http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/10/iraq.soldiers/index.html
I greeted this piece of news with a sly smile. I really did feel that the Congress and the President are out of touch with the Iraq situation. Screw politics. What about the soldiers? The toll on their mental, emotional, and physical health. Do the politicans understand what it's like to watch where you put your foot down? The sense of danger? Sleeping in uncomfortable beds without air-conditioning or heat? The meaning of family? Realizing that conflicts sometimes cannot be resolve through words alone, that basic human instincts always come first? The answer is no. The Congress and the White House are too busy arguing based on logic and paper, not what actually goes on through observation and personally talking to the troops. While the US Commander Petraeus can generally speak of what's happening, the soldiers really know the best. They're on the grounds, not sitting in a situation room comfortably 8,000 miles away!
Theo only reason why this article provoked reaction from me was that I've been close to home. I know soldiers personally. I've seen army bases from distance. I'm used to seeing guns everywhere. I've seen soldiers carry huge duffels as they return home from their bases on the buses. Military reports made daily headlines- like actual military stuff, not political ideology stuff. Israel rarely uses that kind of demoratic jargon because it knows that what it's doing isn't exactly democratic because it has to sacrifice liberty and freedom to provide security for all. Even the government isn't democratic but it's close as you can get in terms of Middle East politics. Nevertheless, I've said over and over, Israel's realistic about its goals (That's another thing- it doesn't make long term goals). I think if the politicans can experience what's actually going on, the tone might change. The Iraq policy might change. Now I think about it... Israel doesn't throw numbers around or set a lot of benckmarks. (It actually resisted Secretary of State Rice's suggestion for Middle East benchmarks back in the spring) Hmmm.... what does it say about Israel? I suppose that it doesn't like to expect things and be disappointed with incomplete results as evident in history. What about the States? Why does the government like to publish troop numbers and dates and set goals? For media relations? For reassurance? Does it have relevance to its power leverage as the world's superpower?
I think that's your food for thought for today.
No comments:
Post a Comment