did Hussein really have anything to do with the World Trade Center and why we were in the Middle East?

No. None at all. He was collateral. He posed a bit of a threat... or more of a resistance to our efforts, and so we chased him off. Not right, we strayed from the task at hand. I'm still attempting to figure out how Iraq fits into the equation at all.

bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere in Afghanistan or Pakistan-- that is where our focus should be. We should have handled this situation like diplomats and good-will ambassadors... ask for help, and if they refuse threanten sanctions, then follow through on the threat. Instead, we've declared war on a bunch of renegades who have no firm connection to any government. We're chasing a ghost. Just like in Vietnam, we have absolutely no clue who we are fighting.

Now we're complaining that they're not fighting by the rules. Well, unfortunately all is fair in love and war-- expect the unexpected. Just because we would never dream of using children as decoys to breakthrough enemy lines, doesn't mean others won't. It is nothing more than complacency on our parts-- and it is that sort of complacency that started this mess six and half years ago.

Do you think the Germans were expecting the Russians to use dogs as weapons? No.
Did the Germans expect the Brits to be throwing dirty daipers at them? No... but it was all the English has for weapons at the time.
Did we expect the VietKong to be shooting from trees in ambush attacks? No... but we should have known better.
Did the English expect the Colonials to be shooting from behind rocks and trees while they marched in a straight line, the way all good armies fight? No. But you see where I'm going with this.

Times change, technology and techniques change, and we need to adapt to it. You can not reason with unreasonable people. And radicals are never reasonable... but they are logical and methodical.

So we are fighting a war against someone... and we're getting frustrated. That is no excuse to destroy everything in our wake-- it's reckless, and I can only hope that when the President leaves office (and maybe even before then) the Hague says something about it. Though, I'm sure our Maker will have his way with Georgie-boy.

This is the fourth time in American History where we've started on the wrong track, and let it snowball into an embarassment. Custer and Pickett had brilliant ideas to fight uphill-- and we know how that went for them. Thinking about it, weren't both of them fighting the wrong side of the equal-rights fight-- Custers trying to rout the natives, and Pickett fighting for slavery? Vietnam... only the government knows for sure whether we had actually cause to be involved there-- and seeing as how we got spanked, I'm guess God is telling us the Americans were wrong there. And now the Middle East....

OK, I'm sure God is not approving of the use of children in warefare, but if we had this the right way, perhaps we wouldn't be in this position. It's really just a stalemate. The 'terrorists'-- whomever they may be-- are in the wrong for the senseless killing of innocent people, no matter how evil they believe them to be. But we are wrong for playing the religion card, and for the other ways we have gone about this 'war'.

I am anti-war. Not just this war-- any war. There are no good wars.

But I also understand that sometimes you do have to fight for what you believe. Not what you want... what you truly and deeply believe is right.

War is just an anacronymn for 'We Are Right'. Those who are right shall become victorious...

...but what is no one if right?