Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Thoughts on Presence and Commitment

You know what's confusing?... When you click on DefenseLinkdotMil and read that the "Coalition" in Iraq is just peachy and getting peachier; and then on the same day you see an AP story like this one which could lead one to believe that our allies are pulling out of Iraq as quickly as it can be arranged (except for Tony Blair, of course) you just have to ask yourself who is to be believed. That isn't what bothered me though. What bothered me was that in the follow-up question: "Should Italy's decision to pull its troops from Iraq affect U.S. policy?" 35% of respondents said that "the U.S. should keep as many troops as necessary in Iraq for as long as is need to ensure a healthy democracy survives."
I know that these MSNBC news polls aren't scientific, but still... 35%?... for as long as it takes however long it takes until OUR desired outcome is achieved? Can you say "until hell freezes over?" You know why I support a reinstatement of the draft? Because I'd bet you that none of those in that 35% have kids at risk of serving there... or they're making a ton of money from our commitment there.
Mind you that I think the 22% who want to be out of there by this weekend are nuts, too; but an open-ended commitment? No, thank you. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

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