Friday, October 10, 2003

Reader Responds: Jim from Seattle offers this rebuttal:

Now that we have invaded Iraq, we see many people admitting that the WMD's were more hype than reality, while still defending the invasion, mentioning the evil nature of Saddam, etc. Could we take a little more objective look at this?

Saddam is scum, no doubt, but there was no pressing need to invade a country that was not an imminent threat. As was pointed out recently, we invaded even before many of the soldiers were provided with body armor. I think a few more months, even a year, of patience would have made good sense, and we might have also found/made some friends in the UN who today would be more inclined to commit to the costs and needs of rebuilding. This was a redneck's way to wage battle, and we all know the last three words of a redneck: "Hey, watch this!"

In this case, it seems we had a cowboy redneck who had some pathological need to embarrass his father.

And, logically, there were other countries, such as Korea, that are one hell of a lot more threat, so why did we take on Iraq? Because the cowboy thought he could win an easy one and look like a frigging hero, maybe even show Daddy that Jeb isn't the brighter son, after all. Right.

And one last word: I sure wish there was some way to make all the big-mouthed conservatives and so-called moderates quit stereotyping liberals, especially stereotyping us as a bunch of monsters or dummies totally lacking in common sense.

First of all, many of us have served in the military, and worked hard to make improvements in our communities, and tears roll from our eyes when we think about the wonderful things we find in this country. But, as someone recently said, conservatives love America like a four year old loves its mother, whereas liberals have a more grown up relationship. We love this country, and we love our neighbors, even the rednecks when they're sober, and we're a little sick of being bashed. It seems that the worst of the big mouths think we deserve to be hated for being brighter and generally better educated, and that just reeks of jealousy. So, with a little urging to be less strident, let's all be more thoughtful in our critiques.

Thanks for the thoughts.