Thoughts On The Iraq War: Part 1

I received notes objecting to my Sept. 11 article, “No End In Sight“.

Jan wrote:

Not being a Washington employee or a part of the government community, neither you nor I really know that that thoughtful process didn’t occur. Unfortunately, too often many people tend to overlook the good for the bad or “not so good” which resonates an aura of negativity. Fortunately, in spite of all that negative hype, our economy continues to flourish under the Bush Administration, so “they” aren’t doing all that bad of a job. If only people could get off their negative soap boxes and develop some objectivity; I wonder if this aura of negativity would shift too.

Rob wrote:

I’m embarrassed that you took the opportunity of the 9/11 anniversary to spew liberal, left-wing filth on your website. Given your views, I’m ashamed that I give you money for advice of any kind. I’ve always wondered why you choose to live in Japan, and I guess I now understand. You want to live in a country where you can apologize daily for your foolish fellow citizens. Perhaps you and Sean Penn hang out on a regular basis.

If I’m wrong, please feel free to address any of my points. While I understand it is your website and you control the content, I do not pay for nor appreciate the political op-ed you chose to post. If your stance is as left-wing/socialist as your site posts suggest, why do you write books about entrepreneurship and investing? Shouldn’t we wait for the government to plan for our futures?

I replied to both Jan and Rob and considered displaying those replies here. Instead, however, I’d like to know what more readers think. I wrote my piece, you see the two reactions above, and now it’s your turn.

For the record, this is neither a liberal nor a conservative site. It’s an investment site, and that means objective. I was surprised to find Rob calling my 9/11 article liberal, and suppose he thinks so simply because it looked critically at the war. Regular readers know that I look critically at everything because it’s only through brutally honest assessment that we arrive at reasonable conclusions.

The war is not going well. Maybe that observation alone is liberal to some, but it reflects the facts. To have Baghdad under the control of various armed factions this far into our occupation was not the goal of the “shock and awe” rained upon Iraq by the U.S. — surely we can agree on that.

The film and book that I recommended aim to find out why. How did we get here? What can be done from this point? These are worthwhile questions, neither liberal nor conservative, and I’d like to explore them further.

Send me your thoughts knowing that I may lightly edit and post them later. I look forward to hearing from you.

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