Comparing the sentiment and understanding of varying groups is a good method for getting closer to the larger picture, so to speak.
Today George Bush spoke on the Iraq War. Summing up a few points, he said we will stay until the job is done, which to me sounds like we will stay the course. This slogan of course coming under fire recently, and consequently revealing to us how unimportant slogans of this nature are particularly in relation to a war, and probably anything else. He'll send more troops if asked and articles suggest that the generals want more troops. This indicates of course, an escalation in the war not a deescalation. He says its all about security, he's always said this. 9-11 times a billion. He said essentially nothing new, sorry to say, but certainly not surprising.
Contrast this with Lindsay Graham who says, we are on the verge of chaos in Iraq. This is something that would appear to be true based on the severity of the news stories coming out of Iraq on a daily basis and over the past few years.
Then we go to this. 65 troops to ask congress to stop the war. Here we are getting the perspective from the soldiers themselves. The people who are directly implementing the policy and see directly what is actually going on right there, right in the thick of it all.
Finally there is the perspective from the American people. 54% of Americans want out of Iraq within a year. With the veracity and stability of the voting system in America completely in shambles, and it would be safe to place the blame for that directly on the present ruling party who have used this situation to their own benefit, this poll would probably express the least meaningful sentiment of the four contrasting sentiments. In other words it is a powerless sentiment. (Is it unusual that an opinion, expressed by the majority in a supposed democracy, has no power or weight?)
Summing up, it appears we will be "staying the course."
Photo by Herbert List
No comments:
Post a Comment