Today, in our society and culture, obtaining opinions and having the freedom to voice those opinions is a great commodity. There are many controversial issues in our day-to-day lives that need to be extremely analyzed, debated, and dealt with. One of those issues, for me, touched close to home. I have a good friend who served four years in the Marine Corps and was called on to encounter three tours in Iraq. The vast majority of the time he was in Iraq serving his country and doing the job he signed on the dotted line for, it seemed that I couldn’t get away from hearing nonstop whether we, as a country, should or should not be in Iraq. It was difficult for me to be concerned about him and the other soldiers’ safety while hearing all the negative political feedback here in the states. I am a firm believer that there is always two sides of a coin and that people are entitled to their opinions and views. Regarding our deployment and enrollment in the Iraq war, it seems that many people feel that we should not be there, or that we have spent enough time there and should pull out. I on the other hand, have many reasons leading me to strongly believe that we need to stay the course until the job is completed.

One of the biggest gripes that opponents of the war have is the assumption that the only reason we invaded Iraq was because Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. A lot of people feel that because of the assumption that these weapons were not found our located; this must mean that they weren’t possessed by Saddam at all. In my opinion, that is very close minded and seems to be a quite gullible assumption to rely on because they simply weren’t pinpointed directly. In January of 2006 Georges Sada, a former 2-star General in the Iraqi Air Force, was invited to sit down with “Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes” to discuss this exact topic. During that interview Sada stated, “Well, I want to make it clear, very clear to everybody in the world that we had the weapon of mass destruction in Iraq…” Sada went on to explain that “The weapons were indeed in Iraq in the summer of 2002. Proclaiming that when Saddam realized inspectors were coming on the first of November, he took advantage of a natural disaster happening in Syria regarding a broken dam.” It has been documented that during this time Saddam moved the weapons to Syria. Sean Hannity probed further asking Sada “if he knew for a fact that Saddam moved these weapons to Syria” and Sada replied, “yes” (Weapons…).

I do understand that this is one interview and it doesn’t etch anything in stone but it certainly does make me wonder. It is hard to believe that our country’s intelligence would be so intent in finding these weapons if they didn’t believe that Saddam actually had them. As Donald Rumsfeld stated, “Millions died in the 1940s because some countries had thought there wasn’t “enough evidence” to be sure about Hitler’s intentions” (Milne). We all know the outcome of that historical mishap. With that being said, it would be irresponsible of the US government– with or without reasonable doubt– to not pursue the investigation for weapons of mass destruction to the fullest.

Our troops continuously dying in Iraq is a difficult situation to handle, but pulling out–in my opinion– would only give us a situation similar to Vietnam. If we were to pull out now I would have a hard time understanding why all the soldiers who have lost their lives, did so in vain. It is also difficult for me to assume how the families and loved ones of the soldiers of whom have become a statistic to this war would feel if this was to occur. When I asked my friend Richie, who served three tours in Iraq, how he felt about the question of pulling out, he replied “It is a difficult situation; there is no doubt about it. It is difficult because we’re trying to help these people and a majority of them do not want our help. Yet they want to vote and they want to be free. That fact alone combined with my friends who were killed in action makes me feel that there is no other option… we have to finish what we started” (Gunter).

Everybody knows that on September 11, 2001 our lives as free Americans were changed drastically. In my opinion, this piece of history is more than enough reason for the altercation in Iraq. That day will never be forgotten in my mind. Not only because of the thousands of Americans killed an injured, but also because I was robbed of a sense of trust that I had in all people. We have had other terrorist activities occur previous to 9/11, but this cowardly deed opened my eyes to the fact that we as American people are literally hated. I feel that these anti-somatic feelings derive from Middle Eastern culture being disgusted and appalled by our religious, capitalistic, and materialistic beliefs that we represent and live by everyday. It’s sad that a majority of these Middle Eastern children are not given a choice to accept beliefs other than the ones that are pressured in their everyday lives. For generations and generations these people have been brainwashed to believe that change is not an option and that the enemy in the West who do things in a different type of way are “Devils” of sorts. For that to change I feel that is mandatory that we as a country help in whatever way that we can to change these views; our future certainly depends on it. I don’t feel that the occupation of Iraq is meant thoroughly to change their culture entirely but certainly to change the piece of culture that causes Middle Easterner’s to despise Americans in such away that they are willing to kill themselves in order to kill Americans. That aspect of life is just impossible for me to fathom.

A lot of anti-war demonstrators like to bring up the issue that our military is possibly spread too thin, which is why we shouldn’t be in the Iraq conflict to begin with. Ron Paul states, “Today, we have troops 130 countries. We are spread so thin that we have too few troops defending America. And now, there are new calls for a draft of our young men and women” (Paul). Statistically this may be true but the problem that I have with this view is that I don’t think this would be an issue if our troops had orders to take whatever action needs to be taken considering the situation. Today, our soldiers have ridiculously long lists of things they can and can’t do. With worries of committing war crimes our soldiers are not allowed to handle this operation the way they should be able to. If our soldiers were given open reigns to do what they need to do, I feel that would be huge psychological advantage and a majority of these insurgents may question their actions because of brutal consequences. So, of course it seems as if our troops are spread too thin because they are basically being overseers, rather than aggressors. I feel we need more aggression in Iraq, to let these individuals who don’t wish to conform know that there is only one other option. We need to quit pussyfooting around, worrying about everybody’s feelings, and get this altercation over with.

I certainly understand that situations such as the liberation of the Iraqi people do not occur overnight; which is why I feel we as Americans need to be patient and keep politics out of our views and feelings. We have to view the big picture, unbiased. We have to accept that the reoccurrence of a 9/11 terrorist attack is certainly possible and can easily be bigger and more devastating than previous attacks. To assume that it won’t occur again is just plain imbecilic and extraordinarily naïve.

Of course, no true American wishes death or despair upon our soldiers, but the sad reality is that those unfortunate situations occur during wars. We as a country owe it to the individuals that have been killed, dismembered, or injured during this war, to stay the course in Iraq and attempt to change a piece of culture that for years has been festering into an untreatable disease. I am a firm believer that this has to occur in order for Americans who were mentally affected by the 9/11 attacks to be rehabilitated and eventually feel comfortable in their own country once again. Doing so — though it may take years — will only ensure a greater sense of safety for generations of Americans to come.

Unlimited. 13, Feb 2003. Guardian News and media. 12 May 2007 http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,894422,00.html, Ron.Paul

Ron Paul 2008/Hope For America. Ron Paul 2008. Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign committee. 15, May 2007 http://www.ronpaul2008.com/html/issue- in Iraq/possession of weapons. Procon.org. 1 Aug 2004. A-Mark Foundation. War_fx.html Weapons12 May 2007 http://www.usiraqprocon.org/bin/procon/procon.cgi?database=5-B-Subs-1.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=13&rnd=403.32582237989174

Mathew Kleinhans
U.S. Davis, California