Damned if we do, damned if we don't.

I hate this fucking war.

The American people were sold a bag of spoiled goods. As far as I’m concerned, there’s enough evidence to prove that W and Dick warped and exaggerated bad intelligence to get the American people fired up in believing that invading Iraq was in our best interests. We went into Iraq for a whole laundry list of reasons provided by W and Dick and now we’re paying a terrible price. Over 2,000 American troops are dead. Countless Iraqi civilians are dead. Now Democratic Representative John Murtha is calling for an immediate pullout, something that I readily admit I would love to do myself.

So, we shouldn’t have gone there in the first place. Here’s the problem, though: we did go into Iraq. We went in and rid the Iraqis of a monster. However, to quote a favorite show of mine, in our stumbling around, we have woken up a terrible giant. Whereas before the invasion Iraq was a nation that was fenced in and kept at bay, now it is a breeding ground for terrorists. Its also a breeding ground for anti-American sentiments. Where 9/11 was the American rallying cry for war, Iraq has become the rallying cry for al Queda recruits. There are far too few American troops in Iraq to secure the nation, and those who are there are being killed by rather simple car bombs. Our troops are dying and we shouldn’t be there. It's easy to say we should drop it all, pack up, and go home. But we can’t.

Iraq is now an American problem. Whether or not you or I supported the war (obviously, I’m very opposed to it) it is still our problem. We are all united under one flag and one nation. We’re a country of different opinions, beliefs, and convictions. Yet, we are still one nation. This nation, ultimately, made the choice to go into Iraq. The reasons are debatable, the support is mixed, but this nation still went. And this nation must stay. To paraphrase Colin Powell, if we break it, we buy it. Well, Iraq is broken and we must fix it. To pull out of Iraq would be disastrous. The reputation of America as a country that marches into Middle Eastern countries to stir up a hornets nest would be hard to deny if we tucked tail and cleared out. Leaving millions of innocent Iraqi civilians alone to rebuild their nation would be inviting a dictatorship to replace the one we replaced. And if we leave Iraq, you can be rest assured that it will grow into a haven for terrorists who want nothing more than to kill the Western way of life. We broke it, we bought it, and now the responsibility is all of ours to fix it.

Again, I hate this war. We took it upon ourselves to rid Iraq of a dictator. Now, we must accept the responsibility to secure and rebuild the nation, no matter the cost. I don’t like it, but it is a necessary evil.

Maybe the next time some pompous jackass from Texas sells the American people a bag of goods, those of us too smart to buy it will cast aside apathy and speak up.