Thursday, September 04, 2003

Via Salon, I see that the knees of the fine folks at ANSWER are once again jerking, and we are slated for anotherantiwar protest in Washington on October 25.

This is a no-brainer, folks, which now that I think of it, is an apt characterization of this movement in general. Look, I supported the anti-war protests in the weeks building up to the war. The "professional protest" folks aside, I continue to view the phenomenon as an apt and important part of the political dialogue.

But this is just stupid. Anticipating the very question that many of us would have, ANSWER thoughtfully put together a rationale for Why We Are Marching on Washington. After reading through several paragraphs detailing the spectacular history of, well, themselves, you find that ANSWER advocates a wholesale, and presumably immediate removal of the troops in Iraq.

Guys, seriously?

I loved the analogy I read somewhere, probably on Kevin Drum's site. Okay, say you've got foundation trouble in your house. The contractor thinks the solution is to tear a big hole in the floor. You think this is a horrible, extreme measure. He does it anyway. Now you've got a big fucking hole in the floor. Do you A) Leave the hole in the floor because you were against it from the start, or B) fix the damn hole, because having no hole is better than having a hole and bitching about how there never should have been a hole. The ANSWER folks are choosing A.

Look, I agree that our money is far, far better spent on education and health care here at home. But we created this mess, and we need to immediately boost the military force to stabilize the country, quadruple our efforts to train Iraqi security and military forces to take over for our guys, and get the international help necessary to ease the manpower/financial burden.

I know it's a waste of time to try and argue with ANSWER--they're coming from a ridiculous position that nobody else really shares anyway. But scratch the surface of all the howls and complaints, and if you can find a solution, a viable policy, or hell, even a HINT at what should be done to stabilize Iraq, you'r a better detective than I.

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