First Presidential Debate

After watching the first Presidential debate last night, I am sure Bush's advisors had to sit him down for a little talk. He came off very badly...nervous..furtive..angry, and on a one note track all night. It seemed that every other phrase out of his mouth was ..." it is hard work". I found myself feeling embarrassed for him at times. On the other hand, I was glad to see Kerry, who has been my Senator for quite a while, come off with such grace, and poise. He didn't seem thrown by anything, and was able to speak clearly, decisively and intelligently. It was nice to finally see him come across the way I have always seen him, and not the way the Republicans would like to portray him. He definitely had a confident, Presidential air to him, whereas Bush came off like a petulant child, who is upset because someone is questioning his judgement. Well...the truth is, going to war with Iraq was bad judgement...a very costly mistake, most especially in the unnecessary loss of human life because of an unnecessary war. He may even by now, deep down, realize that going into Iraq was more than he bargained for, but for the most part, he seems totally blind to reason, and the chaos falling down around him.....soon to get worse, I'm afraid. And with Wolfowitz and the rest of the neocon pack driving him on like a bunch of rabid wolves, I doubt that he would have the ability to stand up to them.

He calls Kerry a "flip-flopper" because he has changed his mind while voting as a Senator. My view on that, is I want someone who can change their mind on an issue, who can reassess a situation after more information is gathered, who is willing to show some intelligence in analyzing data coming in, and then change the way something is done, if necessary. All this Bush talk of "stay the course", and a resolve not to waver is downright scary, since volatile situations like the Iraq one, are changing all the time, and becoming more dangerous by the day. Marching forward with blinders on and a steely resolve will only worsen the deteriorating situation, and only increase the death toll. A huge mess is what we have created there, and it is going to be hell to fix, if that is even possible. We have lost credibility in the world. This misbegotten war has caused an ever increasing instability in the Middle East, and an ever increasing hatred for the United States. We are not more secure as Bush says, but in much more danger.

I was glad to finally see someone be able to challenge Bush outright on the reason for invading Iraq. Kerry has tried to do this all along, but not very effectively. This time he was able to catch Bush in his delusional statement that he was trying to stop the terrorists by invading Iraq. Nevermind that no Iraqis were part of the 9/11 attack, that there was no indication that Iraq harbored terrorists before we invaded, and that there were no WMD. Nevermind that Saddam Hussein hadn't attacked anyone in 12 years, and probably wasn't really that capable of doing so with the sanctions placed on him. He was a cruel, fanatical dictator who would have hardly tolerated terrorist groups to congregate in his country. Due to those sanctions placed on him, he was contained, and under the watchful eye of the world. He hardly represented the kind of danger that would require a pre-emptive strike, and an all out war. A disasterous war...a terrible mistake, because by removing him, we have opened the door to the very terrorists he would never have tolerated. Not that I don't believe the Iraqi people deserved to be free of his tyranical rule, but not this way.

The excuse to go in was WMD, and terrorism. Did he forget about Afghanistan? About Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, the ones who gladly, and proudly proclaimed that they were behind the 9/11 attack? What was he thinking? One minute, post 9/11, we are in Afghanistan supposedly pursuing Osama, although with very poor strategy, and then suddenly, out of the blue, we take an abrupt left turn, and invade Iraq, and in the process, allow Osama and many of al-Qaeda to escape. Was no one thinking here? Obviously not...although it is pretty plain to see that Iraq is a more desireable place to control, monetarily because of all its oil, and because of its strategic position in the Middle East, than the goat trails of Afghanistan. The neocons had Iraq in their sights since way before 9/11, so what better excuse to use to go in. Just bring up 9/11 every time you want to justify your mission, even if it doesn't fit, because they know that much of the American public, now wrongly equates 9/11 with Saddam Hussein. Just by constantly saying it is so, they have been able to convince a huge number of people that it is so. What a terrible thing, to take the tragedy of 9/11, and just use it to justify an unfair war in a country that had nothing to do with the attack on 9/11, and in the process cause unnecessary deaths to more innocent people...Iraqi civilians and our own soldiers.

What a mess, and a difficult one to get out of easily now. I hate to think of what bigger mess we might be in if Bush gets in for another 4 years. If Kerry wins, he will inherit this terrible situation, but I have more confidence in him, to gather the right people around him, to reach out diplomatically to other nations, and work towards a better resolution. It will not be easy, but we can't let it get any worse, and I feel if Bush gets in, it will all get worse. ..much worse.