Thoughts for Our Time

A great friend of mine once said that “we are all blind in this world.” I do think that is the basic problem with this country. We have this delicately frail object called freedom that seems to sit in the cupboard, afraid to come out and grace us with its presence. Our freedom is afraid because of the freedom of others. It is quite amazing to sit over some goop at Marina and listen to someone’s philosophy on life or have a debate over a worldly topic. Since UB is so diverse, we have a whole bunch of ideas right at our fingertips. That is why we at the International Awareness Club (IAC) sit each Tuesday night at 7:30 in Knight’s End and pick each other’s brains about our world.
As for the War in Iraq, the basic problem is that we are blind. Let us be honest for a moment, shall we. September 11th 2001 did happen, no one can ever deny that. The question that should be asked, though, is how did it happen. Sure a group of men got on a few planes, took them and flew them into specific targets. I remember watching President Bush that Friday the 14th of September, arm around a retired firefighter, telling us all present that someone would pay. I cannot lie, we all cheered. I am sure Mr. Bush went back to his limo and put his head in his hands and said, “Now what do I do?” Hence Afghanistan; Afghanistan sounded like a good idea. I do not think you could be off that bandwagon after watching the atrocities, which were aired on television for days and even weeks.
Then came the topic of another war, Iraq – did we not do this one already? I remember when I was younger and thinking it was cool back then because of this new plane, Stealth. It was brilliant to look at real GI Joe’s wow; we kids were quite innocent back then, but it seemed different this time around. We were talking about actually invading instead of just flying those cool, black planes over the desert. We were now thinking about taking young men and women and throwing them into a situation like Vietnam and Somalia where they might actually be shot at. No worries, we are going to free the Iraqi people: nothing more, nothing less. Surely they will not shoot at American soldiers invading their home villages, right? But they did, and slowly but surely helicopters were being shot down (if they were not crashing into each other!); soldiers were not being greeted with open arms, only bullets and rocket propelled grenades, and then car bombs. We are not talking about an “in and out” operation like we were all led to believe; no, we are talking about years here. From a resident’s point-of-view, the problem in Iraq was that we were led to believe things that were never going to be true. Yes, Saddam Hussein was captured, but I will be the first to admit it was because of Hussein’s own stupidity rather than the United States intelligence.
The basic problem is that the United States has become somewhat spoiled in believing that armed conflict will not be that bad because “we have the best army in the world.” But war is still war. Tactics might have changed since the days of Normandy and Pearl Harbour, but the overall theme is the same right, shoot to kill? If I am a civilian in Iraq and I see a ton of soldiers from the United States approaching my village with armored tanks and AK-47s, I think I would be a little hostile too. The United States has to realize its place in the world. If they were to take a survey from each and every nation, I am willing to bet that most, if not all, would say that they are not fans of the United States and its ideas. It sounds somewhat childish, I know, but in the end, if you are already seen as a bully and want to be known as the “good guys”, then why go out and make things even harder? Just because the United States thinks it is right, does not mean the entire world thinks the same. The war in Iraq will be debated for years to come, but the real question is whether or not we, citizens and residents of America, will be treated as an intelligent community or just mere votes for upcoming elections. It is sad to say, but up until now, our government, a government we vote for, insults our intelligence by giving us excuses on how we could not see the logistics of different situations. That, my friends, is where we have gone blind.