Let's talk about the war

It's often hard to make your points when you get sucked into a backyard debate over Bush and the War. Usually, the loudest yahoo wins the day. So, here are some useful tips if you get trapped into a debate with some Rush/Fox loving clown justifying the war:

*Saddam had WMD

There is no evidence that he had any weapons to use. It's like saying that you have a dog house when all you have are some nails. You may eventually make a dog house, but without wood and paint, all you have is a potential dog house. Now, you can claim nails meant you wanted to build a dog house, that you might have even downloaded the plans to make a dog house. But until fluffy is wagging his tail from a dog house, you don't have one.

*Saddam killed his own people

Yes, Saddam killed his own people. He killed and tortured thousands of them. But that doesn't mean that he's alone. There are 70 countries with murderous dictators. How many of your neighbors kids should die to overthrow them?

*It doesn't matter if they find the WMD because we liberated the Iraqi people

Yes it does. Do you like being mislead? No? Well, we're all adults. If the liberation of the Iraqi people was a reason to go to war, why not say so? We can make up our own minds about why to go to war. The President said there was a 45 minute threat to our troops in Kuwait. There wasn't. No weapons in the depots the Iraqi Army used, none found by our troops. We spent millions to find these weapons and it's easier to get a Lakers ticket than find these weapons. The most they found was a few rusty parts for a centrifuge, like finding a brush to paint the dog house. Can't paint without paint, right. A centifuge is a tool, not a weapon.

*Iraqis are better off without Saddam

That may be true, but imagine living with no AC in Texas in mid-summer. No fridge, no job. How would you feel. Especially when the police would stop by and harass you and your friends. Ever see Boys n' tha Hood? Listen to NWA? Well, that's what you'd feel, a lot of unremitting anger. Iraqis seem to not feel better, despite dumping Saddam.

*The war is over

Well, that's what the White House says and politicians never lie, right? Seriously, every day you turn on the news, it's another dead kid. You know most of them are about 20 years old? The war is far from over. Look, if Iraqis invaded here and decided to install the Baath Party in charge, would you accept that? So what makes you think Iraqis are that different from you.

*Why would the President lie. He had to know something we didn't.

Why would a politician lie? Well, lie is a big word here. It's not so much that he made things up as that he twisted the truth to make his case. It's as if he didn't truat the American people with the truth. He was so desperate to make his case, he said what he thought people would react to. So Saddam became an immediate danger, like a fire near a propane tank, instead of a flareup you could handle with a squirt of water. By exagurating the threat, he made it seem that we had to so something right now.

*Isn't Saddam still killing American troops?

Look, Iraqis are like Texans when it comes to guns. It's not only their right to own them, but a duty. We don't know who is killing American troops, but it's not only Saddam loyalists. It's anyone with a grudge against the US. Islamic fundamentalists, people US troops have hurt in some way, bored kids. Anyone with a weapon can shoot at our troops.

*Why is everything in Iraq so messed up?

Well, they've been suffering from sanctions since 1991. Then we blew up stuff. So Iraqis, who like most people, just want to go to work, find nothing works and we can't fix it.

*Why can't we fix it?

Because we didn't plan to. We did this in a hurry and like with most things, haste makes waste. Now Americans and Iraqis are dying because of it.

*Where are our allies. Why don't the French help?

We insulted France, our oldest ally, because they thought the threat could be controlled. They were leery of an occupation following the war and the French public didn't support it. Now, they have no stake in fixing a problem we created. If I try to hang a DTV dish, and youtell me to hire someone and I ignore you, would you help me repair the mess I made? Probably not. Well, the French don't have to help us now because we ignored their advice when this mess started.

*We need to support our troops, no matter what?

Look, they need our support. Including support in getting home alive. Blindly going along is no support. They need people to say they disagree with the mission and force the governemt to devise a way out of this mess. That has nothing to do with the soldiers, but the politicians who sent them there.

You know, a lot of the biggest supporters of the war have never worn a uniform or done anything but get rich. The Bush Administration wanted to cut the pay they give the families of dead soldiers in half and cut the combat pay they get, the money which puts clothes on the backs of their kids. You know 60 percent of the military has families? That's how much they think of those soldiers.

Supporting the troops is not the same as supporting the president.

*Didn't Saddam have something to do with 9/11

No. No links at all. The hiajackers came from Egypt and Saudi Arabia. There is no evidence Saddam had anything to do with 9/11.

*Well, this will stop Osama.

Why? He doesn't live in Iraq and the Taliban is back in Afghanistan. His men blew up a housing development of Americans last month. They are not scared at all.

You don't have to refute point after point. Just relate it to things in their lives and let them bray about crap on Fox. The more human and rational the explaination, the more likely people will listen.

Steve Gilliard

Posted June 29, 2003 02:49 PM | Comments (109)