What The F**k?

In today's episode of What The F**k?, we shall dissect the seemingly insane view of the majority of Republicans in the country: the war in Iraq is going swimmingly.

Ugh.

Look, I'm all for patriotism - in fact the reason that I find myself in front of this computer writing my oft-incoherent prose is because I love my country and hate to see it run by what appear to be the governmental incarnation of the Keystone Cops (if you don't know what I'm talking about - Google it). I loathe seeing my nation dragged into the Abyss of Scandal. The Grand Canyon of Geopolitical Shadiness. The Cheney Factor. I would argue that people like myself - and others who use their minuscule voice to speak out to whomever will listen - are indeed more patriotic that those who do nothing. And whether I lean left or right in my political ideology is of no consequence when the best interest of my country is in my heart.

That said, how can someone in their right mind (right = correct, not conservative) continue to support a president who:

• Led our great republic into a war under false pretenses
• Grossly mishandled the worst natural disaster ever to strike our land
• Continues to support an incompetent or perjurous Attorney General
• Denies military detainees the right of habaes corpus
• Publicly condones torture
• Is actively and systematically increasing the power of the Executive, despite the Constitution's strict adherence to balance of powers

I cannot believe that, despite this list of grievances (some of which I believe to be criminal), there are still many Republicans running for office in 2008 who wholeheartedly support this president and his policies - particularly the war in Iraq.

Republican recruits sense the potential danger; few are eager to talk about Iraq. But most of these challengers seem to feel they have little choice but to back Bush, who remains popular with the most stalwart factions of the GOP base -- the party faithful who vote in primaries and give money to congressional candidates.

Indeed, support for the Iraq war has become a prerequisite for the Republican base, comparable to the role abortion and gay marriage played over the last decade.

Call me old-fashioned. Call me stupid. Call me a liberal if you want to - even though I'm not. The truth of the matter is that I just can't figure this out. Why do Republicans support this war so much? It is obvious to me that 1) Saddam did NOT have WMD, 2) al Qaeda was NOT in Iraq prior to the U.S. invasion, 3) Iraq posed no IMMEDIATE threat to the security of the U.S. prior to the invasion and, 4) the U.S. invaded Iraq without being provoked. SO, why does a large segment of the GOP still support this war?

You can play the "we fight them there so that we don't fight them here" card all you want to - I'm not buying it. If we were to leave Iraq tomorrow (if somehow there was a miraculous way to get all of our troops out and home in an instant) there is NO WAY that al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden or any other whack-job like that is going to follow us. Oh sure, they might try to, but if we have our troop re-deployed to work in the contiguous 48 states, I will be a lot more comfortable with the thought of someone trying to pull some sh*t here. The entire country would likely be on red alert (or whatever system Bush and his Homeland Security homies come up with) to shady-goings-on.

To that point, one of my biggest complaints about the war in Iraq is that it has left our borders and our interior grossly vulnerable to attack. With an extremely high percentage of our National Guard and Army Reserve forces deployed to Iraq, who is left at home to protect our borders? Who is left to guard the streets of Manhattan - or other high-profile target - against another 9/11-style terrorist incident? Nobody.

Here is the other angle at which I see this subject. I consider myself to be a conservative when it comes to government matters like taxes, spending and government policy. The last time that I checked, the Republican party still stood for all of those things as well. So, why is it that being a conservative suddenly means that you have to support this war - never mind the fact that it is costing the United States $8.5 billion per MONTH (that's $285 million per day and $12 million per hour for those of you playing the home game). And that's just the war in Iraq - that doesn't include Afghanistan and the amorphous War on Terror. Pray, tell me you GOPers out there - how is this being conservative?

I guess that my question is a moot one seeing as how the Congress just passed a $460 billion budget for the Commander in Chief to squander on the war. That money will get us at least to November, right? Maybe we can actually use some of that cash to buy some armor both for the troops to wear, and for their vehicles.

I'd love to stop harping about this subject - I really would. But because I disagree with this policy so much, I feel that it is my obligation to speak up. If I have missed some larger point about the war, I would love to be educated on the topic. I invite other to share their opinions and thoughts, as I'm always open to other perspectives.

Bring it.

filed in: Al Qaeda, George W. Bush, Iraq, Osama bin Laden, Terrorism, Troop Support, WTF?share: