Letter to the Editor

I was perusing the Internet after work on Friday and happened to come across a letter to the editor by a one Bill Herzog. Needless to say I was somewhat impressed with his level of rhetoric no matter how ill informed and faulty the reasoning. Mr. Herzog starts out by saying that anyone who opposes this war is a defeatist and that history shows that isolationism doesn’t work. Unfortunately for the sake of Mr. Herzog’s argument he is right. The United States Government has isolated us from the rest of the world after it was rather united with us. After 9/11 we had people all over the world joining in our sorrow. We rightly went after Al Qaeda, we were even provided assistance in combating Al Qaeda from Tehran, but somewhere along the line we got sidetracked. We invaded a country that was not mobilizing against us as the administration suggested to the American people. Some of the Intell was rather sensational, I remember myself agreeing with the War when Bush stated that Saddam had improved his military armaments to the point that he could attack us within 45 minutes of his command with CBRNs, turns out Tenet ridiculed that statement himself. Turns out the smoking gun wasn’t a mushroom cloud, it was the Downing Street Memo, it was the fact that much of the intelligence cited was not deemed credible, it was the fact that people with a literal paper trail of vocally wanting war with Iraq since the last war with Iraq created their own mechanism of vetting intelligence straight to the President. Much of the sensational evidence was contended by various intelligence agencies and some times stricken from Presidential speeches because they thought it was just not credible. We weren’t going to be sprayed with chemical weapons through Iraqi drones. In other words it was an unnecessary war. When one makes a severe misjudgement one must reevaluate the process that led them to the faulty conclusion. I do agree with Mr. Herzog’s sentiments on the UN, but I must inquire why he is so supportive of Bush’s War, which apparently was to enforce UN Resolutions? It can no longer be about WMDs because the Intell was a joke. Why do the Busheviks always change their rationale? They do so because it was a faulty rationale. We have way too many troops stuck in Iraq. Why are they stuck? Because they have nobody to turn the country over to, they can hold a position but they can’t leave. Who are they going to turn it over to? The Iraqi Government is faltering, Sunnis are pulling out, they are on vacation and I really don’t hear much about Iraq Forces improving in quality and more importantly quantity. All the while Al Qaeda has it easier because we are bogged down in a country that was once held by their enemy Saddam. Bin Laden tried to overthrow Saddam during Gulf War I, but was turned down by the Saudis, but this by no means that Saudi money isn’t and hasn’t been a main source of funding for Al Qaeda. The Saudis are also funding the Sunni insurgents who are responsible for the vast majority of attacks in Iraq. Guess who is arming the Saudis to the tune of a 20 billion dollar arms deal. You got it, our government. How long does Mr. Herzog wish to stay in a stalemate where we are funding both sides? How much money does he wish to burn? How many more lives must be lost for a stalemate? When will people sympathetic to Mr. Herzog’s opinions find the time to go after Al Qaeda who has been benefiting from our intervention in Iraq? Unnecessary interventions should be shunned, they do nothing but waste money and lives but also serve as a recruiting tool for Al Qaeda. Bin Laden can say to Arabs that the United States doesn’t care about combating terrorists, they want to fight imperial wars throughout the Middle East and that Bin Laden was just an early whistleblower, not a rogue murderer. If you take interest in political argument you will notice that it is a rather strong rhetorical argument considering the audience and the facts that are coming out with regards to the conduct of the Administration. Recruiting for Al Qaeda has surged and so has sympathy for it throughout the Middle East. Attacking Iraq has helped isolate us from many Arabs that would usually not be willing to kill themselves unless they truly believed that they are being invaded and oppressed by “Crusaders”. Unlike Mr. Herzog I propose we isolate Al Qaeda, show them for the rogue murderers that they are. We show Islamic Terrorism to be foolish and fruitless by defanging its arguments and specifically targeting them militarily. Mr. Bush, stop isolating us from the rest of the world, let us conduct honest trade with nations and respect their sovereignty, why would somebody want to kill themselves then? Radical Islamic fundamentalism is a system bogged down by its own tenets, yet propped up by faulty foreign policy by our government for the last fifty years. Like Communism Islamic Fundamentalism is based on faulty philosophy. It will crumble when there is no scapegoat to blame. When the Arabs will no longer be able to blame us they will blame their leadership and exact change throughout the natural evolution of a state just as the western world did over time. Rapid Evolution shocks the social construct and is automatically rejected. Our revolution came from within for the better and so will eventually go the Arabs. The Caliphate is a myth propped up by scapegoats and hate. It is time we expose it for what it is. The Caliphate cannot exist for the differences in Shiite and Sunni is a balancing factor, but more importantly like the Communists permanent revolution has never been successful. Nobody can conquer the world, not the Romans, not the British, not Hitler, not Communists. Imperial ideologies end in disaster whether it is the Islamic Caliphate or a continuation of Wilsonian Democracy Spreading. They are two ideologies based on emotional rhetoric and not solid reason or sound strategy. Let Mr. Herzog now reevaluate the process that led to his faulty reasoning like I once did myself. For this “Bush Basher” voted for him in 2004 has regretted it ever since.