Politics of Moving On

I left Tallahassee for Sarasota early this morning and had CNN on while I got ready. I love CNN. Being a road warrior, it's one of the constants in my life, especially when traveling abroad. (Side note: Anderson Cooper, who is brilliantly intelligent which makes him incredibly hot, is my favorite CNN personality. While in Japan, he was my daily connection to the Western world and English) Anyway...

A reporter embedded with the Marines in Iraq was giving an update of the most recent Marine movement. She was asked what the mission was of the Marines and she said something to the effect of to kill as many insurgents as possible. I thought about that concept. How nonchalant she said it. I contemplated the idea during the 5 hour drive home, in between James Taylor and Disco's Greatest Hits.

The United States is sending people over there to kill. As a country, is this how we defend ourselves? By killing those people who don't think the same as us? What does the killing create? It creates more hatred. We are also trying to use United States philosophy to communicate with the Iraqis. People are people the world over, but boundaries need to be respected.

Rather than educating and showing what we are about as Americans, through our actions, we are showing the world that we are ignorant and intolerant - which is not what our country was founded on. I had the opportunity to hear Col. Colin Powell speak at a conference last month. He reiterated how important it is to educate and show the world what the United States is about, not to shut them out. I full-heartily agree with that philosophy.

While on the topic of politics, earlier this week I entertained 7 British journalists. We briefly spoke about politics and Howard Dean's actions came up - his
screaming. When it happened, I really didn't think anything of it, just that he had a lot of enthusiasm. Well, we know what happened next, he eventually dropped out of seeking the Democratic nomination. The irony is that the general public felt his actions demonstrated that he is a bit of a, well, "loose cannon," unable to control his emotions. Tell me, how does that differ when President Bush said, "Terrorism is terrible, but we're gonna smoke 'em out of their holes!"???

Comments