Is There Still A War In Iraq?

From listening to the candidates for president speaking, one would not know we’re at war in Iraq. Both sides – Republican and Democrat – seem to go out of their way to avoid recognizing that we still have 165,000 troops in the battlefield.

My disappointment is that they don’t even use the troops to beat up on each other any longer – in the recent debates both parties are using funding issues to stick it to each other, while the names, faces, and units of the individual Marines and Soldiers continue to be purposely avoided.

While it’s obvious that neither side is going to pull the plug on military funding, it’s also equally obvious that the troops overseas are being used as pawns in a game where these lightweights continue to rage over which candidate cheats on his wife, which is the most (or least) religious, and who opposes immigration with the harshest measures? To paraphrase Rodney King…”can’t we all get along – and do what’s best for our country?”

• The Constitution calls for the separation of church and state, so why is it important whether Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee found Jesus first?
• Can Rudy govern in a non 9/11 environment ? He was awesome on 9/11, but an absolutely despised mayor on 9/10. What can he do as president?
• Hilary…can she out-macho the boys? Should she?
• And John Edwards…do we really need a trial lawyer as president? Maybe we do; he can shake-down the Chinese for some money.

It’s such a relief to hear candidates like Sen McCain and Sen Biden talk about American foreign policy; articulate and knowledgeable, both have ideas on how to deal with such important topics as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the national debt (which will have skyrocketed from 4 – 10 TRILLION dollars under President Bush)…too bad both of them are long shots in the primaries.

Other than knowledge and competency, they also have something else in common, another trait that none of the other candidates share: both of them have a son overseas…McCain’s son is Marine, and Biden’s son is Army.

In an era where Mitt told an audience that his son sacrifices because he drives his dad to campaign rallies, and Dennis Kucinich rattles on about UFO’s, it’s a relief to have a few candidate who understand the war from a personal level, as opposed to a sound-bite level.

It’s too bad that in this day and age of lightweight candidates and disinterested citizens they’re both considered long shots.

And lets not forget about our troops overseas – do any of these FDR wanna-bees we call candidates have a plan as to what we need to do in Iraq??