I’m just wondering what the Anti-War movment really wants now. Regardless of ones feelings on Iraq, the war happened, or is happening now. It’s OK to think the War is wrong… I’m diverging from my hawkish tendencies on this one… but what should the US do now? What should the UK do now? I really want to know what the anti-war people think the right thing to do is.

IMHO there are only two ways out of Iraq at this point. Either complete the victory, finish the job, and set up a stable Iraq (very difficult), or leave with the job unfinished and create a power vacuum (very easy). Unless the UN decided to help, which won’t happen when Bush is in the White House … and isn’t necessarily a good thing anyway… I don’t see a third option for the US/UK. I want to know if the people marching in the street in London today have actually thought this through. Pulling out of Iraq now would be like a Surgeon walking away from an operation in the middle because he changed his mind about the surgery.

If you are anti-War, you lost this fight. If you are anti-War in America, you lost this fight in a most frustrating way, with a president who hasn’t demonstrated the capability to realize that differing viewpoints exist. I think this is the point where the anti-war movement in America differs from that in Europe. Here, the anti-war movement seems to have stepped back, and is now looking at ousting Bush in 04. In Europe they seem to think they can still fight against the War. I just want to know what they think they can achieve. Or do they just hate Bush/America? Maybe I’m too much the Engineer. Maybe they don’t want to achieve anything. Maybe they just like hearing their own voices.

On NPR this morning, there was a typically leftist story on Bush’s state visit to London. One of the elements of the story was  meeting of protestors. Included in this were two quotes that really stood out in my mind.

1. one speaker declared Bush the most unwelcome visitor to those shores since William the Conqueror.
2. a playwright who I had heard of, but whose name I can’t recall, called America the most hated nation on Earth, and equated us to Nazi Germany in terms of our goals.

Now, quote #1 is just funny. And there are plenty of Americans who don’t want Bush back. Quote #2 is just plain ignorant. While the war in Iraq is appearing more and more misguided as days go by, to equate Bush to Hitler is just dumb. I challenge good old ML to come up with 10 reasons why that’s stupid, since he’s the Historian here. And please, make it funny.

For every right wing columnist who thinks it’s treason to disagree with her, there is a british playright who thinks you’re a Nazi if you disagree with him. You get assholes and idiots on both sides. I’ve been voting in elections here since ‘88 and I’m beginning to find that it’s the rule to vote for the least offensive candidate. Haven’t had one I feel good about yet.