NO END IN SIGHT

Is Bill Kristol on Crack?! Just wondering.

Nothing prompts a stay-at-home mom to start blogging again than some idiotic article by William Kristol seen in today's Washington Post. Below is my response, sent to the Washington Post.

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Monday, July 16 at noon ET
Outlook: Bush Will Win
He's Succeeding Domestically and Abroad, and Is on the Path to Victory in Iraq

William Kristol
Editor, Weekly Standard
Monday, July 16, 2007; 12:00 PM

"Let's step back from the unnecessary mistakes and the self-inflicted wounds that have characterized the Bush administration. Let's look at the broad forest rather than the often unlovely trees. What do we see? First, no second terrorist attack on U.S. soil � not something we could have taken for granted. Second, a strong economy -- also something that wasn't inevitable. And third, and most important, a war in Iraq that has been very difficult, but where -- despite some confusion engendered by an almost meaningless 'benchmark' report last week -- we now seem to be on course to a successful outcome."

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William Kristol, you are completely out of touch with reality.

Regarding your first point, let's remember the almost nine year span between the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and 9/11? Who are we supposed to thank for that, Bill Clinton? Ha ha. No. Felling the American giant takes time, a.k.a. planning. And if it takes a decade to plan an attack with devasting results, Al Qaeda will take a decade. In their eyes, We are in a religious war (which is ironic because all forms of religious fundamentalism are really political). As learned in history class, the crusades spanned between the 11th and 13th centuries. That's 200 years! I know this doesn't fit into your tidy timeline of Bush's reign, eight years, but this will be a fight for decades to come. And Al Qaeda's cause has only been bolstered by the survival of Al Qaeda's mascot, Osama bin Laden, and the United State's naive decision to enter Iraq. (I think the evidence is clearly out that we didn't enter for the non-existent WMDs. In regards to Saddam and his violation of human rights and record of human atrocities, I have some one word answers for that -- SAUDI ARABIA! DARFUR!!)

Regarding your second point, the economy might be strong in your affluent neck of the woods, but I live in a blue collar/former navy town where close to 1,000 homes are on the market because of foreclosure, which has brought our real estate market to a halt. As an endangered middle class American with little debt, other than my mortgage, I am surrounded by friends, family and neighbors crippled by credit card debt and ever-increasing adjustable rate mortage payments. I have friends with credit card debt in excess of $100,000, an insurmountable debt when one's household income is $80,000/year. What the "rich folk" don't understand is that for many Americans -- living paycheck-to-paycheck -- having as little as $200 of liquid cash available after we feed our families and pay our bills (including the minimum payment on our credit cards) is a rarity.

As for the third point, it's nice to sit back and talk about how well the war is going when it's not your child facing death. As the mother of a son, every day I grieve for those mothers who have lost their sons and/or daughters. As of today 3,613 sons, daughters, wives, husbands, mothers, fathers and good friends have died, Because of a decision made by a handful of men who NEVER experienced war first hand. And these aren't numbers. These are human beings, loved ones! And the sad thing is, if Bush and his advisors would have ever read one ioda of historical text regarding Iraq and/or the Middle East, they would have foreseen the quagmire Iraq has become. We destabilized a country with fake borders and prompted a civil war, not only between tribes but religious factions, that has been simmering under the surface for centuries.

Most Americans don't think in political time frames or make decisions daily as Democrats or Republicans. Most Americans are too busy providing the basic necessities of life -- food and shelter -- for their families. After that, our concerns include quality of education, healthcare and safety. And if you've been to my town of Vallejo with our failing school system which has been taken over by the state and our over-crowded emergency rooms (filled with uninsured patients using the ER doctors as primary care physician), our citizenry is not exactly basking in the glow of Bush's domestic success. And safety? Well with approximately 1.5 million violent crimes and 17,000 murders committed in the United States every year, are we more in danger of being the victim of a terrorist or domestic crime?