I have several questions that I would like to have answered by the U.S. President, a man whom I would like to remind everyone is accountable to all of us. The questions I have should also be answered by the Congress, a body that, in my opinion, has failed to ask the correct questions thus far. My first question is, how much is this war with Iraq going to cost the soldiers and citizens of the United States? How many lives in the end will be lost or significantly affected or even hindered by non-fatal injuries? How much more of the taxpayers’ money will be spent on worthwhile projects in Iraq and how much more money will be lost or squandered on projects with no lasting benefit? What are the ultimate goals, how are we to measure progress toward those goals, and when do we expect to meet them? Clearly these are all questions that should have responsibly been answered to the satisfaction of the general population before the war with Iraq began, yet they have never been asked.
They are not unreasonable questions. In fact, I think they are common sense, and I think we should absolutely refuse to accept any amount of spin, half answers, refusals to answer, or indications that this is ‘hard work’ requiring ‘patience’ from the citizenry. Whether we agree that the United States should have gone to war with Iraq or whether or not we agree that we are now responsible for and can benefit from the rebuilding of Iraq, I think we can agree that the people in charge of this country should be held accountable and made to answer questions we deem important. If the government then refuses to provide straightforward answers to the questions asked by its citizens then those citizens should have an opportunity to file suit and have their case tried in a politically nonbiased court. We the people have the people have the power to vote, and between elections, we have the right to question and to challenge those who have been voted into public office. At several points in time during the history of the United States the importance of these rights has been clear. This is one of those times.
1 comment:
war..yeah, it sucks. how much will we lose, who will we lose, etc..it's all bad no matter how you look at it..war is just bad. we all know this. i think it's more about leadership in general. most often, our conduct is influenced by our expectations, which i have noted: expectation are premeditated resentments. what do we expect of our leader, have we expected greatness, but kept his fish tank small? who did we elect to think beside him..is that his small fish tank? (a gold fish will grow larger or smaller according to the fish tank or pond they swim in) this is a powerful idea and one that must not be avoided. do we just sit back and talk about what an ass we have as a president, or do we question ourselves and think: why did we elect who we did, not just the president, but all those around the president? did we elect the person or the party?
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