Granted I would like to know more but I trust our goverment. Â
Personally, I don't exactly trust Bush right now, not completely. And I voted for the guy. It's just sometimes, when he talks, I wonder. I just feel deep-down uneasy about this whole situation. But then sometimes I trust him a little more. I don't know. It's all very confusing. I agree with SE--I haven't seen enough evidence right now for me to feel like there's any immediate threat to the US from Saddam Hussein. We lasted how many decades in the Cold War without any battles being fought (other than behind-the-scenes spies, which I have no idea about numbers)?
I know that he does horrible things in his own country, and for that, yes, he should be removed from power. This alone should be enough. But then there's the question: do we (the US alone) have the right? I struggle with the implication--we have the right to judge all other countries and be the police force of the world. This is something we've been doing for quite a while, but I still can't be completely comfortable with it.
Back to the Cold War: I realize we did come close to blows several times, but it never came to open war. Is it just that different times call for different measures? Or do we just have a lack of commitment in our leadership to do everything possible to avoid war? Or has everything been done and I just, as a layperson, don't understand it?
Everyone in the news and in the press conferences are so confident that it'll only take a couple weeks, no problem. But what if it doesn't? What if, in the 12 years since Saddam should have been taken care of (and I *do* think if it should have been done at any time, the appropriate time would have been during the Gulf War), what if since then Saddam has gotten himself a better army? What if on his home turf he's harder to defeat than in another country?
And I find it disturbing how going to war makes stocks shoot up by almost 300 points. Are we that bloodthirsty as a people, that we can be that excited about a war starting? And here, of course, is another area where I have to admit ignorance, that of economics. But it does disturb me. I hear that if war lasts longer then stocks normally go down, but none of it makes sense to me, really.
Mainly I have personal objections to war right now. I freely admit that I am no expert when it comes to international relations. I'm sure that there are things they can't tell us because it would compromise vital operations. And those are probably exactly the things that would connect the dots for me. I just feel like in this particular situation, unless some clear link is made to the Sept. 11 attacks, or unless we see imminent danger to the US or its allies, I will have misgivings over this.
I have pondered this for a long time and even though I agree that Saddam Hussein is bad and evil etc., what I want to know is why we aren't attacking other countries and regimes that are just as bad, for all the same reasons that we've talked about Saddam Hussein--for example Saudi Arabia for harboring terrorists (we KNOW that they harbored Al Qaeda camps and operatives) and  China for civil rights violations and North Korea for weapons of mass destruction, etc. etc. etc.
Slightly related: I found this quote the other day, in a discussion of the Patriot Act that allows the FBI full access to anyone's library and bookstore lending/purchasing information without the burden of a warrant. Yeah, I may not be in danger of being investigated by the FBI anytime soon, but that smacks of Bill of Rights violations all over the place to me. I think that if the FBI suspects someone of something, due process should be followed (with yet another disclaimer that I'm no law student--but I still agree with the quote).
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." ~Benjamin Franklin
P.S. Who do I ask about accessing my profile? I can't get into it and change my sig, city, etc.