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"Every people has the government it deserves." I don't remember who said it, but it's true. You point out a fact that is almost completely ignored by Americans who are masters at shucking responsibility and blaming someone else for their woes.
I was against the war, not because I'm a left leaning bleeding heart appeaser, but because I've read. I've read a little history, both of Britian's attempt to "free" Iraq during and after WWI (if you ever need an example of history repeating itself, this might be the crown jewel) and understand a bit about why the US is suspect in some of its international dealings. (Central, South America, SE Asia, etc)
Most Americans I talk to, honestly, don't know jack shit about anything. They're not stupid, they're lazy and ignorant. They make a specific choice to appear stupid. They "don't have time to read" they tell me, because they're so busy. Right. In the time needed to take a good crap, you can go on the internet, find articles on one subject from opposing points of view, come to some sort of a conclusion as to what you think about a certain subject, wipe, flush, and get on with your day. In a month, guess what? You are caught up with enough information to make your own judgements about what you believe, instead of regurgitating sound bites you hear on TV (A passive medium, by the way, which literally may represent one tiny tip of an information iceberg).
Instead, Americans choose to sit back like sheep and have someone spoon feed our thoughts to us. Orwellian, to be sure, but the worst part is that Americans choose this willingly. But one day a sheep the next, a lamb to the slaughter, controlled by someone who is happy to take the power so readily acquiesed.
As the draft looms on the horizon, I have asked my friends who supported the war if they would be volunteering. They are astonished as if my question is ridiculous. They have mortgages and tennis lessons and a carreer ladder to climb. I remind them that they said, "This is the MOST IMPORTANT THING." If so, I ask, can't the promotion wait? So what if you lose your job? Your house? Isn't this the most important thing? I guess they meant it only insofar as someone would go do their fighting for them.
And, some tell me, in hindsight, "If I'd known what a clusterfuck this was going to be, I probably wouldn't have supported the war."
Well, guess what? The information was out there. A whole bunch of really experienced people (Zinni, Byrd, etc) saw this quagmire coming from a thousand miles away. The warnings were there. The predictions. In retrospect, people ask me, "Hey, how did you know all this was gonna happen?" My response is, "How did you NOT know?"
So now there are a bunch of American kids over there, undermanned, undersupported, and facing a vastly complex series of enemies. If you give them an objective, they will take it. They are very good, brave, and competent. But guess what? Riding around in a humvee in a hostile zone like targets at a carnival shooting gallery isn't part of boot camp. Standing at a checkpoint, day after day, while the guys who want to kill you are circling, just waiting for the right moment isn't in the Infantry Tactics Manual.
I was in the Marines. I know who they are and what they can do. And I know that being a passive target is not something any Marine is taught. But that's what this war expects them to do. And you know what? They'll do it. They'll do their part, even if the war planners didn't do theirs. They'll attack a tank with a knife if they're asked. But it's a terrible waste every time one is killed or wounded driving around because we didn't know what the fuck we were doing sending them there in the first place. That goes for all the services, by the way.
So back to the issue. Who's at fault? The people of this nation. Those who didn't bother to learn the truth for themselves, or grasp the complexities of a deposing a tyrant in fundamentalist Islamic state.
People will boil it down to a stupid sound bite, as if this settles everything, "Is it better that Saddam has gone?" Think about having a surgeon remove a brain tumor with a fifteen pound sledge. Oh, it'll get rid of the tumor, all right. But the side effects are a bitch.
Anyway, that's why I think pre-war supporters, regardless of age or sex or "career" concerns should have the sac to pony up, and volunteer. Ignorance is no excuse. Nor are personal obligations (is your life or appendages or digestive system more valuable than a 19 year old kid's who gets drafted?) If they don't volunteer, we can use rights granted in the Patriot Act to check e-mails, letters and phone records, and give these people draft numbers starting with 1.
First, it might teach people in this country to pay attention. (I was mortified to learn that at one point something like 70% of Americans believed Saddam was involved with or responsible for 9/11). Second, it might teach people the dangers of being spoon fed some stupid sound bite from a TV talking head and believing they now have "information." Third, it might make us question the veracity of both the press and the government, and demand from our politicians truth, representation and leadership AS THE FRAMERS OF THE CONSTITUTION INTENDED. (An aside - the framers, having lived under a tyrannical government, feared that eventuality as the greatest threat to America, and set things up to aviod it - most of the safeguards have been worked around, naturally, just as they feared, but that's another topic for another day) If we have at least a rudimentary grasp of basic facts, and let our voices be heard, then we could honestly call our selves a "democracy" without getting snickers behind our backs. One of the basic tenets of "democracy" is a well informed, active electorate. If we passively accept one side or the other at face value, regurgitate soundbites, and live in ignorant bliss, we are really giving away our power. Power is like matter, neither created, nor destroyed, but transferred or changed into a different form.
Bottom line, if this effort is a failure, the failure lies with the people. The information was there. If the country, along with congress had, as you say, the balls to stand up and ask a few questions, maybe we'd have found a better, smarter, more effective solution. Now everybody wants to blame the Administration for "misleading" the people. There were a lot of people who weren't misled, even if that was their intention. Of course they were fired or shouted down or ridiculed as "appeasers" or called unpatriotic. Where is the democracy in that?
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