First off, I would like to start this little diddy off by saying that I am still undecided on the matter. Not one of you is going to influence my opinion, so don't try. I am just going to touch on a few issues I read in here or thought about. After this I am done I will not engage in political discussion beyond this level because it is pointless.
1) Bush is a horrible public speaker. Always has been, always will be. It doesn't mean he is stupid, it just means that he is not a good public speaker. Kerry on the other hand is rather eloquent (at least compared to Bush) when he presents himself. He stands tall, he stands proud and he has a soothing voice. Don't EVER make the mistake that anybody at that level of social standing in life is stupid (either Kerry or Bush).
2) They are trying to sell themselves. This entails that they must be vague and non-specific. If they are not, they will start to alienate groups that they need to be elected. Both sides will deny things they once said, did, or thought.
3) For all of you on here that ripped up on Bush's pronunciation, lest we forget that there are such things as accents and dialect. I can stand here all day and pick on just about anyone who says anything differently than me. Mysteriously, an ER replaced an A in Cuba whenever John F Kennedy was speaking. Also mysteriously, everybody seems to love him. There was nothing wrong with him, it was just dialect. Anyone from the deep south or the northeast knows what I am talking about. Texas has its own accents. Hell at one time they had their own nation.
4) Anyone who rips up on Kerry's military record is an ass. He went, he fought, he got shot at. That's more than I can say for a lot of other people in that time frame and this one. Anyone who thinks that there wouldn't be at least a little bit of panic when they were getting shot at, has never been shot at. Maybe he did run, maybe he didn't. It depends on what you saw. Ever interviewed eyewitnesses at the scene of an accident? Three people saw the same event from approximately the same perspective, yet the stories are usually 50-75% different depending on age and the manner in which the questions are asked. Raise any flags??? That is why eyewitnesses are not very highly regarded in testimony.
5) Bush has eluded to the fact that it is hard work. Yes Mr. Bush you have established that. Nobody ever thought dying or losing loved ones would be easy. Why don't you elaborate, and tell us what needs to be done and how.
6) All I have heard from Mr. Kerry so far is "anything you can do, I can do better! I can do anything better than you." Great! You have a plan, and you say you can make it sound great on paper and knock my socks off! ... ... ... Well?? What is it? Oh, wait! I forgot, the only thing that you have said is that you will get the help of the international community that doesn't want to help us because it means that they will lose money. They already told Bush that, and he dealt with it poorly, so surely if you smile and nod they will change their mind. Newsflash! France isn't going to help us, EVER! They were one of the largest lenders to the Iraqi government under Sadaam Hussein! They have already lost billions and stand to lose billions more. Germany won't help because they are having trouble paying their bills. It isn't a bad choice on either part, it is just unrealistic to expect it to change.
7) Wars aren't won overnight, especially the ones that have to undo a 30 year old tyrannistic regime and thousands of years worth of history. Let's not forget that this has been the way of life for this part of the world since the Egyptians ruled so long ago. Slavery, massacre, class systems...all in a days work over there. So, I pose this question. Should we not undo it? I think that from a HUMAN point of view, it is the only proper thing to do. Their behavior is unacceptable. The things they do to other people because they think they can due to their "social status" is not only attrocious, it shows a complete lack of psychological evolution. Human nature is human nature, and yes we do horrible things to other people too, but at least we have made progress.
Let us also not forget that WWII took four years from the time the US got involved until the day we defeated two little countries on TWO FRONTS. DUH! Nobody wants to fight on two fronts, unless that is what has to be done. Does the US have the military resources? Yes they do. Does that make it a good idea? Depends how you look at it. If you look at it from the point that we are fighting two separate wars just because it tingles our jollies then it doesn't compute. If you look at it from the point that those terrorists in Afghanistan were fleeing somewhere because nobody in their right mind is going to stand there and get bombed at, then it may make partial sense. Maybe they weren't fleeing to Iraq, but if we secure Iraq, we have a foothold from which to stage the fight. I have also been wondering a lot lately why nobody seems to mention the fact that we are undoing one of OUR wrongs. We helped the bastard take power and we took him back out. Why doesn't that count for something? Just a thought.
Enough about the war. The fact is that neither person knows how to fight the war, because nobody has ever fought this type of war on this scale before. They are both going to mess it up.
8) Guess what! I have thought 24/7 for months and months about how to "fix" Iraq and I actually do have a plan! Don't know if it would work, but at least it is a start.
First, you have to maintain order militarily at this point because that is the only way to maintain it.
You have to set up a new government because the consequences of just up and leaving were proven in Germany after WWI. Not a good idea. That is why we haven't done it since. This isn't a six month process either so don't flame. It took us about 8 years to set up our government, and that was with everybody agreeing on what type of government we wanted. Given enough time and gradual freedom they will realize it too. It is human nature to want to be free and enjoy life, and given enough time they will begin to see that. The problem is that the concept of freedom is as foreign to them as sitting in a tattered hut with dirt floors getting bombed all day is to us.
OK...so we have a government set up and stabilized. How do we keep the peace long-term? Obviously the military solution and the freedom solution are juxtaposed to each other so we can't just camp there with tanks.
The solution is so simple that every American doesn't even stop to think about it. Education. Why is it that if someone like Saddam comes to us and says "Appoint me dictator and everything will be better tomorrow" we say take a hike? Because we have the ability to reason through a situation, weigh the options and consequences of each option, and then make a legitimate informed decision. Many Americans choose not to use these tools all the time, and the options are always weighed through the individual perspective, but on issues like this, I am pretty sure there would be just about a 100% concensus.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not for marching in there and saying do it my way or the highway. I am saying that we need to give them the ability to read, write and reason. Just like American children get whether they realize it or not. Given this ability, they will be much more resistant to all of the things that we are trying to avoid. They will also realize that someone like Osama Bin Laden is a man with a personal agenda. They will be able to ask the questions that need to be asked. "If it is so important to him, then why is he sending me to die?" They would be able to read the Quraan and interpret it for themselves. Just like all of the people that read the bible and can interpret it see that Pat Robertson is a right wing lunny, they would see that it actually preaches love and acceptance, just like the Bible. In fact it is almost identical with a few notable exceptions...ironic...one God spoken in four different ways to appeal to different groups of people...must be coincidence. For the education bomb throwers on here, keep this in mind. Public education sucks, but not because it is inherently flawed. Yes there may be a lot of better ways to do things now. Individually tailored learning if you will...but lets not forget that we have to try and accomodate everyone with as few resources as possible...this inevitably requires compromise and results in something similar to what we have now. The results actually speak for themselves. Look at all the literacy rates and progress vs. time improvements that have come since public education was instituted. Coincidence? I don't think so. The main handicap to public educations is kids willingness to learn. You can't teach somebody that doesn't want to learn no matter what you do. Yeah, I was there once too.
Sorry guys, but there has to be a Part II because I am so long winded. I gues if you have read this far, you may be interested in continuing
.
1) Bush is a horrible public speaker. Always has been, always will be. It doesn't mean he is stupid, it just means that he is not a good public speaker. Kerry on the other hand is rather eloquent (at least compared to Bush) when he presents himself. He stands tall, he stands proud and he has a soothing voice. Don't EVER make the mistake that anybody at that level of social standing in life is stupid (either Kerry or Bush).
2) They are trying to sell themselves. This entails that they must be vague and non-specific. If they are not, they will start to alienate groups that they need to be elected. Both sides will deny things they once said, did, or thought.
3) For all of you on here that ripped up on Bush's pronunciation, lest we forget that there are such things as accents and dialect. I can stand here all day and pick on just about anyone who says anything differently than me. Mysteriously, an ER replaced an A in Cuba whenever John F Kennedy was speaking. Also mysteriously, everybody seems to love him. There was nothing wrong with him, it was just dialect. Anyone from the deep south or the northeast knows what I am talking about. Texas has its own accents. Hell at one time they had their own nation.
4) Anyone who rips up on Kerry's military record is an ass. He went, he fought, he got shot at. That's more than I can say for a lot of other people in that time frame and this one. Anyone who thinks that there wouldn't be at least a little bit of panic when they were getting shot at, has never been shot at. Maybe he did run, maybe he didn't. It depends on what you saw. Ever interviewed eyewitnesses at the scene of an accident? Three people saw the same event from approximately the same perspective, yet the stories are usually 50-75% different depending on age and the manner in which the questions are asked. Raise any flags??? That is why eyewitnesses are not very highly regarded in testimony.
5) Bush has eluded to the fact that it is hard work. Yes Mr. Bush you have established that. Nobody ever thought dying or losing loved ones would be easy. Why don't you elaborate, and tell us what needs to be done and how.
6) All I have heard from Mr. Kerry so far is "anything you can do, I can do better! I can do anything better than you." Great! You have a plan, and you say you can make it sound great on paper and knock my socks off! ... ... ... Well?? What is it? Oh, wait! I forgot, the only thing that you have said is that you will get the help of the international community that doesn't want to help us because it means that they will lose money. They already told Bush that, and he dealt with it poorly, so surely if you smile and nod they will change their mind. Newsflash! France isn't going to help us, EVER! They were one of the largest lenders to the Iraqi government under Sadaam Hussein! They have already lost billions and stand to lose billions more. Germany won't help because they are having trouble paying their bills. It isn't a bad choice on either part, it is just unrealistic to expect it to change.
7) Wars aren't won overnight, especially the ones that have to undo a 30 year old tyrannistic regime and thousands of years worth of history. Let's not forget that this has been the way of life for this part of the world since the Egyptians ruled so long ago. Slavery, massacre, class systems...all in a days work over there. So, I pose this question. Should we not undo it? I think that from a HUMAN point of view, it is the only proper thing to do. Their behavior is unacceptable. The things they do to other people because they think they can due to their "social status" is not only attrocious, it shows a complete lack of psychological evolution. Human nature is human nature, and yes we do horrible things to other people too, but at least we have made progress.
Let us also not forget that WWII took four years from the time the US got involved until the day we defeated two little countries on TWO FRONTS. DUH! Nobody wants to fight on two fronts, unless that is what has to be done. Does the US have the military resources? Yes they do. Does that make it a good idea? Depends how you look at it. If you look at it from the point that we are fighting two separate wars just because it tingles our jollies then it doesn't compute. If you look at it from the point that those terrorists in Afghanistan were fleeing somewhere because nobody in their right mind is going to stand there and get bombed at, then it may make partial sense. Maybe they weren't fleeing to Iraq, but if we secure Iraq, we have a foothold from which to stage the fight. I have also been wondering a lot lately why nobody seems to mention the fact that we are undoing one of OUR wrongs. We helped the bastard take power and we took him back out. Why doesn't that count for something? Just a thought.
Enough about the war. The fact is that neither person knows how to fight the war, because nobody has ever fought this type of war on this scale before. They are both going to mess it up.
8) Guess what! I have thought 24/7 for months and months about how to "fix" Iraq and I actually do have a plan! Don't know if it would work, but at least it is a start.
First, you have to maintain order militarily at this point because that is the only way to maintain it.
You have to set up a new government because the consequences of just up and leaving were proven in Germany after WWI. Not a good idea. That is why we haven't done it since. This isn't a six month process either so don't flame. It took us about 8 years to set up our government, and that was with everybody agreeing on what type of government we wanted. Given enough time and gradual freedom they will realize it too. It is human nature to want to be free and enjoy life, and given enough time they will begin to see that. The problem is that the concept of freedom is as foreign to them as sitting in a tattered hut with dirt floors getting bombed all day is to us.
OK...so we have a government set up and stabilized. How do we keep the peace long-term? Obviously the military solution and the freedom solution are juxtaposed to each other so we can't just camp there with tanks.
The solution is so simple that every American doesn't even stop to think about it. Education. Why is it that if someone like Saddam comes to us and says "Appoint me dictator and everything will be better tomorrow" we say take a hike? Because we have the ability to reason through a situation, weigh the options and consequences of each option, and then make a legitimate informed decision. Many Americans choose not to use these tools all the time, and the options are always weighed through the individual perspective, but on issues like this, I am pretty sure there would be just about a 100% concensus.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not for marching in there and saying do it my way or the highway. I am saying that we need to give them the ability to read, write and reason. Just like American children get whether they realize it or not. Given this ability, they will be much more resistant to all of the things that we are trying to avoid. They will also realize that someone like Osama Bin Laden is a man with a personal agenda. They will be able to ask the questions that need to be asked. "If it is so important to him, then why is he sending me to die?" They would be able to read the Quraan and interpret it for themselves. Just like all of the people that read the bible and can interpret it see that Pat Robertson is a right wing lunny, they would see that it actually preaches love and acceptance, just like the Bible. In fact it is almost identical with a few notable exceptions...ironic...one God spoken in four different ways to appeal to different groups of people...must be coincidence. For the education bomb throwers on here, keep this in mind. Public education sucks, but not because it is inherently flawed. Yes there may be a lot of better ways to do things now. Individually tailored learning if you will...but lets not forget that we have to try and accomodate everyone with as few resources as possible...this inevitably requires compromise and results in something similar to what we have now. The results actually speak for themselves. Look at all the literacy rates and progress vs. time improvements that have come since public education was instituted. Coincidence? I don't think so. The main handicap to public educations is kids willingness to learn. You can't teach somebody that doesn't want to learn no matter what you do. Yeah, I was there once too.
Sorry guys, but there has to be a Part II because I am so long winded. I gues if you have read this far, you may be interested in continuing
.