I don’t talk about Iraq much on this blog. I think the issue is far more complex than many people make it out to be. Waldo has a post up that expresses far better than I could my own views on the subject. Head on over and read it.
8 thoughts on “Waldo’s Iraq confession – and mine”
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VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
A lot of people have ambivalent feelings about this war – didn’t Bertrand Russel say something about only the ignorant being cocksure and the intelligent having doubts…or something like that.
As a veteran and a military spouse, though, I have seen a HUGE shift from those who supported this war at the beginning (I never did) and how they feel now with their husbands being on their 3rd deployment in 5 years. Or those whose husbands have come home to terrible medical treatment…or even our veterans whose budgets keep getting cut to pay for this insanity. You can tell a lot in the military circles by what people *aren’t* saying anymore or even whose bumper stickers you *aren’t* seeing on cars as much. I believe we do owe a debt to Iraq given the upheaval we have caused their country…but perhaps the best way to help them (and ourselves) is by leaving. We are seen as an occupying force (the fact we have in the works 14 permanent bases doesn’t help) and, I believe, our being there is acting as a recruiting tool for Osama and other extremists.
I agree, It is very complex……
VV – you wrote a very nice post on the subject. Thanks for sharing.
I can certainly understand the frustration. After all, in WWII, did anyone get more than one deployment?
Iraq is definitely a tough issue, and one that has divided this country. I am not sure there are any good solutions left at this point. Vivian, thanks for pointing me to both Waldo’s and VV’s posts. They were both thoughtful and worthwhile reads.
Mouse, how many deployments has your immediate family been through? I only ask because your comment seems sarcastically critical of the military spouse’s understandable frustration with year-long (now 15 month) family separations every other year.
In my view, what is toughest about Iraq is figuring out what to do now that we’re in a huge mess of our own creation. Pulling everyone out tomorrow probably isn’t right. I sure don’t think stationing troops in Iraq for decades, as I heard one general assert recently, is right. But I am certain the war was a mistake to begin with, for countless reasons, and that therefore the thing to do is to admit our mistake and get out as soon as we can, as securely as we can. There will be no “victory” in Iraq, and that was never a possibility. At this point all we can hope for is trying to fix our mistake.
My father was in the Navy for 20 years (which is why I was in Norfolk). We went through a LOT of deployments during those 20 years — I cannot even remember how many. In fact, my father was deployed (to a war zone) when I was born.