Kickin off my progressive account (this will be Part 1)

Alright. First note that this blog goes out to everyone who likes to argue about the Iraqi Conflict. That ought to be all of you bloggers, so listen up.

I'm tired of kids complaining about President Bush and the Bush Administration and the "awful" circumstances we're in right now concerning Iraq. You hear biased news being broadcasted on tv and churn it back out as if you're an expert.
Newsflash: you're not.
First and foremost, President Bush did NOT start the Iraqi conflict despite how everyone is convinced. The problems with Iraq began long before President Bush was in office. After Desert Storm had resolved and relative quiet had resumed for most of the decade, the problem was only exasperated. But not by President Bush. Rather, it was the beloved and yet blameless President Clinton.
In 1998 he signed to initiate a 4 day bombing campaign in Iraq. Later that year, he decided to force Iraq to comply with installing no fly zones across nearly two-thirds of the country. If there wasn't already bad blood between the US and Iraq, this only made it worse. This all resulted in a small scale conflict, of which most of us never heard a word. This, coupled with intensive searching for WMD's by the UN, put Saddam Hussein in the worst disposition.
This all being said, the Iraqi Conflict is hardly President Bush's fault. Upon coming into office, President Bush merely stated that he would handle the situation to the best of his capabilities. Throughout almost his entire two terms he has had to deal with the repercussions of prior presidents' actions. Yet everyone criticizes him for maintaining his commitments. If half the presidents we've had thus far would be so loyal to their word then our nation and its political leadership would have such a better international image than it currently does.
And this can only be blamed on the public. As a nation of the people, nothing is more daunting to our leadership then a society gathered in protest and relative anarchy. Yet, even in the face of staggeringly low approval ratings, and a constant barrage to his honor and his character, President Bush has determined not to drop back from what promises he has made.

And so many of you are already skeptical. What promises has he made? What good has he done? Think about it. Regardless of constant erroneous speculations of the motive behind the involvement in Iraq, as already said, our leaders were forced into involvement by the unsettled actions of our earlier leaders. Oil was hardly a consideration. Cleaning up a mess left behind was the focus. And since our involvement, we have eliminated a genocidal and tyrannical leader, established democracy, set an example in the fight on terror, etc. Tell me how that's bad?
Go up to anyone protesting our involvement in Iraq and ask them about the Vietnam Conflict. It's likely that they can't tell you anything about it. Even at our highest, most outlandish body counts, death tolls from the Iraqi Conflict aren't even one-sixth that of the Vietnam Conflict. The cost of the Iraqi Conflict is only slightly more than that of the Vietnam conflict. And even at its end, the Vietnam Conflict failed to establish any sense of democracy as the US did in Iraq. Yet everyone has to complain about the Iraqi involvement more?

I will concede that throughout the course of our involvement our intelligence and information has been sullied by lies and misrepresentations. But that's not entirely the fault of our nation's agencies, when our sources of information, such as Naji Sabri, are being paid to give inaccurate information to our leaders. And anyone who would suggest that such lies were supported by our government for the proposition of oil should realize how foolish that claim is. The majority of the United States' information came from the CIA's investigations of WMD's, Hussein's activities, etc. What would the head of the CIA have to benefit from oil leases in Iraq? Perhaps our political leaders, but they were being funneled the same inaccurate information which the CIA was receiving. If anything, justice was being sought. Not oil. Anyone who doubts any claims to justice should ask the people of Iraq who are ought from under the rule of a despot for the first time in their lives.

Now many of you are likely attesting to the dissatisfaction of some of the people of Iraq. Realize that their anger comes from tension which arose between the Shia and the Sunni. That's nothing of our doing. Their anger at the American presence is a product of the years of hostility between these two groups.

All in all, I maintain my right to my opinion that the Iraqi Conflict was in the best interest of everyone involved. But I'm tired of hearing countering opinions based on inaccurate information.
Read.
Tell me how I'm wrong.
If I am, I'll gladly reformulate my opinions based on the truth.

Until then..

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