US Mid-term Election Hate
With the current U.S. mid-term elections in full swing, we are beginning to see the signs of the fear factor for which the Republican Party has become known. Two weeks ago they launched a TV campaign which included a new add containing footage of terrorists making threats and ending with the imagery and sound of a nuclear blast. The indication of this particular ad implies that voting for the Democrats is the same as inviting terrorists to attack the United States in an unprecedented catastrophic manner. The implication that the Republican Party is the only party to protect the United States from attack is ludicrous. Recent history is showing us that the current administration’s foreign policy has made it more dangerous for the United States and American citizens, not to mention those countries who are considered their allies.
By occupying Iraq, the current U.S. administration has fostered an environment which is promoting a flourishing terrorist hotbed. The insurgency in Iraq is not there to fight the "current Iraqi administration", it is there to fight against the U.S. occupation of a sovereign nation. As a result of the poor planning going into the war, there are now an estimated 100,000 civilian deaths near the end of 2004. The lack of coalition military control in the country has also led to monstrous sectarian violence. The various extremist tribal, ethnic and religious factions have all turned on each other which has, for all intents and purposes, resulted in a civil war in which the U.S. Military has been caught in the middle. For the Republican Party to accuse the Democrats of fostering terrorism by being weak is a red herring. The Republicans are engaging in fear-mongering and war-mongering as indicated by the current military move of sending another Carrier group into the Persian Gulf as a veiled threat against Iran.
The Republicans talk about the Democrats as a Cut and Run party when it comes to Iraq, but the current Administration decided to cut and run in Afghanistan where the terrorists actually were. Where the primary terrorist who was involved in the attack on the World Trade Centre five years ago was actually hiding out. Where a regime known for fostering terrorists actually was. They went in with a tiny force, ousted the government there, and then left it to the rest of the world to clean up. Now I know that there are still U.S. forces in Afghanistan, but they are not taking the leading role there. The Administration decided that a practically toothless dictatorship with no capability to threaten the United States and a massive oil reserve was more worthwhile than finding and eliminating the terrorist organization that caused so much damage in 2001.
Maybe the Republicans should concentrate on how to get out of Iraq with the help of the Democrats, rather than attacking them and turning their legislative process into a partisan quagmire. Unfortunately that is just wishful thinking. It has become difficult to watch what is happening in the Middle East. Let us hope that these mid-term elections will bring some logic back to the U.S. Capitol, and maybe, *sigh* though unlikely, a sense of helping your fellow man whatever his political, ethnic, or religious stripe.