“Wartime”

There’s been a lot of use lately of the phrase “war on terror” and I can’t tell you how much doubt it instills in me to hear this. I have no doubt that there are many people in law enforcement who are waging a campaign to track down terrorists and prevent attacks. There are soldiers from all over the world in Afghanistan working hard to piece together a government that can keep the peace and make it an unattractive place for Al Qaida to operate. Pakistan is involved in tracking down Al Qaida terrorists and they’re doing the world a service.

But I don’t think this constitutes a “war”. Heck, if it were a war, there would be Prisoners of War, wouldn’t there? The prisoners in Guantanamo, Cuba would be afforded the rights guaranteed them in the Geneva Conventions if they were prisoners of war. We hear a lot about a “wartime president” and are constantly being taught lessons from the government on how to behave “in times of war”.

You can’t talk about The War on Terror without considering Iraq, can you? Nobody pretends you can. The tricky part is that Iraq has NEVER had anything to do with The War on Terror. Intelligence services found ONE confirmed terrorist there getting some medical attention. Did they sponsor the 9/11 attackers? no. Did they send their own people to perform terrorist acts? no. Did they sponsor other attacks on the US? no.

Are Americans safer without Saddam Hussein in power? no.

So, despite the fact that Iraq has somehow been inextricably and inexplicably tied to “The War on Terror” it has nothing to do with terrorizing the US. There are 130,000 Americans in Iraq who are fighting a war for … democracy? I think that’s the right word. I understand that the neo-cons want to change the dynamic in the middle east so democracy and free market economics will spread. And I think the war in Iraq has a lot more to do with the spread of Democracy than with terror.

So if we take Iraq out of the “War on Terror” equation what does that leave us? Is it like The War on Drugs, that Ronald Reagan waged? I mean, it turns in to a law enforcement issue, doesn’t it? Its a buzzword that I think everyone has bought in to. We’re certainly not on a war-footing. Our economy not churning out guns and ammunition. There’s no draft.

This is what goes through my mind every time I hear “War on Terror” making me even more angry with George Bush.

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