mbrod's Journal: 19 Days...

19 days into the war with Iraq and having completely overdosed on news about it thought it a good time to write an entry in the journal.

Taking in solid doses from as many sides of the fence as I can find a few primary perspectives have emerged.

On one side you have the neo-cons (Conservatives) who are right inline with the President. They can barely contain themselves, so overly exuberant that American and Coalition/UK might is storming along as they predicted.

Then there are the middle of the roaders in the US. They are now saying they support the war due to the fact they don't want anything to happen to the troops over there and the propaganda coming out about how tortuous and evil Hussein was/is. (sure it might be true but it isn't being reported for purposes of winning a grammy if you know what I mean). The thought of a free democratic Iraq without Hussein is starting to sink into them and they are not as anti-war as they once were. Well still somewhat skeptical they _hope_ and _hope_ this leads to a brighter tomorrow for the Iraqis. They certainly deserve it.

The other group is the rest of the 5 1/2 billion people on the planet. They wonder why this 100 to 200 billion dollara (or more) wasn't spent to help fight disease, help build infrastructure in third world countries, or maybe why it wasn't spent more on the citizens of the US that needed it. After all it is their tax dollars that are paying for it. They wonder where this will stop. They have hinted at continuing on through Iran, Syria, maybe North Korea thrown in there too, then after that who knows. This must at least be on the minds of the rulers of these countries.

Is all of this a good thing? Will it free the Iraqi people? First it was to allow inspectors back in, then a little of the "to stop terrorism" call, then it was to hand over weapons of mass destruction then it was invasion to rid of weapons of of mass destruction and now that none are found and they very well mey be found, now that none are found it is for Iraqi freedom!!!. They certainly deserve a free country don't get me wrong, everyone human being does I believe. So there are a LOT of countries out there that are not very free. Some much less so than Iraq. Who is next? It is the fact this question may even be asked that is making this world a more dangerous place than it was before or has to be IMHO.

Do you think video of Americans kicking down doors in Iraq, pulling the family out and holding guns in the face of 8 year old girls is going to win the hearts, minds and philosophical discussions in the Middle East and the rest of the world to sway the neo-cons way?

Every foreign policy action can have a unequal and opposite reaction of the intent that haunts years later. We have seen this all to many times and for sure will see it in one form or another in the future.

Before us I can invision a full spectrum of possibilities for the future from this conflict. If the future holds true to what patterns we have seen in history it will likely be unlike anything we imagine.

However, that being said I can still pray there is as little more suffering as possible for the innocents on both sides and may God's peace and blessings rain down upon all people who strive to do good, insh'Allah.