Should We Care WHY? (US)

Intermediate Logic Textbook
Photo courtesy of Logos School website

Something that seems irritating to me is that some people refuse to accept historical events and get on with their lives. What am I talking about? Well…take the war in Iraq, for example.

By the way, regardless whether you have Republican or Democratic (political party) leanings, it appears that both parties have made some missteps.

For some time, most of our progressive political candidates and many of their supporters have preferred to complain about WHY the U.S. got into a war in Iraq and to call for the country to immediately withdraw our troops.

Ok, let’s think about it…Would it really make a difference, WHY we got into the war? Could we change history? Would the world be a better place if we knew? Saddam Hussein did not make the world a safer place to live. On top of that, we have heard a variety of missteps…er… reasons why the Bush administration took America to war.

You know, it really doesn’t matter. Establishing a democratic government in Iraq, as noble as it would be, takes time and sacrifice, if at all. It took quite a while to establish a democracy in America. However, unlike in those times, the tools of war have become much more potent for the brave boys, girls, mothers, and fathers, regardless whether American or Iraqi.

Since it’s silly to complain about how an historical event turned out and although I am not comfortable with the way President Bush took the country to war, I would prefer to deal with the current situation rather than to dredge up past events. You know what? I heard we can’t change history!

If one of your children had said the following: “Billy stopped putting the toys away when he was through playing with them and now it is hard to find my favorite toy. We need to find out why Billy stopped putting them away right” would you, like the Bush administration, before 2007, say, “Well, let’s just let Billy keep doing the same thing and everything will be alright.”

Of course, you wouldn’t. It doesn’t matter WHY he started doing that and you wouldn’t want Billy to continue doing the wrong thing. What we need to do is to put the toys away so kids can find them and have Billy begin doing the same. In other words, deal with the situation at hand and if the current methods are unsuccessful, change them. Maybe we adults should take note of our solution to Billy’s problem and acknowledge that the new tactics in Iraq might solve the problem. What is my suggestion? Deal with the current situation and don’t moan and groan about the fact that it happened.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I greatly regret and am quite unhappy that any precious lives of our valiant servicemen and women and the innocent Iraqi civilians had been injured, disabled, or worse. This IS a tragic situation. However, since, at the moment, there is an ever decreasing trend in the level of violence in Iraq, maybe the American voices of opposition to the war will, at least, subside long enough for us to determine whether this is a definite trend or just a blip on the screen.

May the trend be permanent, may Iraqis live in peace, and may our servicemen and women return home.

Later this week, Congress in the spotlight.

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