Going to war under false pretenses...
I had an interesting conversation with a fellow veteran yesterday. We met at a local Radio Shack. Both of us arrived about fifteen minutes before start of business, and so, with nothing else to pass the time, we talked.
He was moving from Texas to Maine in a giant U-Haul and needed to buy a phone charger to replace the one hoplessly buried under all his earthly possesions. (I was there to buy an RF converter for my new DVD player.) I symapthized with him over the difficulties of cross country driving, and related my tale of getting out of the Marine Corps and driving from L.A. to Louisville last year (with a jaunt into Oregon to see some friends.)
"Marine Corps?" he asked. "What do you think about our involvement over in Iraq? Just so you know, I used to be Army infantry." After telling him that I spent seven months active duty over in Iraq, I told him, "I think things are going amazingly well," and went on to explain why I thought so.
He went on to agree with me about the usefullness of a genuinely friendly arab government in the mid-east, before confessing that he "did not support the invasion of Iraq" though he supports "finishing the job now that we're there."
"Oh?" I asked. "Why didn't you support our going into Iraq?"
"Well, Iraq wasn't directly tied to 9/11 the way Afghanistan was and of course the issue of missing WMDs weighs heavily on my mind. I just feel we went to war under false pretenses."
"That's funny," I told him. "I, too, feel like we went to war under false pretenses."
"Really?" he asked.
"Yeah. I thought I was fighting in Iraq to make America safer with the added bonus of freeing 25 million Iraqis. Turns out that in retrospect I was freeing 25 million Iraqis with the added bonus of firming up claims of WMDs. But for some reason, I don't feel duped or betrayed. All I feel is, well... pride."
I never got his name, but I hope he safely completes his journey to his new home in Maine.
He was moving from Texas to Maine in a giant U-Haul and needed to buy a phone charger to replace the one hoplessly buried under all his earthly possesions. (I was there to buy an RF converter for my new DVD player.) I symapthized with him over the difficulties of cross country driving, and related my tale of getting out of the Marine Corps and driving from L.A. to Louisville last year (with a jaunt into Oregon to see some friends.)
"Marine Corps?" he asked. "What do you think about our involvement over in Iraq? Just so you know, I used to be Army infantry." After telling him that I spent seven months active duty over in Iraq, I told him, "I think things are going amazingly well," and went on to explain why I thought so.
He went on to agree with me about the usefullness of a genuinely friendly arab government in the mid-east, before confessing that he "did not support the invasion of Iraq" though he supports "finishing the job now that we're there."
"Oh?" I asked. "Why didn't you support our going into Iraq?"
"Well, Iraq wasn't directly tied to 9/11 the way Afghanistan was and of course the issue of missing WMDs weighs heavily on my mind. I just feel we went to war under false pretenses."
"That's funny," I told him. "I, too, feel like we went to war under false pretenses."
"Really?" he asked.
"Yeah. I thought I was fighting in Iraq to make America safer with the added bonus of freeing 25 million Iraqis. Turns out that in retrospect I was freeing 25 million Iraqis with the added bonus of firming up claims of WMDs. But for some reason, I don't feel duped or betrayed. All I feel is, well... pride."
I never got his name, but I hope he safely completes his journey to his new home in Maine.