Comments on: Sheehan Won’t Be Satisfied By Meeting With Bush http://www.philipklein.com/2005/08/sheehan-wont-be-satisfied-by-meeting-with-bush/ Just another WordPress weblog Wed, 28 Jun 2006 02:16:13 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Mingi http://www.philipklein.com/2005/08/sheehan-wont-be-satisfied-by-meeting-with-bush/comment-page-1/#comment-541 Mingi Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:29:17 +0000 http://www.philipklein.com/?p=757#comment-541 What the soldiers died for in Iraq could be for a noble cause, if Americans and others still opposed to the war quit advocating withdrawal and asking for a surrender to insurgents. Instead, maybe they should try to determine the best way to develop Iraq, which certainly will be possible without the insurgents. Because we're consistently suffering casualties (the # of casualties is pale compared to most major wars in history), that does not necessarily mean we should pull out nor should we cease the pursuit of a liberalist dream that has apparently worked for the better in, for example, East Asia, which the West thought to be so uncivilized decades ago. Of course, criticisms should be placed on certain American leaders -- civilian and military alike -- who prepared quite poorly for the war, despite their vision. In particular, what I hear from U.S. soldiers and military experts is that many U.S. soldiers are not well-trained for peacekeeping missions (which is what they're basically doing now), which require significant amount of discipline when under fire or in threatening situations. Unfortunately, that would be difficult to find in and unreasonable to expect from reserves who just stepped out of their full-time work at a law firm or a JC Penney. Ms. Sheehan should be proud of what her son was a part of. And that will be made possible if most people show some maturity and work towards an improved Iraq, or else, contributions made by those like Ms. Sheehan's son may turn out to be unappreciated in the end. If I went back to 2003, I most likely would have opposed the war, since it is sucking up American military resources that should be in the Pacific and Indian oceans. However, the war has happened, and there's no turning back. People should make best of the developing situation. It would simply be wrong for us to pull out and cause greater chaos in Iraq, because we've lost 1,800 soldiers, equivalent to two months' worth of loss during the Korean and Vietnam wars. We also need to earn back what we spent on this war. We should do what we can to profit from this war somewhere down the road. That is only possibly by establishing an Iraqi free market economy, not to mention access to oil, both of which could very well benefit the Iraqis' long-term future. Wars aren't free, and it is the responsibility of our leaders never to forget that. What the soldiers died for in Iraq could be for a noble cause, if Americans and others still opposed to the war quit advocating withdrawal and asking for a surrender to insurgents. Instead, maybe they should try to determine the best way to develop Iraq, which certainly will be possible without the insurgents.

Because we’re consistently suffering casualties (the # of casualties is pale compared to most major wars in history), that does not necessarily mean we should pull out nor should we cease the pursuit of a liberalist dream that has apparently worked for the better in, for example, East Asia, which the West thought to be so uncivilized decades ago.

Of course, criticisms should be placed on certain American leaders — civilian and military alike — who prepared quite poorly for the war, despite their vision. In particular, what I hear from U.S. soldiers and military experts is that many U.S. soldiers are not well-trained for peacekeeping missions (which is what they’re basically doing now), which require significant amount of discipline when under fire or in threatening situations. Unfortunately, that would be difficult to find in and unreasonable to expect from reserves who just stepped out of their full-time work at a law firm or a JC Penney.

Ms. Sheehan should be proud of what her son was a part of. And that will be made possible if most people show some maturity and work towards an improved Iraq, or else, contributions made by those like Ms. Sheehan’s son may turn out to be unappreciated in the end.

If I went back to 2003, I most likely would have opposed the war, since it is sucking up American military resources that should be in the Pacific and Indian oceans. However, the war has happened, and there’s no turning back. People should make best of the developing situation.

It would simply be wrong for us to pull out and cause greater chaos in Iraq, because we’ve lost 1,800 soldiers, equivalent to two months’ worth of loss during the Korean and Vietnam wars.

We also need to earn back what we spent on this war. We should do what we can to profit from this war somewhere down the road. That is only possibly by establishing an Iraqi free market economy, not to mention access to oil, both of which could very well benefit the Iraqis’ long-term future.

Wars aren’t free, and it is the responsibility of our leaders never to forget that.

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