I was reading an article the other day on CNN.com regarding the House of Representatives voting on a war funding bill. The title interested me, so I read on further. My first reaction to this article was: do we really need to sponsor the war with more money? I thought we were trying to make peace and slowly retreat? My second thought was: What all is the government devising behind our backs?
Here is a brief synopsis of the article: The main purpose of the bill is to provide for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as address important domestic needs. Okay, so they saved themselves by adding the “domestic needs” part in order to lighten the adverse effect of more war funding. People see the word war and they start to protest. The editorial also mentions that the bill places no restrictions on the war funding, but it does provide for unemployment assistance for 13 weeks and an expanded GI bill for four-year scholarships. Here we see that the Democrats and Republicans have come to a compromise, which seems promising. The concludes with a wordy paragraph that basically says that this bill will prove to be a victory for Americans by allowing the military the resources it needs to purchase tools to accelerate the end of the war. According to the House Minority Leader John Boehner, “we could have had this agreement long ago if the Democratic leadership had not chosen to play political games with our troops.” Well, that is a loaded statement.
I feel that the introduction of this bill into law will come with some controversy. After almost 7 years of fighting, the American people, myself included, felt that the end was near. However, this bill will permit the purchase of more tools, which could further drag on the war. Peace may very, very far in the future. Iraq and Afghanistan are not the type of countries to give up just because the enemy Country purchased bigger and tougher toys. They will fight back just as strong. I agree with the “domestic needs” part, but I’m not sure that more war funding is what the world needs right now. We need a government focused on us at home and improving the economy, namely the oil crisis! This bill was a good effort, but I’m afraid it missed the mark.
Here is the link to the article mentioned
2 comments:
Your thought process on the status of the war is quite similar to mine. I completely agree with you when you say that the bill will cause many problems with the American people. It does make the government look suspicious of doing something behind the citizens' back. Many people including myself felt that this war was finally coming to an end, but now that you've mentioned this article, it seems even more never-ending. With the army's purchase of more tools, peace does not seem to be getting closer. I believe that the United States should get back to paying back their debts rather than spend more and more money on a pointless war. If they don't stop spending so much soon, it will take centuries to pay back their loans. I also agree with what you said about Iraq and Afghanistan not giving up. Just like you mentioned, though the "enemy" has new "toys" doesn’t mean they can't come up with something as well. If George W. Bush actually decides to come back to the country he is President of, the economy might have a chance of improving. More money for the war won’t help anything, including closing the deal.
It seems as if the government is saying one thing and doing another. We, as Americans, feel that the war is near its end, but with the government purchasing more tools it look as if to destroy those hopes and bring more about suspicion. Everyone wants a time of peace, but I do agree that there will be retaliation from the countries of Iraq and Afghanistan. Our economy is hurt and its time for Bush to bring more of his attention to the country that’s right in front of him rather than the countries overseas; instead of spending more money, he should be paying off more debt.
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