Am I Being Naive or Just Ignorant?

Beckie's post from Friday sparked a thought, which expanded into an idea, which became a whole cluster of mental creations (one of which, apparently, wasn't a synonym for "thought" or "idea").

How do I feel about what's continuing in Iraq? That's a good question.

From the beginning, I have supported American policy (overall) concerning the war in Iraq. was it the right thing to do? Yes, I believed it was and still believe it was.

Is America safe because of it? Loaded question, but yes, I think I America is safer without Saddam Hussein in power and with the beginnings of a democratic system in place. Despite what Senator Obama has said in the past, I believe that toppling what Hussein had made out of his regime was a great idea, and has since helped keep those who would attack America on their toes and unable to get the stability they need to repeat 9/11. They've struck elsewhere and many times, and why not? Even if they weren't thinking it, it's a brilliant propaganda tool: attack other people and say it's because America attacked you, so that everyone blames America. Even better, attack the Iraqi people themselves, and throw out a line like: "You have attacked us, and because you have attacked us the Iraqi people will suffer." Then Iraqis get pissed at America and blame them.

The number of people who are dying and have died because of the post-invasion violence is abhorable and deplorable, but to fault America alone is stupid. Some people toss out an entire line of argument about "America invaded when it wasn't their business and lied about WMDs and stuck their noses in other people's business just to preserve oil interests and if they had just left it alone, all those people wouldn't be dead." I don't buy it. I personally trust our government and many of the choices they've made. Maybe the Iraq invasion and war could have been better. But D-Day was far from perfect, and I have yet to find someone who says that was a bad idea.

Okay, I'm not going where I wanted with this. Summing up- I still proudly support America's efforts in Iraq, and think the world is overall better- any worsening came because of stupid and petty bickering and finger-pointing here at ahome and abroad.

What Beckie's post made me think is what will Iraq look like when all is said and done. I wonder if American forces are doing what they can to minimize their outside presence- what Beckie said seems to indicate they aren't. Okay, clearly thousands of American troops aren't going to blend in, even if their camo matches the sand and scorpions. But I'm sure there are ways to preserve as much as they can so that when they leave, there isn't this big nightmare of a mess for the Iraqis to have to clean up and put back together (I'm talking literally, not politically, for all those "Hell"-ary and Obama lovers out there). I think there was a lot of that in past wars, and it's sad to see that some people don't care enough to try and keep what they can intact.

So that really wasn't at all how I imagined this to turn out. But maybe some of you can glean at least part of what I think I was trying to say.

Now to you: I'm very interested to see or learn what your feelings/thoughts/views/ideas are about Iraq and the situation there. Do you supprt it or not? Why or why not? Feel free to express in a comment or your own blog entry or a phone call or e-mail or whatever.