I had a conversation with my dad on Friday night while I was on the way to a gig in Los Gatos, CA. We talked about the war in Iraq.
Basically we came to two conclusions in common. First, we're pretty sure that if Saddam is out of the picture, the Iraqi people would at the very least be better off, and many of them will be happy that he's gone. The other conclusion we aggree about is that there's not much love of America and Americans to be lost in the Arab world as a result of the war. If we stay in Iraq long-term, it spells trouble. (We've already seen it.)
My dad gave me the impression that he was in favor of the war in Iraq. I didn't ask him directly whether he supported the war or not. He was against the war in Vietnam, or at least I understood that he was. I'm not sure about that either.
What I do know is that the longer that the war goes on, the less supportive I find myself of it. At first, I was on the fence, thinking that while war is something to avoid unless absolutely necessary, Saddam's regime is certainly tyranical, and removing him from power could be nothing but good. It was only later that I started to think about the longer-term ramifications of this war in Iraq, and the geo-political implications of our nearly unilateral actions there...
At this moment, the feeling that rises to the surface faster than any other is fear. The whole world seems to be reacting to the war in Iraq as they will -- Europe dividing itself on historical lines, England and Austrailia sticking with the U.S. because that's what they do, North Korea, India and Pakistan posturing (along with Syria, Turkey and Iran).
Today there's been a new suicide bombing in Israel, and God only knows what kind of mayhem is being planned by extrimists on all fronts.
My overall visceral reaction is one of fear. After that I analyze -- I'm an analytical thinker, so that's what I do... But it doesn't stop me from being afraid.
Isn't that the goal of terrorism? Are we terrorists?
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