[AMF]

Forgive the rant, but I have an observation, a question, and, I guess, a plea.

There are a lot of things about America I don?t understand anymore.

We are SO polarized right now that I suspect many of us have had friendships destroyed where once they flourished. Ad Hominen attacks are commonplace. Rush Limbaugh and and Ann Coulter and Michael Moore and others of those ilk are the only voices heard because no one listens to reason or moderation anymore. One must shout radically to be heard by anyone ? how else can we explain the popularity of Coulter and Moore?

We have degenerated: I was a civilian analyst with the Marines on the ground in Iraq for the first 5 weeks of the war (nothing exciting, boring work actually, certainly not intel). About a week or two into the conflict, during that nasty week when things weren't going as expected, we heard rumors of actions by OGAs (that's "Other Governmental Agencies") engaging in non-Geneva Convention activity. I won?t go into details since I have a TS/SCI clearance and a job that I need to protect ? suffice it to say that it wasn?t torture, it was something much more benign and totally different, but still verboten under Geneva rules. At the time, I and all the Marine officers who talked about it were aghast. It was clear they felt that such activities were not permissible under the Laws of War and were appalling. The general perception at that time was something like "Man, if this ever gets out that this is true, some heads are gonna roll."

Ok, so, flash-forward to today. These events have, if you read between the
lines, become largely public. And, no, I?m not talking about the recent torture stuff. But, due to the recent revelations, the things we heard about while over there have taken a back seat. In other words, if I revealed today what we had heard about taking place over there during the war, NO ONE WOULD CARE. The telling point is this: over the space of a few short years after 9/11, we as a people seem to have become quite tolerant of what we would never have allowed before.

If someone got up nowadays and talked about the stuff we heard about over there, people would look at them funny and say "Hey, that's not so bad, nothing wrong with that." When, I can honestly tell you that, during the war itself, this action, even the rumor of it, caused us great consternation.

I found working with the Marines highly commendable and rewarding. Although I worked mainly with Majors and above, all officer and enlisted ranks were very diligent about obeying the laws of war and tried their damndest to avoid civilian casualties. I had friends there who came back after convoy ops where they were very upset because when they returned fire to protect their convoy they were afraid they shot a little girl, or an innocent bystander, or the like.

I guess my question then, in light of my above observations, is this: have we changed so much over the Last few years that what would seem unthinkable to us then is now acceptable? Sure, we're aghast, disgusted at the torture and abuse of the prisoners in Abu Ghraib, but then, we also have Rush calling it "some kids just letting off steam." I don?t even want to know what Coulter says.

I don?t understand how we came to a point this low. It disgusts me. If this is what it means to be an American, I am no longer proud to be one.

Did 9/11 affect us that much? Have we come so low, changed so much, in such a short time? If so...what hope is there for humanity and the "great experiment" that is America? Have we lost all hope of being forever a "City on a Hill" and holding forth the promise of a new world that is better and more ethical than the Old? (Heh, now I?m just waxing on, dramatically.)

I have been affected over the past three years as many of us no doubt have - I lost friends in the Navy Command Center at the Pentagon, and I saw it on the day it happened since we drove by it everyday. My wife worked the 'crime scene' at the World Trade Center and saw things that would make the most battle hardened vet queasy. I was abroad as a civilian analyst for Operation Enduring Freedom and in Iraq for the first five weeks of OIF. At the time I thought both wars were well justified. (It?s clear now only the first one was.)

After the Election of 2000 I kept hoping that Bush would be a ?uniter? not a divider and that we would come back from the brink of a permanently polarized America. Bush turned out to be the exact opposite. And the war was a great joke played upon the American people, who went along with it willingly, like lemmings. Sure, Saddam was Evil as heck, and it?s good he?s gone. But to take a nation to WAR and destroy treaties and alliances along with it all based on being MISLED is so atrocious a crime I can?t begin to describe it.

Am I the only one who thinks that, as far as I can tell, it looks like America has gone nearly mad? I almost don't recognize it anymore.

I have always been a moderate to conservative democrat. I almost voted for Reagan II, and probably would have voted for McCain in 2000 had he won the nomination (just don?t tell my wife).

But those were political decisions based, I would like to think, on the DATA available at the time.

To wit, I come to my plea: one should look at the facts when making one?s decisions.

We appear to not do that anymore in this country. There was a time when we based on decisions on rational, informed, polite debate. The Senate was a place for gentlemanly disagreements and consensus building. Now, it seems it is easier to believe what one wants than look at the facts to make an informed decision. We have not only lost the ability to be disgusted or to be honest when we screw up, but we seem to have lost the ability to even make informed decisions when they contradict our ideologies. The President, when asked what mistakes he feels he has made during his administration could not think of any! Such hubris is unthinkable, and it speaks volumes about how blind our leaders our.

So here is a FACT that a person can choose to ignore at their peril: There was NO connection between 9/11 and Iraq. The country was misled about the war. I believed what the administration said about WMDs, connection to Al Qaeda, etc? a lot of us believed it, but it was NOT true. That has been revealed repeatedly by multiple sources, and by the administration ITSELF which admits there was no connection to 9/11 and Saddam Hussein and that there were no WMDs. People can choose to ignore this fact to avoid cognitive dissonance and preserve your beliefs, or they can open their minds a bit and make decisions like humans, not animals. God gave us minds, use them to think critically.

And, here are some OPINIONS that are, to me at least, pretty well borne out by the evidence (these are NOT facts, so they can be ignored without risk of cognitive dissonance): The world is a LOT more dangerous now than before the war. We have invigorated an entire generation of the Arab world to become terrorists. We are in a LOT of trouble. We will be VERY hard pressed to prevail in Iraq in any meaningful way that makes the world safer. We have, in the process of screwing that all up, DESTROYED the entire postwar system of trust and multilateral alliances that kept the world prosperous and secure for the past five decades. No one loves America anymore, not really. We are no longer a leader of the free world, but a renegade giant. A resounding accomplishment, a terrible shame, and one that will come back to haunt our children and our children?s children.

My apologies for running off at the mouth, and so dramatically...sometimes I look around and get amazed at how barbaric and simpleminded we?ve become in a few short years?all I?m asking is that everyone out there should THINK -- not simply parrot the party line. These times demand that, else we are truly in a lot of trouble. ?Permanent, big-time, world changing for the worse? trouble. You want the end-times? Well, all they require is mindless obedience without any critical thinking. All Evil requires is for men to do nothing ? and that includes not thinking critically.

That is why I am proud to now call myself a Liberal. One of the hallmarks of liberalism is the inclination to arrive at truth and decisions after informed debate that brings one to an understanding of multiple sides of an issue. There are plenty of knee-jerk liberals out there, but the real hallmark of conservatism and reactionaries is that they know the truth without having to bother with discourse, debate, or any sort of understanding of the issues in play. They even trumpet that as if it were a good thing. That?s just plain stupid.

All I?m saying is that if we, as Americans, don?t start acting rational, the entire world is in a lot of trouble. Everything America does affects the entire world ? for better or worse. So it?s time we started once acting like we at least try to make the right decisions with informed and honest and fact-based non-partisan debate.

I?m done. Forgive me for ranting, but someone had to say the Emperor has no clothes. I?m sure I?ll get a lot of hateful replies, but to hell with it. I?m done being quiet and hoping that sanity will prevail.

Thanks,

Alarik

EDIT: I just deleted my "final PS" since I had been feeling it came across (and probably was, to be honest) as a personal attack since it came right on the heels of another comment. I regret making a comment that could be interpreted as a personal attack...hence, deleted! hoo rah!

[ May 25, 2004, 20:21: Message edited by: alarikf ]