Fearing for the soul of our country

I returned over the weekend from a trip to Fort Benning, where we watched my wife's son graduate from basic training. She is quite rightfully worried that she could lose her son in this war, but since he's going into advanced training for the next 20 weeks, that time isn't yet iminent.

You might think I am not a supporter of our military. My "liberal" views on some things, like the Bill of Rights and our rights under habeus corpus, and my belief that we have been lied to (or, if you don't like strong language--intentionally misled) about the war in Iraq, might make you think I'm somehow soft when it comes to national defense. No. Those young men who have volunteered to put themselves in harm's way are already heroes. It couldn't be more important. But where I disagree with the administration is in the how and where these troops should be deployed.

We are mired in a tar pit in Iraq, and we absolutely must develop a clear path to extricate ourselves from this situation. When/if the next attack comes, we cannot be so otherwise engaged that we can't adequately respond to the new threat. There is no cut and run. We must reduce our involvement in Iraq precisely because we will need those men elsewhere.

It seems, if you believe the news, that we are already giving up on Afghanistan. The Taliban are too popular and too entrenched for us to even think of removing them. It seems we now might allow them back into power, so we can get out and on to other things. I don't know whether it's right or wrong, but surely there are people smarter than I am who are running this show! What was the strategy? What was the plan? Have we achieved the objective, or have things not gone as well as we'd hoped they would?

Of course, no one would talk about our plans even if they had them. Our plans and strategies need to remain secret, so as not to give the enemy any advantage. The American people need to trust their leaders--trust that they have our best interests in mind. Unfortunately, I am not alone in fearing that we cannot trust our leadership.

Bush is not a bad man. I never thought he was evil, just average. Rich, spoiled, a dry drunk, and not very intelligent. I didn't think he deserved to be president because I wanted my president to be the smartest man in the room. Bush clearly isn't.

Cheney is unconscionable, unscrupulous and greedy. Rove, who decides political strategy for the administration, has a special place next to the prince of darkness. I'm sure he will plan strategy there, when the time comes. These are evil men who would drag this country into oblivion while claiming to be our greatest defenders.

We cannot trust these men to lead us. They would keep us fearful. They will lie and cheat, and prey upon our children in the name of national security. There is no accountability, and no conscience. They are not heroes, and they need to be removed from their positions of power.

I know that few people read this blog. That's OK. I don't make posts on a consistent basis, and it's true that in order to be read you have to have something to say. Regardless, I speak my mind in the hopes that someone might read this and be moved to think about things in a new light.

What makes America great is our freedom and our rule of law. This is now being subverted in the name of "security", and I fear that once we give up our rights, getting them back will be considerably more difficult. Just so we don't forget, thousands of Americans gave their lives to ensure our freedom and our rule of law. I am worried that thousands more might have to follow them to get these freedoms back.

Which brings me back to our military. I want their moral choices to be clear. I want them to stand for what is right and what is good, and not to follow the orders of evil, corrupt men. Today, they are being commanded by men who have no problem holding prisoners forever without a trial. And a law has been passed that will give our leaders the ability to imprison anyone without the benefit of being charged and tried, just by declaring them terrorists.

Of course, as I have said before, they are only terrorists once they have been tried in a court of law. Until then, they are innocent. No matter what anyone says, because that's our law. Our law that says that it would be better to let a hundred criminals go free than to wrongfully convict an innocent man. We know some of these men being held are innocent. Let's find out which ones they are, and let them go.