political rambeling. . . i'm sorry in advance

*****I am not trying to start a political discussion with this blog, and comments will (most likely) not be approved. I’m not trying to anger anyone, though I’m sure I will. I am simply blogging my feelings at the moment, and I am attempting to sort out what I’ve been thinking about. As always, this will be one completed in one sitting. . .I’m not trying to write a paper, so if I am incoherent at times, well, that’s how my mind works.*****

What’s the purpose of a war? Maybe there’s a better question here: How do you win a war?

Contrary to the talking heads floating around here on my television lately, I don’t think the way to win a war is to go in, occupy, offer democracy, give democracy, and withdraw all the troops from the area never to be seen again except in crisis. I don’t think that is much of a “win.” What have we proven? What has been proven to us?

I’m not a big fan of war. I don’t know that anyone is. I can’t sit at home and think that even those in the military actually like war. Nobody does. War is however, a necessary evil. You can’t argue that it isn’t. Nobody can. Diplomacy only works when everyone at the table is diplomatic. Want proof? Look at North Korea right now. . .yeah. . .diplomacy is great. We should always use diplomacy. . .we should have used diplomacy with Hitler.

Okay, sarcasm aside, diplomacy doesn’t work. Nations will use diplomacy as a stall tactic in order to gain more time so they can position their ground troops in an appropriate manor.

That being said, war is a reality. The war in Iraq is a reality we all have to come to grips with. I don’t care why we’re there. The point is we are. I feel lied to. I’m a staunch republican and I’m tired of hearing the phrase “weapons of mass destruction.” I think Bush should just say, “Hey, they weren’t there. . .we thought they were, but they weren’t. Oh well, Hussein had to go. We did that much.”

We have gone into a land that isn’t “ours.” We have given people democracy (although some may argue it was thrust upon the people of Iraq). Unfortunately, the “war” isn’t over. There are still suicide bombings, still RPG attacks, still troops dying. This all leads me back to my original question: How do you win a war? We obviously have superior technology, planning, weaponry, training, etc. Why haven’t we won?

We will not win in Iraq until we defeat the will of those who oppose democracy. The opposition will win when they have defeated out will to fight. The frightening thing is, they damn near have.

Since day one, the democrats have opposed this war. No sweat, demmies and repubbies disagree all the time. As time has progressed though, the democrats have taken their opposition to this war to the next level. They have outright condemned our country’s involvement in this war and have daily said we should be gone from Iraq. Our nation’s senators and congressmen (most of them on the left hand side of the isle) have told our country time and time again that we shouldn’t be in this war, in this territory, and we are spilling the blood of innocent people because we are there.

How is this productive to our troops on the ground? How does this help them? How does this encourage them? How does this tell our troops that we support them? It doesn’t. It destroys their will to fight.

Let me take this argument out of this context for a moment. Suppose the owner of your corporation came to you and said, “I need you to work on this project for me. It’s vital to the future of this company, and we don’t have anyone else to do this. I know you can do it, I’m behind you.” You leave his office and you start to work diligently on the project. Several days into the project your bosses notice your hard work and commend you for it. Your co-workers who were unable to complete the project themselves are excited about the project and are learning how to do these types of projects for themselves in the future. Suddenly, you overhear one of your superiors saying, “I can’t believe this project they’re having my employee do. It’s useless, futile, there is no future in this project, and all it is doing is giving our company a bad name.” You are dejected, but you press on. . .after all, the owner himself told you of the importance of this project. Weeks later, several more folks at the managerial level are starting to complain about the efficacy of your project. Your co-workers are all behind you, as is the owner, and numerous members of management, but so many people are saying your project is useless. Would you really have the will to get up in the morning, go to your office, and work on your project? I wouldn’t. People leave jobs all the time over this kind of thing. Thank God our troops can’t leave their jobs.

Why should we expect anything different from our troops? Why should we expect them to have the will to fight when people in our country. . .anyone comes out to say how wrong this war is?

I’m sorry, but who’s will are we trying to break? The insurgents or our troops? Whether one agrees with the war or not, whether you want the troops home or not, the fact of the matter is, as long as the insurgents have the will to fight, we have not won any war, and we won’t as long as we are stripping our troops of their will. Buck up, support our troops, or just continue voting for democrats who will continue to tear our efforts and our troops to shreds. Hear it here first. . .next major election we vote the democrats out because of their inability to run this country and “change” the things “we” put them in office to change.

I’m off my political soapbox now. . .forgive me if I offend, that was not my intent.Ω