Here in the US, we have just had our midterm elections in which the Republicans have been booted out of both the House and the Senate in sufficient quantities as to render the Democrats a majority. What, precisely, does that mean??
I think it definitely means that the US is tired of the war in Iraq dragging on and on and on. The resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense has now opened the door for other ideas regarding the war. Finally we Americans may be able to pull our heads out of our bottoms and get something accomplished. (Remember that "Mission Accomplished" sign Bush put up on the aircraft carrier three years ago? And yet we're still in Iraq.)
Of course, that brings up the question of why we are there to begin with. This morning's local paper had two very different opinions on this topic. One letter stated that while Kerry probably shouldn't have made the joke he did, Bush definitely owes the American people an apology for starting a war on bad intelligence and with only his own purpose in mind -- to get back at Saddam Hussein for trying to assassinate George H.W. Bush. The other letter, from a Vietnam vet, went so far as to accuse Kerry of being a traitor, and called for his resignation from the Senate and a trial for treason to boot.
Wow.
See, I don't get where in the world the idea has come from that if you're not with us (whoever "us" happens to be at the moment), then you're against us. If you're not with us, then you're a terrorist. You're guilty of treason. You should move to Canada already.
I get emails all the time from various friends of mine around the country, friends who don't know me well enough to know I do not agree with the war in Iraq. They know that I am a sailor's wife, so they assume that I'm a good, red-blooded American who believes the President can do no wrong. So they send me emails that are pro-Bush, pro-Iraq war, pro-troops.
It's not that I don't support the troops. Having been raised by not one but two Navy officers, and being married to a sailor (as well as being sister to another), I realize that when one's Commander-in-Chief says, "GO!" you have no choice but to go. I also believe that those who join the military, take all the benefits of being in the military, but then decide they're pacifists and cannot be sent to Iraq, should be court-martialed. No one forced them to sign up for the military; they voluntarily did so, and they voluntarily swore an oath to the President of the United States.
Yesterday was Veterans' Day, and to me it's not just a day that my husband gets off from work. I remember those men and women who have given their lives for our freedom since the formation of the US over 200 years ago. It's hard not to be raised in a military family and not have beat into your head the sacrifices that our servicemembers make so that I can sit at home and complain about the state of my nation.
But what I don't support is blind obedience to my government or to my president. I don't appreciate getting emails in which a soldier's wife lambastes other diners in a restaurant for disagreeing with the war in Iraq, saying that her husband is fighting so that they can say such things.
It isn't democracy we're fighting for in Iraq, although we may have brought the Iraqi people closer to a democracy with the removal of Saddam Hussein. If democracy for the world is really our aim, why do we do nothing about the genocide in Darfur, Sudan? Why have we allowed Kim Jong-Il remain in power in North Korea? Why has Castro maintained control of Cuba for the last 50 years? Why has the conflict between Israel and Palestine gone on for so long if America is so intent on bringing democracy to the world?
It isn't terrorism we're fighting in Iraq. The terrorists behind the September 11th attacks aren't in Iraq; they're in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Why haven't we heard anything about Osama bin Laden in years? Remember right after the attacks, and everyone and their uncle had spoofs of Osama on the radio, on tv, everywhere you looked? I remember my friend Angela forwarding me an email called the Binch -- a spoof of Osama written like Dr Seuss's The Grinch. Now the only emails you get are tear-wrenching stories of the terrorists taking all of America's freedoms away. Somehow the war in Iraq has come to symbolize our war on terror.
When Bill Clinton was in office, everyone made fun of him. It was just the thing to do, and he just made it so darn easy. The man couldn't even keep his pants zipped! But if you disagreed with him or his policies (or even his inability to pass up a pretty woman), you were not a traitor to the US, you were not un-American, you were not encouraged to move to Canada. But now if you disagree with Bush and his policies, you're a traitor. You're not a good, red-blooded American. You're to be despised and reviled.
At least Clinton's mistakes only ruined his marriage. Bush's mistake has ruined lives, not only of those men and women who died in Iraq, but of their grieving families as well.