Since I was copying posts from the Daily Kos I thought I copy this one as well from 12/16/06. This is one of my favorites and while things have stabilized in Iraq since I wrote this posting I would be surprised if things don't unravel within 10 years of our departure. Two things are sure ... the United States will never see any free oil to pay for the war and the additional debt burden from the war is more than our country could afford. The saddest thing for me is that since this post in 2006 I have moved a lot so in many ways this was my last normal Christmas. I hope in the next 4 years that changes.
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For as long as I remember my family gathered at my dad's house on the Sunday before Christmas. I'm sure the annual Christmas parties at my dad's house was no different than thousands of other families -- lots of food, football on TV, and conversations with people you haven't seen since the summer. The Christmas of 2002 was a bit different for two reasons. The first reason was that my dad had recently decided to move to Arizona and this was going to be his last Christmas party. The second was that George Bush and the Republicans had campaigned about the need to invade Iraq so the conversations that typically included grandchildren's accomplishments quickly devolved into an argument about Iraq....
I was raised in a typical Midwestern town and I think my family is typical of most although my parents were divorced when I was 8 (sadly that might be typical as well). My Dad is retired from the Navy and a registered Republican but he is probably a more of a moderate than anything else. His family members are from all over the Midwest and we always got a good cross section from the heartland ranging from typical city dwellers to hard working farmers to the slacker that the older generation wonders out loud if they will ever get a J-O-B.
I think my brother and I are pretty typical in that we are very close but also very competitive. He has been a Republican ever since the mid 80's when Reagan was in office. He has a job where he travels in a car a lot and so he gets to listen to Rush Limbaugh quite often. While I loath Rush I have to admit he is good at putting things into simple sound bites messages so that the people who listen to him at least sound intelligent. When I was growing up most people assumed that I was a Republican as well because I had a good job and frankly I just look the part. I have been asked many times why I am a Democrat and I always answer that when I went to college I actually learned to think for myself unlike most Republicans I know (usually this is said with a nod and a wink to my brother who responds with some similar sarcastic remark).
At the 2002 Christmas party my brother started the whole thing by asking me what I thought about the recent elections. I'm sure everyone here remembers the midterms of 2002 as they were brutal. The Republicans expanded their hold on Congress with what I called their "Chicken Little" campaign of fear regarding terrorism and Iraq. Almost immediately after my brother makes his comment about the election the convesation leads to a discussion about Saddam. Soon the entire family room is filled and I realize we now have at least 20 people in the room all discussing Iraq. To my surprise the question quickly went from whether we should invade Iraq to how quickly we should invade Iraq. Soon after it devolved to a situation of me versus the room. My dad's cousins from the city, my stepmom's relatives from country, and my aunt's work friends all aligned themselves against me. I thought I could have counted on my my slacker cousin without the J-O-B but was sadly disappointed. I was completely shocked because even though I knew my views were different than most people it really hit home that day. Their discussion came down to a few points.
- Saddam is evil and needs to be taken out.
- Saddam has weapons of mass destruction.
- Oil will pay for the reconstruction.
- The people of Iraq need to be free.
I couldn't believe the simplistic nature of their arguments and I couldn't get anyone to listen. I argued that wars never create a more stable country and that we were too far in debt to be able to afford to adequately rebuild Iraq. I argued that it would be at least 5 years to get the oil flowing to pay for the war. I argued that it is one thing to beat the Iraqi army but it is quite another to run their country. I informed them that Iraq has no history and is made up of multiple religious and ethnic cultures that are bound to fight one another once Saddam was gone. I hit them with every fact I could think of but they came back to the same simple points which mainly consisted of 9/11=Terrorist=Evil=Saddam (which I have come to call the Republican's 9/11 transitive property as it works with most every issue). This conversation went on for at least an hour with me getting madder and everyone poking fun at my naivity about how the world really worked. The conversation ended when my dad (who hadn't said a word) finally had enough and said simply .... "End of discussion, it's Christmas, let's get off this subject, get some food, and sit down to watch some football". He knew my arguments weren't convincing anyone and the discussion was getting so heated it was on the verge of ruining Christmas. Dads can be wise like that.
The conversation was over but the conversation in my mind continued. I asked myself, "How could I be so out of touch with my family and my country"? I'm pretty stubborn and was mad at myself for not being able to articulate the right argument to convince anyone. Of course in hindsight I realize that to convince someone they have to be willing to listen.
Over the next few years my brother has enjoyed tweaking me whenever something positive happened like when Bagdad fell or Saddam was captured or when the Iraqi elections occurred. I rarely brought it up because it sucks to have a position where to win an argument something bad has to happen like more American soldiers dying or more money wasted. I have never stopped believing that the war was wrong and we could have gotten much better results some other way.
In the past year it is now obvious that everything I said is coming true. Since my dad moved to Arizona we've moved Christmas from relative to relative and this Sunday is the first Christmas at my house. I'm sure everyone who was there 4 years ago has probably forgotten the discussion and may even believe today that they were one of the few that stood against the war. I'd love to tweak my brother one more time with a sarcastic question about the 2006 election but I'm not sure I can do it. The Democrats did all I could have hoped for but I have felt an emptiness ever since their victory. At first I thought it was the fact that I was so focused on seeing that the Republican get kicked out of office that the actual fact of them leaving took away one of my life motivators. I've come to realize that it is something else and something sadder. It's because people like me weren't able to convince enough people that the Republicans were wrong back in 2002 that we find ourselves in our current situation. While I know it is silly to think that way I can't help but mourn the lost men, money, and our country's reputation that the Republicans needlessly squandered. I'm happy the Democrats won the election but they can never bring back the past. So this Sunday I will follow my dad's advice once again only this time I'll end the discussion before it begins and simply say,
"Merry Christmas everyone.... help yourself to some food, there's football game on the TV".
But I want to say so much more......
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