[Rhodes22-list] Iraq-It Is Still There

[David Culp]

Interesting observations...  I'd rather talk about sailing but here are mine
for others to contemplate:

I envy Stan in that he and his generation were truly the greatest and quite
frankly, our country is in decline and has been since after Korea.  Very
slowly at first but then accelerating after Viet Nam.  I worry about the
kind of country that my children and grandchildren will be growing up in.
If the present list of candidates for President in either of the two parties
is any indication, my worries are well-founded.  However, one person cannot
save a nation; it takes the body politic to do so.

I listened to a fellow the other day who was advocating legalized
prostitution in our country-seemed to think that it would alleviate a lot of
problems and generate more tax revenue.  It occurred to me that we already
have legalized prostitution in this country with approximately 525 "whores"
legally working on Capitol Hill and literally hundreds of "Johns" legally
working on K Street in Washington DC.  This is what your government and
ultimately your country have come to-politicians sold out to the highest
bidder.  This cannot be what the original framers of our Constitution and
our country had in mind and is certainly not worth dying for.... Is it?  It
is time to stop all lobbying by any individual, corporation or union in our
government because it renders the will of the average voter to be less
effective and it is the average voter's children who die on the battlefield.

According to the Constitution, wars are declared by Congress.  We are not in
a declared war, so therefore I think that it helps to answer the question
why the American people are not engaged and politicians are abandoning the
cause.  When you go to war, you have to have a culmination of those efforts
in some form or another.  Just think if you went to a sports event and
suddenly the referees called the whole thing off in the third quarter with
no victor declared.  No one would be interested in coming to the event again
and only the most dedicated of players would show up to get in a good
practice session.  This is what has happened in Korea, Viet Nam (our team
left the field) and probably Iraq.  Bush thought he was going to fight a
short "cable TV" war with great ratings and vindicate his father all at the
same time.  Unfortunately, the American people are now tuning out and
regrettably we have over 3500 dead and thousands wounded.  And for what?
What have we accomplished?

In war you must have closure one way or the other.  Germany and Japan are
both allies today, yet they were mortal enemies 60 years ago.  The
difference is that there was a final score.  We won.  Our goals were clear
and our fight was with the peoples of both of those countries.  We broke
both countries militarily and we broke their citizens will to continue the
fight.  We have not done that since.  The referees (UN) and the politicians
keep screwing up the matches I suppose.

The only thing in my opinion that can save the Iraq campaign now is for
Israel to attack Iran.  They most certainly would retaliate against American
forces in Iraq who will grant over-flight and other support for the bombing
missions and this would in some ways vindicate the ill advised decision to
go there in the first place.  Why else would two full carrier battle groups
be prowling the Gulf right now?  I'm sure the present administration is
hoping for this very thing.  Iran is the true enemy in the Middle East and
their leadership should be eliminated and the civilian population decimated
to the point where their spirit is broken and they no longer wish to fight
anyone.  This is how we won in Germany and Japan, unless you happen to
believe that the photos of the bomb-leveled cities of Germany were faked or
the two atomic bombs dropped in Japan only killed Japanese sailors and
soldiers.  The next President who tells me that our fight is not with the
"people" of a certain country is the next President who should be impeached
immediately, as a war can only be fought between two "peoples".
Ultimately, we the people either elect the leaders or allow the dictators to
remain who take us to war.

For example:  Afghanistan should have been leveled after 9/11 including the
use of tactical nukes in the mountains to get Bin Laden.  The government
(the people) allowed the Taliban to remain who supported Bin Laden, who
attacked us on our own soil.  If you are shaking your head "no" over this
observation, then my friend, you are not prepared for real war.  I would say
that America and Americans overall no longer have the stomach and are not
prepared for real war which I say again.... Is a struggle between peoples.
The reality is that Coalition forces are still being attacked and poppy
production which is Afghanistan's most important export is the highest on
record.  So much for victory there.

Does that mean that I like the idea of war... with women and children or
other innocents being killed?  No, certainly not, not in this country or any
other.  But this is the true cost of true war.  And when a country's
citizens tire of paying the true cost of war, they will take a different
tack just as Japan and Germany did after WW2 and just as we will in Iraq
though we tend to change course under far less devastating circumstances
which over time may ultimately be our downfall.

David Culp









While we are choosing the cut of our next mainsail, kids are still dying in
Iraq.  Mostly, they are killed from IEDs, enhanced with C4 from Iran (semtex
too), but other sources as well. Sorry too spoil your otherwise pleasant day
but twenty-year-old kids have their asses at risk as we speak, while in
cyberspace, we mentally masturbate about defending your right to bitch about
why they are there, OR, we debate the cut of our mainsail.  Go sailing on
the 4th of July and forget about all that died to make that holiday happen.
I can't blame you for not having a clue about what is  happening in Iraq
right now, why should you care when there is so much more interesting news
happening.  Did Paris eat a snatch in prison?  Inquiring minds want to
know!  I don't know what your plans on the 4th are but I'm taking the
CoraShen out and flying the flag.  Why can't we all get along?  The Germans
just wanted a little territory and a few less Jews.  No problem there.
Right?  Sorry for spoiling an otherwise great sail but wake up folks!  Your
weekend sailing satisfaction is not guaranteed!  The war that is nothing
more than a bumper sticker might just blow-up right in your face.  Happy
4th!  (I'll be gone until the 6th of July so the world is your
responsibility.  Good Luck!

Brad