TAINTED EXPERIENCE

I met this really fascinating guy the other morning, a retired attorney, Korean war veteran and very much opposed to Iraq. I was sharing with him that one of my big dilemmas was the fact that I did indeed support the troops as they are merely doing their jobs. But, I was troubled by the idea that on a wholesale basis, without fail, they are totally in support of their mission. And, that I understand: soldiers have to support what they are doing. His comment took me aback--he said something like "I don't disagree with you but when something is based on a "lie" then everything associated with it is tainted." What he was referring too, of course, was the non existent weapons of mass destruction. THINK ABOUT VIETNAM and what we now know about the Bay of Tonkin incident which propelled us into a wholesale involvement in that sorry war.

Also, my new acquaintance went on to say that what he believes is that we have a civil war in Iraq. And, I will have to admit that there surely appears to be truth here. Think about it: almost daily, Iraqis killed by Sunni Muslims it appears. Today, sixty eight killed. In one incident, this car was turned away from a checkpoint, goes down to a place where Iraqis are trying to get day work. The Iraqis gather around the car which then blows up. This sort of thing has become the rule rather than the exception.