Why I support our President

Is that a controversial enough title for you?

Of course I don't agree with the vast majority of Bush's policies. He is on a dangerous road to becoming known as one of the worst Presidents in history. That's not just liberal propaganda. That is a fact. The one thing that saves him is that our two worst Presidents were James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson. Buchanan basically let the Civil War begin under his watch and Andrew Johnson by being a total bastard ruined the possibilities of Reconstruction. So Bush may not be the worst because I don't think (?) we're going to resort to armed combat in this country. So he's got that going for him. Which is nice.

No the reason I agree with Bush (at least partly) is from his speech the other night. He is recommending a troop surge of about 20,000 troops or so to go into Iraq. Obviously the plan is controversial and many are calling it an escalation. While that word is probably accurate (I mean you can't say we're gradually pulling out if we're sending in troops now can we) I feel that is a dangerously loaded term. For example, it's technically true that anyone who isn't Christian is a pagan, but that word sounds very negative doesn't it? And it would not be an incorrect usage of vocabulary to refer to the Bush Presidency as the Bush Regime. However, since regime is generally tied to totalitarian and dictatorial governments, that word is generally not used except by extremists to categorize Bush. So yes it is an escalation. But I think it may be using used in a pejorative sense.

I was never in favor for the war? So why am I on Bush's side in this? Well just because I wasn't in favor of invading Iraq, doesn't mean an immediate withdrawal is a good idea. If America doesn't do everything in their power to save this situation, we will regret it for years and maybe even decades to come. Give up on American-style democracy in Iraq. That ain't happening. The best case scenario is to stop it from evolving into a civil war. We're probably there already, but the conflagration needs to be controlled as quickly as possible. If not, Iraq will collapse and the Middle East may be drawn into a regional war. If that happens after a withdrawal then we might be back there again. So a withdrawal is self-defeating in the purest sense of the word.

Even with this surge, there still won't be enough troops. Everything about the war has been handled in a totally disastrous way. One of the biggest mess-ups was Rumsfeld's insistence on going in with small troops since he wanted to turn the military into a very light mobile strike force. His theory has been proven a failure. Still the increase is a step in the right direction. But it's not enough and I don't know if the American public can be talked into allowing more. And where are they going to get them? A draft? PLEASE! Have you seen the approval ratings for this war? Do you think they can get a draft in place with that amount of opposition? It's hated when the vast majority of people aren't even paying a personal sacrifice? The few adherents to the policy would quickly break ranks if a family member or friend was forced to go against their will. And besides, that would take years to institute a draft and get everyone trained to send into Iraq. I don't think we have years. We have months to save Iraq. And that might be optimistic.

Look, I'm pissed off at the Republicans just as much as anybody. I switched to Democrat I was so disgusted with them. The majority of opposition have their hearts set in the right place. But they're not being honest with the ramifications for the withdrawal. And people on both sides still don;t understand what this war was about. Some still think Saddam was a threat and we'll eventually find those weapons of mass destruction. He wasn't and those weapons were gone for years before we ever invaded if they ever existed. Others keep protesting about how this was a cynical ploy to gain control of oil and enrich the corporations and that sort of thing. They are wrong as well. This war was started because of a flawed philosophy that believed America is so powerful that by "creating" a democracy in the heart of the Middle East that they could cause the flowering of democracy everywhere in the area from Iran to Syria to Palestine to Saudi Arabia and on. Unfortunately, the leaders really and truly believed it would be easier than it has been. Even if everything had been run well in the aftermath, it may not have worked. Unfortunately, we'll ever know.

Make no mistake, this should be Bush's last chance. If the surge doesn't work in increasing security, if the bickering sides can't be convinced to get along with one another, if Iraq's leaders won't stop keeping friends that are involved with the death-squad militias and so on, it will be time to throw in the towel. As one Congressman called it, "This is Bush's Hail-Mary pass". If it doesn't score a touchdown, then the game is over and we should do what other losing teams do after a failed Hail Mary pass. Go home.