H -°, L 7° | Tomorrow: 
H 17°, L 4°To the irritation of some, the great pleasure of many and the indifference of most, my columns have been appearing in The Badger Herald for some time now. Since I began writing for this periodical, I've covered subjects ranging from Borat to birth control to the splendor of springtime (a topic I was very tempted to revisit this week). Recently, however, as I sat considering which things I might next like to publicly whine about, I was struck by a shocking realization. From the time when I submitted my first column for publication over two years ago, not once have I written specifically about the issue that is arguably the most important of our time — the war in Iraq.
Certainly — as it would be impossible to avoid given the sheer frequency with which I've written — I have indirectly opined on Iraq and have taken the occasional jab at the Bush administration's war policy. Upon becoming conscious that I had failed to expressly address the world's most pressing concern, I began to wonder where my priorities lay.
It wasn't long before I realized exactly why U.S. policy in Iraq had not yet comprised the substance of my insignificant weekly rant: Since its inception — a topic about which I wrote volumes for my high school newspaper — I have been entirely uncertain as to where I stand regarding future options for the war in Iraq.
What's more, after even further consideration I realized that, in my uncertainty, I am similar to nearly all of my compatriots.
Although I was vehemently opposed to the initial U.S. invasion of Iraq, today all I can do is wonder what ought to be done about the sinking quagmire that is America's involvement in Iraqi affairs. Regardless of varying rhetoric, this seems to be the mindset of almost every American, be they a politician, diplomat, pundit, military official or plain old citizen.
Sure, many people support one idea or another, but how specific is the idea and how wholehearted the support?
One camp advocates an immediate and total withdrawal of U.S. forces from the war-torn country. These people — many originally of an anti-invasion background — often claim the moral high ground. Still, many in this group appear to hold reservations about the very proposal whose implementation they are insisting upon. Among their concerns is the questionable morality of simply abandoning a mess of our own creation.
A second school of thought argues for the gradually implemented removal of U.S. troops from Iraq. People of this political persuasion, however, find themselves at a loss for words when asked to explain how removing troops slowly can be accomplished without the same negative ramifications of doing so immediately.
Yet another group — apparently believing we've done all of the right things so far, but simply haven't done them to a full enough extent — advocates a continuation of our present policy (whatever that is), but with drastically increased U.S. troop levels. These people seem to waver the least in the faith with which they back their idea, but one almost hopes, given the ridiculousness of said idea, that they privately harbor deep reservations.
Although each of the aforementioned groups has — almost instinctively — adopted a stance that would seem to correspond with its respective political beliefs, neither seems to be putting forth a proposal with the confidence that normally accompanies proposals of such great importance.
So this is the status of public discourse on Iraq: Although we have ideas, we can hardly give full support to even our own proposals. In this climate, it would seem unimaginable that a solution to the conflict will ever be reached.
Perhaps it is time for people to realize that we are all equally clueless and begin to actually look for solutions.
If we can't at least do that, how can we expect anything other than more of the same to come from this awful mess we've made?
Rob Rossmeissl ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism and political science.
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You took 4 paragraphs to say that you haven’t written about Iraq. I don’t know, dog, you started out kind of pitchy, then it just got weird for me. This wasn’t one of your best performances. It was just a’ight.
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Rob, the day Americans themselves take matters into their own hands will be the day problems get solved. We need to stop looking to politicians to do it for us. Politicians are only in it for the money. They promise to help us, then they forget those promises.
Pretty soon we’ll be at war with Iran. But nobody sees it coming. That’s typical of Americans. They wait until a problem becomes a crisis before they at. The problem is that by then it’s too late. The damage is already done.
I give up on Americans. I don’t care what happens to them or their stupid country. I graduate this year and then I go home. Americans are stupid assholes.
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Bring the troops home - first from Germany, Japan, Korea, the Balkans, then Iraq.
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Sorry Rob, these ISO nut jobs took all our attention.
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11:50 sounds like he’s anti-empire. What’s wrong, man, you’re not having fun imposing yourself on weaker countries? USA USA!
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I am a member of the first group you try and lump the public into. I am not wavering in my call for immediate withdrawal of US forces and bases from Iraq. Our continued presence as an occupying force is not justified. The US military uses militias to enforce laws when it benefits them and then complains about them when the Iraqi population opposes the violent occupiers with violent retaliations. The US has used Shiites to punish Sunnis and vice versa since beginning the occupation. The use of the supposed enemies has created the conflict between the two sects that we see today. These two groups have lived together for centuries with a mainly peaceful relationship except when the initial split occurred.
It is time the American people realized that maybe the resistance to an occupying force is the result of the military’s tactics of splitting the country with religious differences and the humiliating raids on people homes may be fueling the violence in the country. Imagine if the FBI or CIA came into your house in the middle of the night and embarrassed you and your family. Then your father disappeared for a period of time maybe forever for committing no crime.
With the US fueling the instability of the country and the unknown desires of the occupation it is time to bring our troops home and let the Iraqi people determine their own affairs. The fact that the CIA helped install Saddam into power and gave him the weapons he used to kill so many innocent people and the British intervention to install a puppet earlier is also a reason for the opposition to the occupiers. The only solution is an immediate withdrawal of US forces and bases. Following the withdrawal, reparations for the damage and destruction brought to the country at the hands of the US and others need to be made. These reparations will be given to the Iraqi people to rebuild their own country in their vision. Unlike the current “rebuilding” by the foreign war profiteers, where outside companies and workers are barely making progress and not restoring vital necessities such as water, electricity and sewer for the people.
These demands of immediate withdrawal and reparations are two of the three items that Iraq Veterans Against the War have called for since their founding in 2004. We also call for full benefits for our returning brothers and sisters who have been forced to live in squalor while recovering from surgery and have had to fight to get the GI Bill they deserve and are in need of treatment for PTSD. To learn more about IVAW check out www.ivaw.org.
On this campus the Campus Antiwar Network has worked to spread the word about the growing resistance in the military to the continued presence in Iraq with not real mission. The Appeal for Redress for active duty military members has gathered over 1700 signatures from E1 to O5. The military is opposed to being forced into a country where they spend the majority of their time fighting to stay alive because they are an occupying force trying to impose what the US wants in Iraq not what the people want. We will be having an event on the 4th anniversary of this occupation on Monday at 7pm in 2650 Humanities and would like everyone to come and hear what we have to say and how you can help us here on campus end this war.
Todd Dennis IVAW Chapter 7
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Please do not show up to this “event”! Todd is a liar and a communist.
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todd, thanks for your service. now, kindly wake the hell up if you think the sunnis and shiites have been living peacefully for centuries. the fact is that they’ve been fighting since the year 632. the fact is that muslims have problems with their neighbors EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD (even and especially when those neighbors are fellows in the ummah). that’s why they just beheaded another 8 warmongering (jk) buddhists in thailand. check on the warmongering hindus in mumbia and surrounding indian areas. next go to belsan and surrounding russian territories. after that you can go to bali and anywhere else there are muslims in indonesia. be sure to stop in darfur, chad and other african nations to see some muslim violence on other muslims and tribal africans. then fly to london, and spain after a brief stop in the baltic states. skip over the israeli/pali fight and finish up in nyc and wash dc. did i miss any tourist sites that might be fun to visit on this grand study?!
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“What’s wrong, man, you’re not having fun imposing yourself on weaker countries? USA”
Yeah, too bad the Nazis and Imperial Japan were so weak, eh?
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i am not a communist, i answer to no ideology.
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I would like to find a military veteran business person who would like to be part of the leadership to change the world terrorism problem without costing the taxpayer any more money.
How about EVERYBODY discussing economic differences and health issues instead of blindly following the hate and fear mongers??
Is there anybody out there that wants to be involved in an ADULT conversation about real solutions??
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Todd
I believe you have made some plausible points in your comments that reflect the darker side of the issue.
I am a veteran and understand the military position. I am a business person who knows about human relations. I am a father with four draft age youth.
I would like to ask for the rest of the story.
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Rob
Thank you for the opportunity to address your article.
I believe the variance in ideals in all aspects of the issues you have raised stems from the lack of focus on the primary personal functions.
In all the issues, immigration, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, global warming, famin, political corruption, and many other problems that feed on chaos. Some of your respondents point out the fact of the world leaders like to continue all those problems to control the “sheep”.
To solve all of those issues it is going to require that the multitude of the people WORLWIDE are going to have to stop the growth of this frantic fuel. Each of us has surrendered some degree of allowance to these leaders because of the magnitude of the problems. We gave them the power to rape us blind.
To end this rape we need to get back to the basic employment, economics, and ecology discussions without dependence on political -isms.