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No one's asking us to sacrifice for Iraq

Date published: 7/7/2007

No one's asking us to sacrifice for Iraq

At first glance, the politi- cal stances over the war in Iraq may seem very clear. The Republicans want to "stay the course" and the Democrats want to "cut and run."

If only such a serious matter as a war could be summed up into nice little sound bites. The truth is both sides are hurtling toward a path of defeat with little chance of a detour.

The root of the problem lies in the fact that nothing is being asked of 99 percent of this country's citizens. We continue to go about our daily lives and are not asked to give anything of ourselves for the common good of the nation.

I would like to know what many flag-waving Republican fathers would have to say about the war if their college-bound, prom-queen daughters were asked to serve in the Marine Corps.

What would the same gentleman say if he was asked to stop driving his SUV so we can move toward an end to reliance on oil from Saudi Arabia and other nations who funnel our cash to the very extremists we are trying to defeat?

How would the average American respond to the call for a draft so we can get the 500,000 troops that have been needed to secure Iraq since day one? Not to mention the rationing of everything from gas to sugar it might take to support that force.

We don't know the answers to these questions because they haven't been asked by anyone in power from either political side.

It's time for our elected officials to ask something from us. We can't continue to rely on the 1 percent of Americans who make up our armed forces to do all the suffering.

The difference between Iraq being one of our finest hours or darkest disasters lies in the ability of our leaders to ask something from every American.

Philip Morrow Fredericksburg



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Date published: 7/7/2007


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Refresh my memory... (posted by jdsdad , Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)   
I thought Clinton was president for Somalia (1993). Or are we blaming the senate/house for that one?

"cut and run" (posted by MathewBrooks , Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)   
You mean the way Republicans cut and run in Somalia in the '90s, making it one of the biggest Al-Qaeda countries ever? Like that?

We will pay . . . eventually. (posted by UsefulIdiot , Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)   
Doesn't anyone remember the inflationary spiral after Vietnam? That was due in part to increased govt. spending due to the war. And then there will be increased pressure to pare back medicare and social security. Yes, we will sacrifice whether we want to or not.

More Troops = Our Finest Hour, I Don't Agree (posted by rrwwsmith , Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)   
Making our Christiian occupying force larger in this religious civil war is fantasy. First of all, we don't have the money. Our debt is 9 trillion and as a percentage of GDP is nearly 70%. At best we would make one religious faction dominant over the other. In this case Shiite over Sunni. Al Qaeda has never been more than 15-20 % of the fighters against us, in spite of the lies from this Administration. The police that we arm and train are Shiite and unreliable. Iran is Shiite. A mess either way...

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