I was asked about how I felt about our military being in Iraq. I had to give it some thought. Not because I don't have an already formed opinion on the subject. But because I wanted to express that opinion as clearly as possible. This is what I think. In this country I do not have to agree with my government. I do not have to agree with its elected leaders or their policies. I do not have to agree with all the laws that govern me. But I do have a voice. I am able to express my feelings about all of the above. And if I so choose to, I can take that one step further and go inside a voting booth and send a message loud and clear to my governments leaders and to my countrymen and tell them exactly how I feel. If I do not like the way my country is being run. I have the option to try and change it.
I am an almost 19 year old female who has the right to dress how I choose. Play the music I choose. Pray if I choose. Travel freely through out my country if I so choose. Live where I choose. And If I want to visit another country, step outside my country's borders should I choose to do so. I can become anything I want to be and I am only limited by my morality, the laws of my government and my ambition.
As an individual, I could not stand idly by and watch another human be abused or violated. As a nation we can not in good conscience do that either. Everyone should be given the right to have their own voice. To be heard and to be able to decide who they want to govern them. How they want that government to work. And to make the laws that will best suit its peoples needs. We cannot put our head in the sand and pretend we are an island. We share this world and with it comes the responsibility that when we see an injustice, to stand up and say "This is wrong and it wont be allowed". What happens in the world is not just our problem alone, it is everyone's.
I will not insult the women and men of my country who put on a uniform by trying to second guess the value of whether they should or should not be in Iraq. They are there. And as long as they are..It is my place to be loyal and to support them. They have an often thankless, sometimes dangerous and difficult job to do. The very least they deserve, is the support of their own people as they do it. I was once told true courage is not being fearless, but meeting your fear and still doing the right thing. It may not take courage to put on the uniform, but it does take courage to do the job while in it. To those who do it every day. I thank you.
30 comments:
Nice post Jen. I like your logic.
Well put, Jen.
People could learn a lot from reading your sentiments.
exmi
Thank you, that really means a lot.
Adrian
Thank you for everything. I have learned a lot from you
lief vir jou : )
Jen:
Thanks for linking up my site, and for the comments.
How/Where did you get the code to display the music?
I like it.
Let me know..
Talk at ya soon.
Love the boobs.
-Brian
aka Boy Friday
immix proves your theory that a 60 year old with no teeth will not draw in extra blog traffic.
I bogged about Iraq a few months ago and I got hate e-mail sent to me about the post.
There are many who believe that what we call freedoms are an illusion to some degree or another (and I have my own opinions on this) but for the most part we still have the freedom to write.
So, say what you have to say and we'll read
i am linking you right now :-)
illimitable voices
OH and thanks for the link : )
illimitable voices
The country we live in is not with out its problems or flaws. I will not deny this. But I look at my female counter parts in other parts of the world, and I have to ask what would it be like if I had been born there? I know my life would be dramatically different. There is no such thing as perfection, I would still rather be living here flaws and all. Our men and woman of our military are going where their country sends them. They have chosen to serve. I have to support that.
Very well said.
Nice site, I appreciate you common sence view on the subject of Iraq and the USA.
Jen
Thanks a lot for posting your opinion. I feel for the american soldiers who are battling it out in hostile territory, not sure if they return to their homeland in one piece or not. They have no choice in this matter, like all soldiers and all those who are a part of a system.
My concern, like that of many others, is this big brother attitude that's dormant in every one, that erupts up when we are in a position of power, if we are not
careful. As a free individual I have to respect the other persons freedom as much as my own. This surely means that i don't decide for another person as I wouldn't like someone else to decide for me.
We have thugs here in India who tell us that it is not right to celebrate valentine's day, and who invade greeting card shops on that day and punish young couples for betraying our sacred tradition. This 'I'm right, you aren't, and I'm gonna teach you the right thing' attitude is undigestable ,whether it's at a personal or much broader level.
My personal opinion is that Bush doesn't represent America or it's people. He's very much similar to the thug i mentioned above. And it's worrying that he's driving the world, not just america, into greater chaos. And the sooner he orders the troops out of iraqi soil, the better it is for the soldiers as well as those who blow themselves up every day in bagdadh.
I respect and support our indian soldiers who risk their lives and protect us from hostile attacks at our borders. Yet if some nut in power decides to send our troops to a deprived country in the name of saving democracy and creates
mayhem, i'm not sure i support this in the name of patriotism. I agree with you when you say we are one humanity. People who are killed in the streets of bagdad
or who die of hunger in somalia or who are lynched in rural bihar are humans and they are a part of our family. These problems require a much broader vision, a collective effort and enlightened leadership, not military intervention.
I respect your opinion, jen, yet we can agree to disagree on this matter.
A very well thought out, well written piece. Thank you.
visswa
Yes your right we will have to agree to disagree on this. After watching planes fly into buildings and explode and thos same buildings burst into flame and collapse killing thousands of innocent lives, We cant sit on our hands and do nothing. Big brother approach? Possibly. If anyone in the world would like to take a shot at it with a better plan then Please I would like to see and hear it. These people have gone unchecked and unchallenged for years. No one has stopped them no one has stepped up and said not only is this wrong but thats it...we are done. The Iraqi people do deserve to decide for themselves with out a "thug type" of mentality I agree. I believe that they are in the process of getting to vote on these very matters as we speak. There are people all over the world who are being victimized and put in fear by terrorists. It is time we ALL stood up and said NO MORE. If we had a long time ago..maybe there would not be people in America and London and other parts of the world morning the loss of family and friends today. I respect your right to your opinion and I thank you for being willing to voice it. But this time Im on the other side of the fence. : )
hahaaha jen, thanks for the response. I believe we can go on argueing for and against bush or the occupation. I won't post a comment on your comment and let you post another on it and so on and so forth.
I believe in this idea i read long ago. 'It doesn't matter who is right. What matters is what is right'
Just a small correction. Terrorism is a universal problem, i agree, and it should be destroyed. But looking at the current situation, it appears this occupation is more of a personal itch for mr.bush than a war on terror. He's already talking about iran and korea and god knows which other country he'll talk about next. Maybe japan, or india. And it's very convenient to link the wtc bombings and london blasts to every other campaign he undertakes.
OOPS, did i prolong the arguement?
Thanks again for your veiws. Enjoy blogging.
It doesnt matter where it happens or what group claims the fame..its all the same innocent people die..and to me thats the bottom line.
In this country our constitution only allows a President to hold two terms in office, if hes elected to them...This is a maximum of 8 years of service to his country. President Bush has completed his first term and is well into his second.. I do not see him having enough time left in his presidency to complete his diabolical plan of world domination. But it amuses me that anyone would think he could. lol
If Bush is indeed thinking of attacking the mentioned nations, I agree entirely with him. Its about time somebody put these dodgy nations in place...
And if that means invading their communist or evil worshipping countries, then so be it. Besides, I'd pick Americas influence over ANY of the countries listed for possible invasion.
Its attack or be attacked.
The thing is, America does so much to help poorer nations through financial aid packages and investment. North Korea and China have done us the great disservice of creating useless cheap sweat shop produced CRAP and communism (also CRAP).
America has good intentions and it took balls on George W Bush's part to take the fight to these scumbag pigs that so ruthlessly attacked INNOCENTS in 2001. I hope he takes the fight to the next bunch of losers too.
I challenge ANYONE who thinks they would have been able to face that same situation and have dealt with it effectively.
SUPPORT THE TROOPS!
at80, ignorance is killing this nation.
First:
The fact is that Iraq was the only secular state in the entire region and we blew it up. What is more, when given the opportunity for democratic selection of government, the people in Iraq choose a Muslim government that is fundamentally anti-US. Saddam was a stabilizing force in the region and, in my opinion, beneficial to United States interests in that he prevented the radical sects of Islam, so bent on terrorizing western power, from gaining power in his country. End of story, read the 911 commission.
The paramount problem in this nation is that the populace is no longer capable of exacting its democratic forces. The vitality of a democracy is measured by the degrees of the populace's literacy. And this populace is politically, and scientifically illiterate. What this boobish administration thinks about the middle east is rubbish. The fact is that Iraq was the only secular state in the entire region and we blew it up. It was NOT a Muslim government. All religious influences in government were illegal, there was complete separation of church and state. Freedom of religion was extended to all Iraqi citizens - there were churches in Iraq whose priests and ministers urged the Bush administration not to attack because it would undermine the growing support for their congregations. I refer you to the journals Christianity Today and The New Yorker for proof of this.
So, it is ridiculous to say that we need to teach these countries a lesson because, in blowing Iraq up, to "set an example" and "teach them a lesson" we screwed ourselves.
Second:
It is in America's best interest to extend the prolonged poverty of under developed countries. This is why America has prevented the unification of North and South Korea, and the enforced the separation between Taiwan and China. That powers be divided is the US's primary role of foreign policy. It was the same in Vietnam where the United States sought to re-enforce the French divisions in the nation. Vietnam was not a war against communism, as Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan and Clinton lied to the nation. Ho Chi Mhin was a United States intelligence officer who resided in Harlem and Paris during WWII and we promised his nation complete freedom from the colonial tyranny of France. Then, we reneged on our agreement and declared war. He had no choice but to turn to China for weapons to fight and we called him communist because of it in order to rally our nation.
Today, terrorists = communist in the political rhetoric and propaganda spewed forth from the capital.
Lastly,
Vishwa is right in this wonderful quote:
**"Yet if some nut in power decides to send our troops to a deprived country in the name of saving democracy and creates
mayhem, i'm not sure i support this in the name of patriotism. I agree with you when you say we are one humanity. People who are killed in the streets of bagdad
or who die of hunger in somalia or who are lynched in rural bihar are humans and they are a part of our family. These problems require a much broader vision, a collective effort and enlightened leadership, not military intervention.
I respect your opinion, jen, yet we can agree to disagree on this matter."**
Plato wrote in The Republic that 80% of people born in this world are fit to be slaves in that they will willingly forfeit their personal freedom in exchange for security or for life itself. Each time I hear people go on about that crap about terrorism, I start thinking that we all are slaves. We WILLINGLY allow the government to overstep its boundaries and encroach upon the rights that this nation had the audacity to claim two hundred years ago.
Terrorism is NOT new in the world. People have always been killing each other. Bush is full of shit when he says that terrorism is a new war - it is not. It is the same war that humanity has been fighting for hundreds of thousands of years. If you are willing to be quelled into a corner trembling for your life shouting "security" then Plato is right in saying that 80% of people are fit to be slaves. I personally choose to claim the liberties that others forgo. Moreover, I do not believe that these liberties are a function of being an American citizen. I believe that as long as one can think on his or her own, as long as one has the power of cognizant deduction, then one is free from corporal tyranny and can wave his middle finger at anyone who tells him otherwise.
as far as the London bombings go, they were not foreign influenced or funded. they were internal, done by a fringe group from their domestic society, not unlike the oklahoma bombings.
London and New York are not comparable in that sense.
Saddam? Stabilising?
Im sure Kuwait agrees with you bud.
As would all the genocide victims.
Illimitable voices has a valid point. Iraq was a secular government. Thus it is HIGHLY unlikely they had much contact with Al Queda. Of course Saddam supported the heck out of many other terrrorists groups. He was a stabalizing influence in the area only as far as the evil we know is better than a new evil that might rise up.
It is true that the US prevented the unification of the two Koreas. By driving the North Koreans back and preventing their Stalinistic government from taking over the whole place. I'll accept that with pride.
Vietnam, well right and wrong. It was a war agaisnt Communisim but he is correct in that we reneged on a deal with the vietnamese to support thier independence. There was a policy decsion made that haveing the support of France in Europe was more important than supporting Ho Chi Minh in South East Asia. I am still not 100% sure we made the right choice there. But we probably did.
I agree that anyone willing to give up freedom for security is a fool and will end up with neither.
I must disagree on his view of the London bombings. They may have been locals but they were funded, supported, trained, and supplied by outside forces.
I think their shgould be other ways then war to stop people from doing things, this war is just making enemys, and that is the last thing everyone needs, people and all nations, i have a strong opinion on the wars that have happened and i do not thoin mny people would agree with my views upon them, and me being a canadian citizen and under 18 there is not much i can do to stop what happens with the government, but i wish i had some sort of say in all of this because i think it is down right retarded that something so crazy must happen for something so small of a problem, sure suicide bombers dont deserve to live, but they are killing themselves and innocents anyways, and even though the war is going on against terrorism, people are still terrorizing, it may even begin to step up, in fell very lucky to live in this nation of Canada, and im sure everyone felt lucky to Live in London Earlier This Year, But Becausae Of Our association With the united states iin this war it does not make sense to me, and i Live in Ontario to be specific, this is where the capital of the country and some of our greatest monuments are...Cn Tower..SkyDome..Air Canada Centre, Parliament Buildings, Supreme Court Of Canada, These Are Just In Two Different Cities, and well i dont feel safe living whreer i do, i live very close to the niggest aibase in canada, and well what if the terrorist want to hit us there, wut about everyone that lives around there, I am just saying I DOnt Like The Military Involvement In Iraq, And I Wish The American Government Could Find A Way In there Hearts To Leave Iraq, and Find Some Other Way To Stop These Terrorists, Because It Is Only Creating EnEmys for the world (which i mentioned) is not good for n e one...
exmi - i just read in the New York Times this weekend that the London bombings were backed strongly through Al Quida, so, I was wrong about that.
timmy - one of the most amazing parts of the Roman empire was through the first 5 or 6 hundred years, Roman allies were taxed heavily but they had no ability to shape Rome's foreign policy. This is exactly the same situation that America is in. (While America doesn't tax Canada and England and so on, it is obvious that American trade policies are enforced through the guise of "free trade" agreements. In reality the trade agreements are fundamentally pro-America.) Eventually, because they clamored enough, (and I use the word clamor because it come from the Latin clamare, to shout / to protest / to battle cry), Rome had no choice but to slowly grant them citizenship. (St. Paul of the bible was a Roman citizen who had full Latin rights.) What I'm trying to say is that if the rest of the world clamors enough, America will have little choice but to listen. So, in Canada, clamor you heart out.
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