Taking a good deal of interest in the US 2008 elections, for various reasons such as concern for the future, and a good laugh from classic comedy as well, I watched the vice presidential debate live through a CNN video stream. Not being either liberal or conservative (I’m a socialist!), I don’t really agree a lot with either side (Especially these general notions of “affording to go to college”, “affordable healthcare”, just make me laugh out loud!), but when the topic came to Iraq, I wish I could shake Joe Biden’s hand. I was about to explode at times!
First of all, one thing John McCain and Sarah Palin love to argue is that the US should not “surrender” in Iraq, and that “victory” is in sight, even though that the word surrender, in a military context means “to yield (land, a town, etc.) to an enemy.” (Source: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/surrender), which is absolutely not what would happen if the US handed control of Iraq to, doh, Iraq!
Being both strongly opinionated and being Danish, I just can’t say this in other ways: BULL-FUCKING-SHIT !!!
This just shows a mountain of Republican idiocy!
First of all, the UN didn’t approve of the US going into Iraq, and at the same time, Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, in fact Saddam didn’t like al-Qaeda and Islamic fundamentalists in the first place, and hadn’t attacked the US at all, or done anything that in any way could justify military retaliation. So here we could talk for hours about whether the whole thing was a big-ass war crime (And yes I believe it was, and George W. Bush and Dick Cheney should be sent to the Hague, maybe they can chit-chat with a few guys from Serbia!). Secondly, it has been an absolutely horrendious humanitarian catastrophe. Over one million Iraqis, the vast vast vast majority being innocent civilians, have died as a result of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, and if you ask me, George Bush’s oil-wet-dreams. Thirdly, the war in Iraq has been a ginormous strategic disaster. Complete and utter failure is what it has been. What the hell was the US thinking when they, in 2003, disbanded the Iraqi army, which they had full control over, even when an Iraqi general came to the Americans and said, that he could have thousands of troops on the streets of Iraq, to prevent plunder, and maintain law and order. Not only did this blunder cause many families to be robbed of all of their belongings, violence and other shit, but it also left thousands of men, whom had military training, without a job and without a means to care for their families, and at the same times, the militias were like “We can help you, go kill some Americans and we will make sure you can take care of your family”.
The stance of John McCain on the issue of Iraq, just shows incompetence and abysmal judgement beyond comprehension!
My country, Denmark, a NATO-ally and supporter of the ISAF effort in Afghanistan, has over 700 soldiers in Afghanistan. Now, that may not sound like a lot at all, especially compared to the US (Oh and by the way, US generals in Afghanistan are saying how they need more troops!!!), but I can tell you that for us, a small nation, it’s taken significant amount of resources. I’ve come to the conclusion that if the US doesn’t get their shit together in Afghanistan within a year or a year and a half, so that we can actually start hunting down al-Qaeda and make progress on non-military fronts, I say just pull out! Not because I am opposed to the war in Afghanistan, but because I am opposed to not accomplishing anything through it. It’s not worth wasting money and resources, and potentially lives, for absolutely nothing. At home we have problems with our welfare state that we need to fix, if our contributions to ISAF don’t make a difference anyway, let’s go home and spend the money where it does make a difference.
Unlike Iraq, I support the NATO effort in Afghanistan, which the UN has approved of by the way, I really really want this mission, which I believe is an important one, to succeed! But I don’t support incompetence, stupidity, neglect, idiocy and failure, which is pretty much all the US has demonstrated in Afghanistan! Because you know what, it’s not going well at all in Afghanistan, in fact it’s sliding towards chaos, al-Qaeda and the Taliban are not withering away, it’s going LOUSY!!! Which John McCain didn’t seem to get until somewhat recently.
Another thing that pisses me off, is that the world always seem to wait for the US to make a move on something. Darfur is one of the best examples of the world. We have a large-scale genocide taking place, and we’re doing absolutely nothing!! This brings shame on us all!
If the ship known as the United States of America sinks as a result of the economic crisis, or even if it doesn’t, I believe it’s time to take the European Union (Which I am a strong supporter of) to the next level. Why couldn’t Europe stand up and say “ENOUGH!” in Darfur, and end this genocide once and for all! This is about thousands of people’s lives, not whether some asshole named George W. Bush can fulfill his money-money wet-dreams of oil. Maybe I’m just angry tonight, but the thought of constantly having to say “We have to wait for America!” just pisses me off, when it comes to things that REALLY REALLY matter.