The gavel came down today. 14 minutes and waiting until the President addresses the nation.
What then? A little more waiting, then war. Some of them will die, some of us will die. It seems like such a vicious cycle. Zealots somewhere decide they don’t like American foreign policy and the American lifestyle. They fly planes into our buildings. So we retaliate by overthrowing a couple of governments – the same kind of heavy-handedness they hated in the first place. Now, I fear there will be more attacks here, followed by more retaliation, with no clear end in sight.
Speaking of the American lifestyle, it seems somehow ironic that as I wait for NBC to cut in with the president’s address, the network is showing “Who wants to be a Millionnaire?” It just seems so trivial in the face of war.
I don’t understand this war. I heard an interesting commentary today – our government claims to love democracy until a democratic process (i.e. the U.N.) doesn’t yield the desired results. Now we seem more like a bully than a participant in any democratic process.
I know one argument is – if we wait, they might attack. True, I don’t want that, but I also don’t want to be the country going around and overthrowing governments because we think they’re sketchy. I’d rather be friendly until provoked, and I just don’t feel like we were provoked. We initiated this latest fued with Iraq.
I could be wrong. Saddam could be on the brink of trying to obliterate America. But now, I’m afraid we’re giving plenty of other radical groups fuel for their fires of hate.
We shall see.
Three minutes.
UPDATE
The address is over. There is a part of me that really wants to believe the war is just, because that would make it an easier pill to swallow. Even if I don’t support the war, that doesn’t mean I’m anti-military. I still support our troops. But I fear for them, for us, for the Iraqi people. I’m afraid of how many will die, and I’m afraid we’re making a mistake. But, it’s not a decision for me to make, so I won’t try. I’ll just keep waiting.