HATE TO SAY IT! - HILLARY CLINTON IS RIGHT!

In the following article " The Explanation Hillary Clinton Owes ", published by Richard Cohen in the Washington Post the author uses a very clever rationale to question Mrs. Clinton position on the Iraq war.

I am not a supporter of Mrs. Clinton and I do not know who I will vote for in 2008. I do know though, that I will definitely not vote for her if she makes the claim that her vote on the Iraq war was a mistake.

With his question Mr. Cohen is playing a game of catch 22 because a senator that acknowledges that his/her vote was a mistake and ends up being President will have to live up to his /her words in the likely eventuality that compensation and/or human rights lawsuits are brought up against the US in international courts.

Acknowledging that you were wrong when you voted for the war amounts to saying you did something you were not supposed to do and therefore you agree that the US should be liable for that mistake.

That would be absolutely irresponsible (shame on you John Edwards) and, in my book, it automatically disqualifies you for the position of President of the United States.

WE THE PEOPLE, ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY SO CALLED WRONG DOINGS BY OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ

Recently I read an article from AP, written by Douglass K Daniels, reporting on the potential fallout from the killing of Iraqi civilians by our Marines and I can not help but to wonder; will our troops be the scapegoat of the Iraq War fiasco?

This is a valid question because our troops were indeed the unfair scapegoat of the Vietnam War fiasco.

Our soldiers are not a bunch of great guys eager to fight to protect our freedom, democracy and well being. They are far more than that. They are the warriors of our country. In fact, they are very dangerous warriors who are trained to kill, highly motivated by purpose and committed to “live winning or die killing”. They are not blood thirsty but they will do whatever is necessary to win. That is what we train them for and what we expect from them.

War is a bestial endeavor and it brings out the worst in human nature. In order to survive in war, soldiers have to let loose the primal beast inside everyone of us and rely on its survival skills and instinct to keep them alive while hoping that, afterwards, they will be able to bring it under control again.

Our troops have not only sworn to die for us but they have voluntarily agreed to expose themselves to being wounded and/or mutilated and further, to jeopardize their own sanity to keep us safe. Many come back from war to broken homes and lives and all of them have to endure the long process of taming back the beast they had to let loose. A good number of those soldiers spend the rest of their life trying and are never able to succeed.

The sacrifice our troops are willing to make for all of us is so high that there has always been a silent covenant by which, we the people, have agreed to spare every soldier live that we can and to use our troops only as a last resort and in situations of clear and present danger.

THE COST OF WAR!

While surfing the Internet I found this interesting website with a running counter of the taxpayer cost of the Iraq war based on Congressional appropriations.


Let me tell you something; this is not for the faint of heart. Do not click on the link below unless you are ready for some very scary stuff.

http://costofwar.com/index.html

Like everything in life though, you have to be careful not to draw false conclusions.

While it is true that the amount of money being spent in the Iraq war is absolutely outrageous it is also true that what we are talking here is the lives of our soldiers and therefore any amount of money is worthwhile spending.

What we need to ask therefore is not how much, but, how come we got ourselves into this mess and who is responsible for this absurd and inept adventure.

Did the conveniently classified top secret meetings between Vice President Cheney and the good oil boys had anything to do with this?

Was Ted Kennedy right when he said that Iraq was a war “Made in Texas”?

These are all valid questions that need to be answered and hopefully, some day, they will.