:: Venting Insanity ::

:: Thursday, March 06, 2003 ::

plows
Well, we got enough snow today for the plows to come out. I'm listening to the rumbling right now. I'm glad I didn't have class scheduled for tonight. If we had, it would have been for our final and that would have really bad.

iraq schmiraq
I really don't know how many more times we can give Iraq their "last chance to disarm". Personally, I'd rather not take the risk that this country isn't going to use those weapons against us.

Fort Hood was mobilizing, last I heard. That's where Brian's stationed. He's been trying to come home, but I haven't heard from him in a month or so now. I don't know if they sent him out on an exercise or suddenly shipped him out. He was hoping to be home by Christmas, and it's now March. All I can say is I wish him the best and let him know that my thoughts are with him while he's away from home. His brother was also called back from reserves and into active duty. Paul was as well, but for the Navy, not the Army. That's three people I know that have gone in, four if I count Angie's dad (Air Force), whom I haven't met.

I've been watching the news on the protests and other things going on. I can't believe how opinionated and close minded some people can be. While most of the news media seems to be standing behind the President now, showing that they agree with the things he said in his address earlier (8 pm Eastern, we watched it on Fox News), that noisy group of students that only seems to want to cut class, insists on bashing the military, the President, and their families. News 4 did a report yesterday about the protests that my mom and I watched. Tension is high, and there's a large number of people who were out there to show support for the war. I agree. All these people are marching for peace. Well, isn't that what we're fighting for? To prevent a possible and even more deadly war in the future? This one girl they interviewed said she felt that removing Saddam would bring us one step closer to world peace. I agree with her.

I feel that Iraq's current regime is a danger to the world. It has to be stopped from continuing the production of those weapons. I don't believe that Saddam will never use them. If he doesn't plan on using them, why is he building them? These aren't defensive weapons in case someone attacks him. These are missles capable of flying the distance over his borders to attack other nations. The weapons they're talking about on the news are meant to attack, not defend.

Personally, I think we need to have faith in the decision makers. They have a lot more information than we'll ever have access to, short of being government workers in high security positions ourselves some day. We need to believe that they're using that information to make decisions that are in our best interests. I don't know all the details. I don't know if I'm right. None of these people who are protesting the war have all the details either, so I doubt they're any more right than I am. But, there are people who do have all the details and they're the ones we have to put our trust in.

News 4 also spoke with several military officers about yesterday's mass protest. The soldiers have feelings, too, guys. They also know more things than we know. One soldier said that the people out there protesting were clueless. While he couldn't say why he felt that way (it was probably because he had classified information), he did say that he believed going to war was the only way to prevent something even more devastating down the line. Another soldier said he was angry and hurt that people were out protesting, but he was going to war to defend their right to protest and speak out.

News 4 also showed several clips of the students walking around with their banners and signs, yelling things. A good number of them were all laughing and waving at the cameras. Personally, I think a lot of those kids used it as a ploy to get out of class and on TV. Some teachers got wise to that and said they were going to take disciplinary action against students that walked out. Students complained. Well, if you really believed in what you were doing, you'd live with the disciplinary action and stand up for it, not stand there and whine to a news camera about it. They were hoping to get out of class scott free. The only ones complaining were the ones against the war, too.

Rush Limbaugh interviewed someone last week that said the "Human Shields" were leaving Iraq because the Iraqis were telling them where to stand. One person said he went over to protect innocent people and was going to stand in front of hospitals and schools, but left when he was told to stand in front of a fuel depot. Shows how grateful the Iraqis are for you guys shielding them, now, doesn't it? They'd rather have you guys stand in the dangerous areas while they go hide elsewhere.

A lot of people are comparing this to Vietnam, and I myself did in an earlier post. But, I'm starting to see a difference. Not in the protests, but in the reasons. We had no real reason to be in Vietnam, that was true. Even our own military didn't know what we were doing there at the time. This is different. After I saw the interviews with those soldiers, they believe in the reason they're going to Iraq. They believe it wholeheartedly and without any doubts. Yet, the protestors don't see it. When our military believes in what we're doing, and they're willing to go, then there's nothing I'm going to do to stop that.