Iraq: We’re going to war

Diplomatic options are exhausted. The weapons inspectors did nothing. The UN can’t stop the US anymore. We’re going to war.

Ultimatum: 48 hours. How dramatic! Saddam adamantly, no defiantly says, “No.” We’re going to war.

The media shouts in glee. Countdown! Showdown! Catchy songs and symbols. Headlines in 100pt font. Repeating the same thing over and over. We’re going to war.

Time is running out. People debate? Too late! We’re going to war.

Whee, that was fun and spontaneous. I really do believe that diplomatic options have been exhausted. Saddam led the world on a chase. He kept saying he’d dismantle this, dismantle that, but never really got anything done. He’d just slowly appease the world when his rate of disarmament was slowly than his rate of re-armament.

Look at this comic I made illustrating the situation with the inspectors. At school, for this stoopid day, we got to either write letters to political leaders, etc., or make posters. I chose the letter. So, I made that comic and sent it off to Mr. Bush. That comic is actually a recreation. I don’t know where the original is… probably still at my school somewhere.

Saddam is a dictator/asshole who needs to be taken out for oppressing his people, using chemical weapons, promoting terrorism, and participating in genocide.

Yet… Although I seem to agree with this war thing, something still bugs me. Not that it’ll last forever or promote global warfare — I’ve got my money on over by the end of this month — but the doctrine of pre-emptive war. Pre-emptive war seems wrong by all my moral scales. I guess if a murderer is going to commit a murder, but is stopped before he can, he should still be tried as such. However, can this analogy apply to a whole country? I fear that someday, the threat won’t really be a threat, and yet we’ll still go to war. I guess, I’m okay with Iraq now, but I don’t wish for this behavior to continue, because eventually we won’t know where to draw the line.

The media is turning the war into some kind of commercial voyeuristic venture. I stopped watching and reading the news last year because it was too depressing. I see no reason to start again. Occasionally, I’ll read online, but not too often. Plus, if any of you can remember so far to Sept. 11, 2001, all they did was play the same thing over and over and over again. They did the same thing with Challenger. They’ll do the same thing with Iraq. And again, every single news station will carry the exact same news.

Ah, such happy days we live in. We’re going to war!