First of all, I realize… I suck at updating, but I’m trying to get back in the habit. Seriously, you guys. Now, on to my thoughts…

I’m absolutely sick of hearing about Iraq. I know that is probably insensitive. I have a cousin stationed in Baghdad… I’m so tired of hearing about a new marine death… a possible death to my cousin. And, why do I keep worrying? Because I keep hearing about Iraq, and what is going wrong, what isn’t going as well as expected, and why we’re not letting our troops come home.

I’m sorry to say, but it is time… get our boys home. They are fighting a battle for freedom that has been falsely exalted.

The fact that we went into Iraq under false pretenses is fully known. I’d still love to hear our executive say something to that effect, though. But, here’s the thing… even though we went in, we did help the Iraqi people out by ridding Saddam Hussein of his reign of terror. From a humane perspective, it is good, I suppose.

But, here is what I don’t get. It’s been almost 3 years. Seriously… if the people in Iraq want to have a ‘democracy’ as we claim to be getting for them, they need to quit sitting on the sidelines and take the reigns. No one should have to sit around and babysit them. Now, don’t get me wrong… I know that insurgencies are keeping things from happening. But I also believe that they are being allowed to happen. If all Iraqis really want peace and justice, they would make it happen. It happened here more than 200 years ago. If you want freedom, you have to really believe it is possible. It is up to the Iraqi people to put down the rebellion, to find a common belief, to accomplish a common goal. They won’t be able to withstand anything if it is done for them.

A commentary this morning on Morning Edition discussed why we should stay the course, that the country will implode if we leave. I’m sorry, but I don’t see the need to stay. It is up to Iraq to decide what they want, not the US. We have economic reasons to be there… we want to ensure a quick ally… we need oil so we don’t have to drill here. But, I don’t understand why we have to put our own lives on the line for one administration’s selfishness. I don’t see where Iraq is a threat… unless we stay longer. Insurgencies have only grown stronger. More lives are lost on roadside bombs than the initial bombing of Baghdad. Tell me why we should stay… one good reason to stay that isn’t economic, that isn’t based on false claims of terrorism.

I feel for the people of Iraq who have been burdened by the terror of former regimes. It hurts me to know that people are dying everyday because they don’t have their needs sufficiently met. But, I also believe that something as great as freedom is something to fight for and to refuse less. They will never fully own their freedom if they don’t earn it themselves.

Regardless if the US leaves now or later, there will be a civil war in Iraq. We are only deferring it right now. It will happen. It will be merciless. And it will grow worse the longer we stay… our alliance with our ‘preferred’ Iraqi people will only make the cause for civil war even more extreme. The greatest fear that I have is that if we stay, we will be involved in a greater civil war than even Vietnam saw in the 60s. But, slowly and surely, Iraq is becoming my generation’s Vietnam.

So, all I ask is…
How many more lives will we sacrifice for a cause that only one administration believes in?
How much more money will we spend on something that can never be attained while we have homeless families that will die of malnourishment?
How many programs will we cut that will cause our own people to fall below the poverty line just to help a cause that still to this day, 3 years into war, hasn’t been defined?
How is it that you wave a flag of moral righteousness and believe your cause is greater than the one you fight, when they believe the same thing, and claim they are wrong?
How much longer are you willing to believe that the United States has the right to do as it pleases, disregarding legal and moral issues along the way, and not expect for someone to finally confront us?
How many Americans will be punished in the long run because of your foolishness, Mr. President? Is their freedom and our economic gain really worth the eventual (and already happening) downfall of the once renowned strength and integrity of this country?

I don’t think you, Mr. President, have really thought all of this out, have you? To you, it was a simple game of chutes-and-ladders… but, what you were really trying to do is play God. To me, it seems as though you have become your own demise. But, I refuse to let you speak for me, or to take me down with you. I don’t believe your lies. More than that, I don’t believe you. It’s time for you to start acting out the ‘moral’ platform you stood for, and start living out your call as a Christian, moreso a Methodist… for peace… for open hearts, open minds, and open doors. It’s time to start acting like a president, and not some puppet.