Beating a Dead Horse

I keep hearing people complaining about the war in Iraq. The news channels are filled with self-important politicians telling all about what is wrong in Iraq and what the current administration’s shortcomings are in regards to the war. Every day television gives airtime to grieving mothers and self-appointed political activists. Disgruntled former soldiers seem very popular these days as well. What we really need to be asking ourselves as our airwaves are inundated with these reports is: Is this really news?.

The news media continues to inform us that there were no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) found in Iraq, and we continue to see Democratic leaders on television telling us that the President has lied to us in order to start a war. Does anybody really believe that the President maliciously lied about the existence of WMD’s just to start a war, or did the government as a whole make a decision to go to war based upon the best information that was available at the time? I think we’ve heard just about enough of this. At this point, everyone who is the least bit interested and many who aren’t, know that the U.S. military has not found any WMD’s in Iraq. All the accusations, stone throwing, and blame for this failure was thrown around in the year leading up to the last Presidential election. At this point there is nothing new to hear and the people who keep bringing it up are just looking for attention and publicity. It’s time to stop giving it to them. If there is nothing new to say on the subject then it is not news and I don’t need to hear about it on CNN. Is there really any point behind repeating it? I get it. We haven’t found anything. Next topic please.

Another group of complainers will tell you, with obvious disdain that the only reason we’re concerned about Iraq is because of the oil. Well, DUH! For good or ill, we are a nation that depends on oil. Most of that oil comes from the Middle East, so what we are doing is protecting our interests. Many complainers would have you think that’s a bad thing, but it’s not. Yes, we are in Iraq to protect our interests in the Middle East. Our presence adds a certain degree of stability to an otherwise volatile area. Until our country no longer has a need for oil, its uninterrupted supply is critical to our economy. So allowing the situation in the Middle East to deteriorate would be absolutely irresponsible. So we are in Iraq, the oil continues to flow, Americans continue to drive large SUV’s and buy plastic garbage bags.

A third group likes to complain that our troops are in danger and are getting injured and dying, therefore they should not be there. It is truly awful when any of our troops are injured or killed in action, and I hate hearing when it happens. However, this is what these young men and women signed up for. Every one of our troops joined knowing the possibility of war, combat, and death. They are simply doing the job they signed up to do. The complainers will of course counter with the fact that many Guardsmen and Reservists are in Iraq and that they just signed up to work weekends and this is not what they are intended for. Well, I disagree with this argument as well. If the Guardsmen and Reservists are not intended for this purpose, then what are they intended for? I don’t believe that we are in imminent danger of invasion from Canada nor do I see any reports of the Mexican Army massing at our southern border. Even with all of the troops overseas, we were able to mobilize for the natural disaster of hurricane Katrina, so it seems that the Guardsmen and Reservists are doing their jobs in Iraq as well.

So lets stop all of the complaining. The facts are simple: We are in Iraq, it is in our best interests to be in Iraq, and our troops are performing their duty in Iraq. Until there is some new development that hasn’t been reported endlessly, the media needs to quit giving airtime to mindless politicians and activists who are just itching to be in the spotlight. Perhaps they’ll use the time to do something constructive.

Written by W. Brian Roussel
Date Added: 27-11-2005