To date, I have not blogged at all on the war. However, recent events have led me to put into writing some of my thoughts on the war on terror and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan:
1. On September 11th, hope seemed lost. Our country had been attacked. We were in shock as a nation. And no one knew what was going on. Competent and capable leadership, from President Bush and Mayor Guiliani and others, saved the day. Speaking from the ashes of the attacks, these leaders pointed towards hope and salvation and spurred a massive outpouring of unity among the nation.
Now, it seems like everyone has turned against these leaders. Last year, when my Georgia Bulldogs had lost three football games in a row and the alumni and fans were screaming for firings of the assistant coaches, Coach Mark Richt made a profound statement. He said that these were the same men who had coached this team to five consecutive 10-win seasons, including two SEC championships and five straight bowl games. "They haven't forgotten what they're doing," he said, and they ultimately turned the season around going 9-4 for the year. Could it be that the leaders who were so competent on September 11th have forgotten what they're doing? Could it be that they've forgotten how to lead? No, of course not. To quote Sherman, "War is Hell." And sometimes in war, you have ups and downs. Sometimes in war it looks like you are coasting to an easy victory and then all hell breaks loose. And sometimes in war you see victory in the face of what seems like certain defeat. I trust President Bush to lead us through this war, and I thank God that he was in the White House on September 11th when this country needed him. I think it's time for the political pundits and candidates to back off and let this man do his job.
2. Why Iraq? Why not? In my mind, the case for going into Iraq was actually stronger than that of going into Afghanistan. The Taliban certainly were not the ones who attacked us on September 11th, and while they might have been harboring Al Quaida within their borders, you could stand in that part of the world and have a hard time pointing at a country that wasn't. We still see Al Quaida in other countries in the middle east and on into Muslim-dominated Africa. That's a given when fighting a terrorist organization not linked to a single country. They infiltrate and can be everywhere, from Indonesia to Afghanistan to Iraq to Somalia and the Sudan. Small tumors popping up throughout the world, all indicative of a greater cancer that we are seemingly incapable of stopping. Take out one tumor and the cancer metastisizes and pops up in another place, such as Fort Dix, New Jersey.
One thing is certain about Iraq, though. Whether Saddam had weapons of mass destruction or not, whether he got them out of the country before we attacked (we certainly gave him sufficient time to do so) or whether they didn't exist or not, the fact remains that Saddam was a sworn enemy of the United States. He may not have been directly threatening us at the moment, but he certainly was sympathetic, if not downright supportive, of those terrorist groups that were attacking us. He was a loose wheel, a dangerous dictator, and more and more the terrorists were using Iraq as a central base of operations, especially after their defeat in Afghanistan.
I strongly supported the attack on Iraq and I continue to support the war efforts over there now. If I were in a different place (and better physicaly condition), I would probably volunteer to go to Iraq to serve. That is how strongly I feel about our efforts over there. And despite the political ramblings of the democrats, the U.S. won the war in Iraq. We defeated Saddam Hussein. We liberated Iraq from a fascist dictator. We won liberties and freedoms for minority groups and have pointed them towards a democratic future.
The conflict we are currently engaged in in Iraq is not part of the original war in that country. We aren't in the middle of a civil war or an insurgency. The battle there is not for the governance of Iraq. It is the new front in the war on terror being waged by Al Quaida and other similar groups.
3. Did we fail in Iraq? Yes and no. No, in the sense that we did win the war and accomplish our objective of removing Saddam Hussein from power. Yes, in the sense that we were not able to get a strong federal government re-established in time to allow us to pull out and engage the terrorists in another place. As a result, we are now getting bogged down chasing shadows and ghosts throughout the cities and streets of Baghdad and Iraq. But, from a more global perspective, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
I just finished re-reading "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway. This is the classic tale of the Spanish Civil War, fought in the 1930's by two opposing ideologies -- fascism versus the republic (and, yes, I know that communists were supporting the republic side, but we fought with Russia against Hitler, too.). The story is told from the perspective of Robert Jordan, an American who is working with a guerilla Republican group to blow up a bridge during a Republic offensive. In this book, Jordan makes a profound statement concerning their overall efforts in the war that relate to the current conflict in Iraq: "But remember this -- that as long as we can hold them here we keep the fascists tied up. They can't attack any other country until they finish with us and they can never finish with us...No, you must not expect victory here, not for several years maybe. This is just a holding attack...Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today."
The current war in Iraq is exactly like that. The terrorists can't reasonably expect to attack us in our own country like on September 11th because we are keeping them tied up in Iraq. They are expending their time and focus in that conflict,and while American lives are being lost, the numbers pale in comparison to the damage that Al Quaida could do to civilians in a terrorist attack in our own country. What we do in Iraq, what happens in Iraq, will affect all the other days to come.
We need to recognize what this war is and what it is not. We need to recognize that the mission was accomplished, but a different war has cropped up, a war that will not end any time soon, and a war that is best fought on foreign soil than on our own.
4. The Nay-Sayers. Watching the news and the political jockeying of candidates dancing around this war make me long for the days immediately after September 11th. Yes, it looked hopeless. Yes, we were shocked and in grief. But we showed the true heart of America in the days following September 11th. There was no political wrangling. There were no calls for inquiries and investigations. There was a country -- one country -- coming together to heal and to grieve and to unite as one in a show of solidarity and defiance. There was a t.v. commercial shortly after September 11th I still remember vividly. It showed a normal suburban residential street, row after row of houses, and the voice-over said, "On September 11th, the terrorists thought they could change America. They were right." And the scene switches to the same street and the same houses, but each one flew an American flag. For the first time in my life, I felt like we were one nation, one people again.
Do you remember how you felt in the days after September 11th? Alan Jackson, in his masterful song commemorating the event, "Where were you when the world stopped turning", put it this way:
"Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Out in the yard with your wife and children
Working on some stage in LA
Did you stand there in shock at the site of
That black smoke rising against that blue sky
Did you shout out in anger
In fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry
Did you weep for the children
Who lost their dear loved ones
And pray for the ones who don't know
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below
Did you burst out in pride
For the red white and blue
The heroes who died just doing what they do
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself to what really matters
I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love
Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Teaching a class full of innocent children
Driving down some cold interstate
Did you feel guilty cause you're a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone
Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her
Did you dust off that bible at home
Did you open your eyes and hope it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Speak with some stranger on the street
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Go out and buy you a gun
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watching
And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns
Did you go to a church and hold hands with some stranger
Stand in line and give your own blood
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love
I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love
I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love
The greatest is love
The greatest is love
Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day"
I wish we could take that song to heart and remember it and where we were on that day when the news about Iraq comes on. I wish we could remember how we felt on September 11th when we hear the political candidates say they were sorry for voting to support the war. I wish we could remember how this nation came together on that day when we hear the derision of our leaders who bravely stood in the gap for our country against the very face of evil. I wish we could remember the day when politics disappeared and when we actually loved this country enough to defend it.
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