Is it real enough yet?

[kellinator]

I just dropped by CNN.com and was greeted by this headline in the red bar at the top of the screen:

"BREAKING NEWS: Heavy shelling reported in Fallujah. Details soon."

I sat there looking at the screen and for the first time in my life, I got the sinking feeling that this was how my mom must have felt watching Vietnam play out.

I remember how terrified I was when Iraq invaded Kuwait, how fearful I was of the United States going to war. And then the war actually happened, and we all know how that went, and I think part of the nation, perhaps, began to assume that all wars would be like that, and now we're learning the hard way that they're not, they're really not.

It's a bad situation that keeps getting worse. I wondered if last week was the week the war finally came home, between the publicity generated by the Pentagon's attempt to cover up photos of flag-draped coffins, both Doonesbury's B.D. and Get Fuzzy's Rob's cousin losing a leg in Iraq, and the tragic death of Pat Tillman. Well, it's finally coming home to me. All the emotions I've been feeling over the war -- anger, disgust, sadness, anxiety -- are currently being dwarfed by one big emotion:

Fear.

Comments

[gladstone.livejournal.com]

You...know Rob's cousin and B.D. are pretend, right?

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Indeed. But let's face it, comic-strip characters (including one who's been around for like thirty years) are going to bring this home to the American public in a way that lists of people you've never heard of aren't.

[ardentdelirium.livejournal.com]

unless of course there is someone you know on the list

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

I thought about that as I wrote it, that it sounded insensitive. I guess I kinda meant the universal "you." But yes. You are right.

[ardentdelirium.livejournal.com]

I probably wouldnt have thought of it at all if it weren't for knightchik

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Wow, she sounds cool. I may add her.

[ardentdelirium.livejournal.com]

she's great

[gladstone.livejournal.com]

I don't know about that. I thought last week's Get Fuzzy story arc was pretty lame, and I'm glad it didn't carry over into this week. I don't look to the funny pages for my political commentary.

[sanityescapesme.livejournal.com]

So what is it that you fear? Do you fear for our troops, or for yourself in the case that the fight may be brought to us? Just curious.

I, for one, am disgusted with how this entire situation has been handled, but how much power do we, the American people, have to change any of this?
I'd like to think we can do SOMETHING.

(fyi, I'll be at Dragon*Con this year, and I'll be going to the LJ meetup, will you be there?)

-R

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Mainly for our troops, and for the things that could happen if this keeps dragging out, including the possibility of the draft -- my brother's only 23.

Most likely I will be there! It'll be nice to meet you! :)

[jack-mccoy-fan1.livejournal.com]

I have 2 boys and all I keep thinking about is that very possibility.

It scares me to the core.

[soshesays.livejournal.com]

I've got the same dwarfing fear effect going on.

And personally, I fear for the people fighting overseas and I fear for the people on American soil and I fear for the civilians in Iraq and I fear for all those people and things you'd expect, but all the fear I feel for them is dwarfed even more by the fear I have for the entire world. What with all this mounting conflict, I just constantly feel like we're on a verge of a breaking point, and it's like -- good lord, what horrific thing is that going to turn out to be?

Anyway, not that you were asking me. <moves along>

[sanityescapesme.livejournal.com]

Yeah, suddenly it seems like those crazy survivalist types aren't looking so crazy after all...

-R

[soshesays.livejournal.com]

Well, I think the ones in Nebraska might still be a little crazy. But the ones in entire world regions encircling the rest of the globe, not so much.

[amai-unmei.livejournal.com]

We're waist-deep in the quagmire and sinking fast ...

[dwivian]

I don't see any sinking. We have been trying to bring a just war to an enemy that sees pride in death, and that's a problem, so we've started not caring and just doing a job.

Is that sinking? When people shoot at you from a church, does it become a fortification instead? These are the problems we suffer, as we try to both bring order, and not offend.

Somewhere along the way from 1944 forward we became the police for the world. And, so long as we keep trying to do this job, we're going to suffer the same issues that officers do every day, on a massive scale. I just hate that we're trying to deal with a domestic violence call. :: sigh ::

Here are my problems with this war:

[amai-unmei.livejournal.com]

I don't see any sinking. We have been trying to bring a just war to an enemy that sees pride in death, and that's a problem, so we've started not caring and just doing a job.

First of all, there is most definitely sinking. With the number of casualties, the numbers of reserve troops being kept months longer than expected (to fill in gaps in defense), the "surprises" that seem to meet our soldiers at every turn ... there is definitely a sense that this war was poorly-planned, and that's putting it mildly.

Iraq is right-smack-dab in the middle of the Islamic world, and anyone who believed that Americans could just waltz on in without considerable resistance really didn't do their homework. It is without question that many of the enemy that our soldiers are fighting are not even Iraqi; several countries with known terrorist cells (Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia directly come to mind) are only a hop-skip-and-jump away. If you take one-twentieth of the populations of the surrounding countries and add them to the guestimated numbers of insurgents in Iraq, there's no question that American troops are heavily outnumbered. That's a recipe for disaster, especially in a part of the world where people are still fighting over perceived slights from 2000 years ago!

This war, on our side, has been engineered by businessmen and not generals. Generals would have handled this affair very differently (Bush the First made his point very clearly and very effectively on his watch, because he was the head of the CIA and his information was sound). This time around, there has been more emphasis on the business aspect of the war and a lot less on the tactical realities of dealing with that region, and soldiers have paid dearly for it.

It is my hope that America does try to put some order to this mess, but given the history of the region, that is highly unlikely.

Re: Here are my problems with this war:

[kurios-thanatou.livejournal.com]

It's true that this isn't an ideal situation, but what is there to do but give support to the troops even if we don't agree with the people making the decisions. The troops are much more likely to come home breathing and in one piece if they maintain good morale (a depressed soldier is a dead soldier). We're trying to plant democracy in Iraq. It's a bit like trying to plant corn in the Sahara. It's a lot of work. But if it takes root and spreads, it will be a good thing for the whole world.

The region isn't stable. Pulling out won't make it more stable. Ignoring it won't make it more stable. This is really the only way we can even begin to defuse a timebomb that *will* eventually blow up.

As far as the war being engineered by businessmen ... well, that's just kind of silly.

[shaunathan.livejournal.com]

What really scares me is the possibility that they will re-instate the draft. Officials within the adminstration have denied it, but you never know. Granted, I would be exempt from it (probably)) but it still scares me nonetheless...

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

That scares me a lot too. My brother's only 23...

[azurelunatic]

I've been panicking for a year.

[poprockgrrl.livejournal.com]

Fear.
I know this well.

I keep waiting for something to happen...and I don't mean 1 enormous life changing event (9/11 for instance), but war on American soil. War like WWI, WWII, Vietnam. I fear that it's coming. The whole world hates us...even our "allies".

Where to go when/if it happens...Canada seems nice. Mexico would be good. I could go to Spain and if I couldn't get citizenship even though I was born there, then I'd just live there illegally like a friend of mine's sister.

I'm not proud to be an American.

[squiddna.livejournal.com]

I've begun to wonder if this is the end of the Great Experiment.

[squiddna.livejournal.com]

I'll not leave, though. It's the last remnant of natural selection-- I possess the idea of sticking with my culture, and speaking for myself, my nation is a huge part of that culture. Will this trait, this adherence to the nation, keep the idea alive? Will it serve both myself and the society I support? We'll see.