Show Me The Money

First: It's amazing how quickly life can lay waste to the best laid plans. So opening apologies for the inconsistent posting the last couple days. I'll attempt to make up for that on Sunday.

And now to the story:

So Iraq is probably not the most popular topic among Americans today. Politically, it's the most explosive issue to hit America in quite a long time, and for many reasons. While it's not quite Vietnam (let us remember that that lasted for 10 years, we were fighting against an organized army, we never really made headway, etc.), it's not far off. We may have won the country, but the peace is appearing to be much more illusive.

In the beginning, I was opposed to Iraq. After the victory in Afghanistan, the shut down of the Taliban, I was of the opinion that we had punished those who harbored the terrorists responsible for 9/11. When the talk about Iraq began, a sick feeling descended down upon me, and I could only shake my head. "it's a bad idea...we have no proof of WMDs" etc.

In the post 9/11 high of pro-America, this was obviously not a popular opinion. I think this would be a great place to mention that many/most of the Democrats who are today bashing the war and the plan for the war, APPROVED the war and the plan for the war four years ago. They voted for us to go into battle, knowing the suggested plan, and yet today they blame all of this failure on the President? Of course, they're doing a good job of deflecting blame, as Iraq is helping their election process, while it is hurting the Republicans.

Today, however, I have to say I'm a supporter of the war effort. I still think it was wrong to go into the conflict in the first place, but the effort, being performed by the soldiers and marines of the US Military, deserves our highest faith and support. No matter how much I disagree with our being in Iraq, I can't effectively blast the war without also condemning the efforts of our Military.

I strongly support our military, and have often considered that track as perhaps my own future.

In that vein, I think it's high time the funding conflict going on in Washington, especially from the Democrats point of view in which they are threatening to cut off funding to the troops, needs to end. No matter how unpopular the war is, the funding to our troops cannot cease.

I think it's highly irresponsible to even play around with the idea of forcing the president to pull out of Iraq by canceling the funding. That sends a message to the troops that their well-being is expendable for cheap political gain. Washington is a battleground, but it's not Iraq. Iraq is real life. Washington is political life. The two are very different.