(3) Iraq

Bring the troops home immediately.

Regarding Iraq (and even Afghanistan), I originally believed that if we were going to do this thing, it should be with such devastating, broadly applied force that there would be no reason to send ground troops in anywhere except to pick up the pieces. After this, the question of a continuing problem in this region would be moot. Since we opted instead to pursue this in an inefficient, half-assed fashion, and continue to do so, I advocate the immediate withdrawal of our troops. Now for those of you who are ready to hit me with the "lets see how you feel after we're attacked again" rebuttal, here's my response: Reread sentence one again. That would be the position I would advocate. In the meantime, I don't plan to live in fear.

For a long time now, we've been spending $50 Billion per month that would have been much better spent right here in the USA - on our infrastructure, our homeland security, our healthcare, our education system, etc. Once our troops are home, the $50 Billion per month "savings" will go a long ways; nevertheless, I still am a firm advocate of extracting, dollar for dollar, out of oil or otherwise, the amount of money that we've pumped into that middle-eastern pit since this war began. But for this lame war we've waged, our economy would not be in the shambles we currently find it - our dollar would be worth much more and inflation would be markedly less. Why have we done this? Because of a flawed assumption that if we bring capitalism and a democratic form of government to these poor, disadvantaged Muslims our "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" ideals will provide them with newfound hope for their futures causing them to accept Jesus, abandon their terrorist agendas, and start pursuing capitalistic profits like good God fearing Americans. This is yet another example of how little the Bush administration and the pious religious right understand about middle eastern culture.


Let's assume for a moment, hypothetically, that Bush and his Missionaries of Democracy succeed beyond their wildest dreams - we now have a stable westernized Iraq with a democratic government, suburban shopping malls and a WalMart on every corner. Would that mean that there would no longer be terrorists planning to attack us? Would anyone even claim there would be less terrorists as a result? Seriously? If you say yes to either of these, let me know; I want to add you to my list of evils. :) (Hmmmm ... A Wal-Mart on every corner would be a special brand of hell that I'm not sure I would inflict on anyone - that might even create more terrorists and worsen our security.)