I was finally enlightened with an answer….

Thank you, thank you. Finally some of my questions have been answered by the man himself. Jim Lehrer—BBC News—asked President Bush why he has not asked more Americans people to sacrifice something since the only ones sacrificing now are the volunteer military members and their families, the President said:

"Well, you know, I think a lot of people are in this fight. I mean, they sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible images of violence on TV every night. I mean, we've got a fantastic economy here in the United States, but yet, when you think about the psychology of the country, it is somewhat down because of this war."

Then he added: "Now, here in Washington when I say, 'What do you mean by that?' they say, 'Well, why don't you raise their taxes; that'll cause there to be a sacrifice.' I strongly oppose that. If that's the kind of sacrifice people are talking about, I'm not for it because raising taxes will hurt this growing economy. And one thing we want during this war on terror is for people to feel like their life's moving on, that they're able to make a living and send their kids to college and put more money on the table."

I will have good night sleep tonight knowing that the person sitting on his/her “lazy boy” with a Bush Light in hand watching Fox News is sacrificing just as much as I am when I spend a whole year of my life eating what is given to me, wearing Army uniforms all day under extreme cold or hot weather, missing my family, watching for IEDs and other attacks, and dealing with whatever other adversities come my way…oh! Lets add to that at least he/she can make this huge sacrifice drunk while the only escape for “us,” the ones that actually go there, is to maybe close our eyes and hope to dream about something else than WAR.

How foolish of me to not understand this concept… Isn’t it easier to tell it like it is? How much longer are we going to run around the real issues? When are they going to be addressed?



Watch that portion of the interview here, courtesy of The Young Turks.com

Going Through the Motions

Well, I am another step closer to my future glorious experience in Iraq. I have completed the Combined Logistics Captains Career Course (CLC3) and now I am just patching up all the little details that need to be taken care of before I head out to Kansas and eventually to Iraq.

I have been trying to see my loved ones and let them know that I am going to be safe and happy even though I am going to be so far from them. I just returned from Puerto Rico where I saw my parents for only a weekend but the time spent with them was more special than it has ever been before. There’s something very somber about seeing your loved ones before you head out to war. Even though you hope for the best, you want to make sure you tell them you love them because you don’t know if you won’t have the opportunity to do it later.

Many things have changed—politically speaking—since my first post. The opposition—as they call it in other countries—has been questioning and demanding better answers as to what is our objective in Iraq and how is the administration planning to achieve it. So far, the response is not clear; all we know is that we will stay there until they are able to manage their situation.

It is hard not to feel frustrated when, even though most Americans will like us to find a way out of Iraq, we continue to hear the same answer in which we will “stay the course.” I heard somewhere—and concur—that we are creating a “culture of dependency” in Iraq. Why would you go and be self sufficient when, for example, your parents will provide everything for you without a time constraint? Be honest, most of us will take advantage of the free ride and that seems to be the situation right now with Iraq and the U.S.

Some of my questions are:

• Is it a bad strategy to give a timeline to the Iraqi government to get a hold of their country and thus allow our troops to come home and stop the spending on nation building?
• Is this cause worth more than 3,000 American troops’ lives and more than 20,000 injured—or the amount of Iraqi non-combatants killed or injured?
• Would our top government officials send their sons and daughters—of enlistment age—to fight for what they so adamantly have defended for the past four years?
• Are war supporters that are sitting at home watching the news more patriotic than me, who thinks that we should get a plan to redeploy our troops nevertheless I will still go and serve my country and fulfill my duty?
• What makes a soldier more eligible to die for his/her country than those who are born in “old money”?

As I pack my things and ponder about the next 18 months of my life, I cannot help but to long for real answers because I want it to make sense.