The Ticket Out?
As the Gulf Coast reels from this gargantuan one-two punch, a thought crossed my mind. Then the meteorologists said we're not out of the woods yet, considering the hurricane season doesn't end until late October. The thought grew stronger and emerged as this entry.
Follow me. Money doesn't grow on trees, and if it does, these hurricanes have certainly blown it out to sea with 100+mph winds. A great deal of time, money and effort are being spent on dealing with these natural disasters that have literally shut down entire sections of our country. Oil production is sluggish at best and gas prices are higher than the water level on a New Orleans building. In short, our attention has turned inward with such magnitude that foreign affairs seem to fade into the peripheral. When was the last American soldier killed in Iraq? How long until Iraq drafts a constitution? Did we already pass that deadline?
That's not to say that those things aren't important. I talk with Chaplain Jon Fisher almost daily, and he is constantly in my thoughts and prayers. But then, so is Renee Doiron, a Katrina survivor and close friend. And like a giant, slow swing of the pendulum, I feel the inertia slowing in the Middle East. These things seems important, but they don't carry the same weight that they did 4 years ago.
Is terror a threat? Yes. Do I wish for peace in the Middle East? Absolutely. Would I love to see Iraq become a stable democracy? With all my heart. But those all seem so distant, so unattainable, so insignificant in light of tragedy on this continent. At a funeral, I don't think about work, I don't think about grocery shopping. I grieve, I embrace, I remember, I grow.
Someone once said that American soldiers cannot fight long battles and offered Vietman as proof. We've been in Iraq coming up on 3 years and I know many who are weary, fighting for the freedom of a people so long repressed that like the Israelites in their Exodus from Egypt, the future seems both difficult and unbelievable so they just want to go back. Wasn't it just the other day an Iraqi police force handed British soldiers over to militant fundamentalists? Perhaps this season of such tremendous natural disaster is just the thing to bring our soldiers home.
Some will say that this is just an admission of weakness; some will say that pulling out now equals failure. At any other time in history I may have agreed, but our country is reeling from its own enormous national struggle and we need our men home more than ever now. Now more than ever there is a need for mending divisions in this country, and a good place to start is by bringing Jon Fisher and his crew home to help the people on the Gulf Coast. There is never failure or weakness in salvation and unity.
InterAction:
23 September 20052. xpressionccr:
Perhaps we needed a more domestic perspective to begin with.
23 September 20053. dramaturge:
Vietnam was also a loss because of ridiculous rules of engagement--rules that were not, of course, honoured by the other side--rules that hampered military effectiveness. Three years is a long time--but it isn't the longest time our troops have been overseas: even our abbreviated tour in WWII (a war Europe had already been fighting for three years) was longer, and harder, and bloodier (esp. the Pacific front). I agree that we need to have our eyes inward--that we tend, as a nation, to forget about that in times without such extreme wake-up calls. But, there is a limit to what the government can do on the domestic front. Bureaucracy isn't built for the details and nitty-gritty of helping neighbours. Not that it shouldnt' try, but it is very limited. And with tryants like Hugo Chavez proclaiming that Katrina will be the downfall of the U.S., backing off can be catastrophic--carrying a big stick is very important in a world where tyrants have big mouth and bigger agendas (I know that sounded . . . retarded. . .like it shoudl be on a poster or something--sorry). I see where you're coming from, but I'm not sure it's the solution. Unity is better achieved by my picking up a hammer and helping my neighbour rebuild than any other way. At any rate--keep us all in your prayers, please--Rita isn't going to do anyone any favours, and for a large number of people, the danger in Houston is a second round. I'm with you on the need to keep our eyes on each other as a nation, as Americans, especially now--I'm in the middle of it; I'm just not convinced that leaving Iraq yet is part of that. Anyway. My 2 cents. :)
23 September 20054. Jesse Gardner:
Well, if it's any comfort, this was simply a thought I had. I've tried not to be so definitive in this post, because I do see validity in what we're doing in Iraq. I just don't want to see an endless war, which is really what we're facing. Again, not to sound like an ADHD war strategist, but 20 years is an awfully long time to be fighting in another country, despite the politics or publicity of the thing. As Bush once said (then clarified) there is no real end to the war on terror. Terror has always existed and will always exist, so our soldiers will be gone a long, long time.
I do agree that Vietnam was drawn out because of our limited victory policy and I do believe that negative publicity added a great deal of impatience to the American public. But those facts still remain. We can fight the media and fight the politicians, but if our boys fighting for a cause their parents believed in on soil that isn't thier own, the cause looses some of its meaning, if to no one else but them. I just want to finish things off before Iraq becomes meaningless (come vitriol and high water) to the majority of Americans.
I'm not really offering any solid solutions or calling for a specific course of action, just rolling these thoughts around in my mind and airing them out on this blog. I do think there is some validity to my concerns, but how to accomplish them i'll leave to the farsighted patriot.
24 September 20055. dramaturge:
I know. I know it's just a thought--and I don't think the line of thinking you're on is a bad one. We all need to to take a different perspective with situations every now and then. And I think we always need to take time to pay attention to things around us. But I will accuse you of being ADHD. :) Because it's fun.
26 September 20056. Jay C.:
*****Well, if it's any comfort, this was simply a thought I had. I've tried not to be so definitive in this post, because I do see validity in what we're doing in Iraq. I just don't want to see an endless war, which is really what we're facing.*****
Agreed. I don't mean to come across as being rude or nasty towards you; I seemed to have read into your original post a little too much. Forgive me?
26 September 20057. Jesse Gardner:
Oh heavens, yes! I took it in no such spirit. I am very keen on thinking out loud (an extrovert trait I'm told by my introvert father) so I love a exchange of ideas. Please don't apologize for speaking your mind, even if you felt that it was a bit too harsh.
A reader/former student reminded me recently--"love covers a multitude of sins."
YourThoughts?
(Minutia)
This entry was written by Jesse on Thursday, September 22, 2005 at 11:40 PM and appears in the America chapter. The previous article was entitled, "PixelZion Podcast: Guest Appearance", and the next entry is called, "CCM: It's New! It's Christian? It's Music?". Bookmark the permalink, save it to del.icio.us or Digg it.
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23 September 20051. Jay C.:
Hi Jesse-
Read your post this morning. While I certainly understand your point, I would disagree with you. Bringing the troops home now accomplishes nothing other than to give fresh hope and resolve to the terrorists that we've been fighting and killing. I understand bringing home the troops will reunite the families, but we can't - simply can't - walk out now. The Iraqi Constitution is up for vote on October 15 and if we leave now, or say that we're leaving now, we'll ruin the hopes of all the Iraqis who have looked forward to this day, we will embolden the terrorist scum like Al-Zarqaui to disrupt the delicate balance of power, and we will embolden other rogue states like North Korea, Syria, and Iran - all of whom are continuing their nuclear weapons plans.
Vietnam was not lost because of our troops, it was lost because the press/media coverage became a continual drip, drip, dripping of bad news that reinforced one notion - that America was going to lose. We're hearing it again now - we heard it even before the war in Iraq started from places like the Washington Post and the New York Times - and we can't let the petulant crying of the self absorbed media do it again - we should not, and cannot, throw away the sacrifices of the innocent who were murdered, maimed, and tormented under Saddam's rule, and we dare not count the blood of our fallen troops so lightly.
Well, I've said my piece. I'm not angry with you for questioning the war now, but I felt it necessary to explain my rationale for why we continue to fight.