Firstly, I’m not per se against this war, and I strongly object to those who are challenging this war on the grounds that it’s a war. I.e., pacifists, who think all war is wrong and therefore should never happen. While I agree that in many cases war needn’t be fought, I think that some wars are necessary. Hell, without a war, the United States of America wouldn’t even exist. Without a war, this country could still be divided along 34-40' (or whatever that line of demarcation was). Without a war, Hitler’s successors would probably have a headquarters in London, and the Jewish people would probably be endangered if not gone entirely. Pacifism is not always right; before one decides against a war, one should really have all the facts.

Many think this war is for oil; that doesn’t resound with me. We don’t really depend on Iraqi oil anyway, and wouldn’t Bush, an oilman himself, want to help Texas by cutting out the competition, not increasing it? Hell, even better, he’s trying to destroy a part of Alaska’s wilderness to increase American oil production to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. Why bring Iraqi oil in at all?

Others think Bush is a warmonger. This, coming after a relatively pacific Clinton, doesn’t seem too far off. Though, Bush’s bellicosity isn’t really that different from many Americans’, it’s the timing. And the nepotism. And the election of questionable legality. The man’s barely in office, isn’t taking good care of governmental finances, wants to wreak havoc with the environment, and now has turned (to reference Mark Rosenfelder) the one time everyone stood with us (Sept. 11) into a time when everyone hates us (Let March 19, 2003 go down in infamy). Even if a government’s backing us, chances are likely the people aren’t. It makes me scared to go on foreign exchange next semester; I can’t imagine what the poor sops who are already over there are going through from the more inconsiderate natives).

And Bush’s timing seems really fucked up. As far as I can tell, Bush’s problems seemed to come out of the blue. Or perhaps he couldn’t catch Bin Laden and needed to fight against someone he could beat. Now that I say that, it makes extreme sense. And then he tries to link Hussein with Bin Laden—where the fuck did that come from? I’m sorry, but if Hussein wanted to get us, he’d’ve done something other than hire 20 Saudis (one of them way too fucking wealthy and seemed to mastermind the operation by himself) and an Afghani to do his dirty work. He’d’ve probably just launched a few of those missiles he doesn’t have in the direction of Israel—a much easier target for him (like Iraq is for us). There might be some moneys flowing from Iraq to the Taliban, but it really seems to me that Bin Laden can finance his own terrorism.

I do believe that this war has been coming for awhile. You just can’t let a wound like Hussein fester for long, because eventually the infection is going to spread. His WMDs, if not yet manufactured, were in the works. His bio-/chemical warfare was also somewhere in the making. A man like him has dreams of taking over the world; he’s not the first nor will he be the last. But, unlike the US, which does its world-domination in a much slower, more benevolent way (we send McDonalds and Fords instead of bombs), Hussein wanted to go the old-fashioned route, and crush everyone under his thumb. Look at what he’s done to his own people, the Kurds of northern Iraq. He doesn’t give a shit about them, and something tells me he doesn’t give a shit about his people, as long as he controls them. I’m sorry, but that’s not leadership, that’s tyranny. Hell, look at how fast the average Joes of Iraq (I guess they’d be average Mohammeds, no?) are giving up. They don’t give the appearance that they love Hussein above all else.

So, what I’m saying is, Hussein needs/needed to go. It might as well be Dubya doing it, finishing his father’s work. This war, while of questionable justification and timing, isn’t necessarily all bad. Especially if we can rebuild Iraq and get it going down the road of prosperity, similar to Europe after WWII. Let’s cross our fingers (or pray if that’s what you do) that this will be a war for the betterment of mankind, especially the Arabs and Muslims, and for the US and the world’s opinion of her.

And that’s my three cents.

This is just my putting my thoughts down on paper so that they'd be coherent for me. Pardon if they're not cogent or well-written, but now I know how I feel and why I feel that way. If you disagree, email me at jrbbopp@hotmail.com and let me know why.