Yes, that is right. I have surfaced again! Used to get a chance to update the blog on my lunch break at work, but now our technology department has tightened the leash yet again and blogs are inaccessible. So, with a slow dial up connection at home and a nazi-like internet warden at work, entries have been few.
Today I am at the library getting some studying done for my last paramedic exam. I passed the practical exam in the first round and all of my clinicals are complete. That means all that is left is the test still known as 'the written' even though it is now done on computer. I will probably take it in the next couple of weeks. I am confident, yet nervous.
The new house is coming along well, just much slower than I had hoped. Part of the problem is that I have a partial tear of my rotator cuff. My left shoulder has been steadily more painful over the past month despite my babying it and tons of ibuprofen. After seeing my doctor this week, I am now on steroids, a mega anti-inflammatory, and will have physical therapy 3 days a week for the next month. Crazy what being in your thirties can do to you, isn't it? On the upside, Mandy wired and put in a new light for the entry way since I couldn't work with my arms above my head. It looks great!
Well, now that we are somewhat caught up, I'll try to get back on topic and blog about some of the issues soon. Oh, and by the way, today is a Third Friday, so don't forget to talk to your friends, families and co-workers about what we can do to end this war in Iraq and support our troops by bringing them home now.
5 Comment(s):
I was asking a friend of mine "How did they ever think we would get out of there?" in a discussion about Iraq. He said something that surprised me--something I never considered. He said the whole reason for going in was to have a presence there forever. There never was any intent to REALLY withdraw, that's all a bunch of PR baloney. The whole idea is to set up camp and stay there.
You can imagine my response. Sort of an "OMG, it all makes terrible sense now" sort of thing. This whole time I've been wondering how any of our leaders could be so delusional as to think that we could stroll into town and clean things up and they would thank us and say goodbye and everyone would live happily ever after. Clearly not gonna happen. Any fifth grader can tell you that.
Maybe Washington had other plans. A permanent presence in Iraq. I don't know enough about military strategy to know if that's a good idea. But it doesn't sound good.
i popped over for a quick, "hello!" and "glad to read your post" but then eric's comment pretty much blew me away.
i'll admit, i don't want to beleive our government is that corrupt. we surely can't "set up camp" and continue the way things are going right now--can we?
i know what we're doing right now is wrong--no doubt about it. however, i get very anxious when folks start talking about simply pulling out our troops.
we have gone in and destroyed iraq and other parts of the middle east. what do we do now? we can't just up and leave. i guess we can, but i don't think that is ethical or moral behavior. we have made the iraqi's (sp?) lives worse than when sadam was in control.
a friend of mine has a family from afghanistan living with them right now. the hubby had made friends with the man while in afghanistan 5years ago. he (the man from afghanistan)said that things are much much worse now than when my friend was there. the taliban and al queda (sp?) has regained control and are terrorizing everyone. every day there are videos shown where people who had been friendly with the U.S. are killed--he and his family was lucky to get out alive.
we can't possibly just walk away, but what do we do for our troops and for the people of the middle east?
oh oh! The terrible ban has been broken! Guess where I am at right now... and what I am doing right now? (Hint, you are about 15 feet away from me)We are free to blog again!
i don't think that there was enough initial foresight to have any plan; stay or go. remember the end of the war back in 03? we were so blinded by the idea that it would all be over so fast just like desert storm that there was no further planning. just get in, get out, start the parades.
at this point, i hate the idea of stirring the hornet nest and leaving. but what do we have to loose? any good that we are doing is so completely overshadowed by all of the violence. when that is the case, who can say that any good is being done at all.
let's back out, regroup, make a PLAN, involve the world (i.e. NATO, UN) in the decisions and then go about our spreading democracy and such.
Hi-
Just stopped by to see what everyone was up to. Looks like lots! congrats on you paramedic training and good luck on the exam :)
The idea of leaving Iraq interests me because it seems to be a problem there is no solution for. I really don't think we can just leave. We've put ourselves in a position of the little boy w/ his finger in the dam. To Hipchicks point, I'm not sure things are worse than when Iraq was under Sadam. There are different problems, but not necessarily worse ones. I asked a friend of mine that served in Iraq for a year what was good about our presence and he told story after story about little girls being able to go to school for the first time, women able to work, etc. So good things have happened but so have bad- its'just the problems that have changed. Saddam isn't gassing the Kurds anymore, but their efforts at autonomy are being squelched. The Kurds need their own country and my understanding is that is what they want. Why not give the Kurds their own country in the north? Now the Shi'ites also wouldn't mind their own country in the south- the problem is that is where all the oil is and all the ports. And the Sunni's want the whole country to be whole and to be under their control. There in lies the biggest problem- the Sunni insurgence. There just isn't any good defense against those that want something and no cost is too high and no loss to great in the name of their quest. Just cause we leave doesn't mean the insurgence will stop. Don't you think it will just be re-focused on the Shi'ites and Kurds? We really are the little boy with our finger in the dam and unless we want to clean up the flood we can't really move. Now getting world support and a united plan is great, but honestly, are they going to help clean up our mess? And we can't back out to re-group, cause, well we are back to the flood. It's just a cluster mess isn't it? :)
Post a Comment