National Mood Swing

Posted on March 18, 2005 in Occupation of Iraq War

Two years ago, the nation was on a major manic swing, caught in bizarre rationalizations for nonresistance to the war in Iraq. I caught it for questioning the blind affirmation of “support for our troops”. It was one of the hardest times in my life because I was called a traitor and, in turn, found myself criticizing friends, some of whom stopped talking to me and still do not talk to me. I made my mistakes, but none so grave as the granting of Bush a blank check to do as he pleased. I am thankful that I never took part in that.

In the time between then and now, most people I know have come to the realization that our invasion of Iraq did far more harm that good. Yet there are those who still paste the yellow or red, white blue ribbons to their cars, declaring that anyone who does not “support our troops” is vermin, no more worthy of human company than a planaria swimming among the weeds in a lake. And this masks the real problem: our troops are in the unsafe environment of Iraq for no commendable purpose and they are unsafe to the people of Iraq. Support our troops? Get them out of there. This has not changed from two years ago.

The nation needs to be on lithium: grandiosity is endemic.