At this very moment, and no other, I support Bush on Iraq

In January of 2003 my friend Abe and I drove to Washington, D.C. to be a part of massive anti-war demonstrations. I came away disillusioned with my fellow doves. The moment I heard 50,000+ chanting "Free Palestine, End Zionism," I knew this had little to do with actual policy considerations. My reasons for being there were very different than almost everyone else's that I met. People there just didn't like war. I can respect that, but I can also see when war is necessary. In my estimate, this war wasn't necessary and I felt it was going to severely compromise our national security. Chemical and biological weapons were of little interest to me. Even if he had them, he couldn't use them without overwhelming retaliation.

What brought me to Washington was remembering how our reception was when US forces were deployed to Beirut and Mogadishu. In Beirut we lost 241 Marines in one day and I'm sure everyone's seen Black Hawk Down by now to know what happened in Mogadishu. In both cases, we went with the best of intentions. We certainly we're going to be entering Baghdad with even a shred of the nobility of those two previous Middle Eastern missions. The biggest difference in hypothesis and reality is that the Iraqi's gave us about two months to get our act together before they rebelled. I assumed the masses would be resisting us from day one.

When the war started, I refused to participate in any more demonstrations. I went to a candlelight vigil to honor all of the fallen - American and Iraqi - but I refused to demand a withdrawal of American forces, something almost all of activist friends wanted. When I asked what they thought the outcome of a sudden withdrawal might be, none of them had an answer. It was just a solution that sounded right.

Foreign policy does not have an "undo" button. During the Democratic primary debates in 2004, one of the candidates put it best; "saying 'I told you so' isn't a foriegn policy." As happy as I am about the Democratic sweep of Congress, I'm very worried about their Iraq policy. I don't think it's progressed much beyond the activist rhetoric or told ya so. Don't get me wrong, it feels good, but it isn't.

Where stand now is that the Democrats are preparing to push for a quick phased withdrawal. The biggest proponent of this, Rep. Murtha, is poised to become Senate Majority Leader as a reward for letting Americans be able to openly admit they want to quit. If a hawkish vet can say we lost, then hey... so say we all. Well, at least about 60% of the public anyway.

Bush has a different idea. If the rumors are true, he wants to make one last push to secure peace in Iraq through military might. He wants to call a regional summit send an additional 20,000 troops in an admittedly last ditch effort to secure Baghdad before calling it quits. Read that last sentence again. Bush is ready to call it quits. He wants one more shot before packing up. Know what? I support that idea 100%. We owe it to Iraq to try once more. Bush knows this is his last shot and he's going to give it his all.

A rapid American withdrawal right now would be disastrous for Iraqi civilians. There would be no governing power beyond militias. Staying for another four years is equally bad, but getting the best minds together for one last try, one last push to make things work, gets all the support I can give. This should be something we can all agree on.

The biggest thing the Democrats could do for peace - real peace, not just leaving the fight - is to make sure Bush invites Syria and Iran to the regional summit. Take a look at the map. When we leave, they'll be holding all the cards. Ultimately this is about them giving us a chance to have a say in Iraq's future, not, as it would seem, the other way around.

Tags: Treyopia China politics current events Bush Murtha Pelosi Iran Syria conference summit regional Democrats James Baker ISG Iraq Study Group Syria Iran War Iraq Withdrawl withdrawel defeat loose quit support protest activist ideas

To Tianjin and Back, Pt 2

Read Part 1

One of the problems with low-end Chinese electronics is that they suck on a whole new level. They're cheap and there's a damn good reason why. Chinese phone chargers and electrical outlets top the list. Sure, you can buy a phone charger for under $2 but it gradually stops working. I'm no electrical engineer, but I don't understand how you can get diminishing results from a charger. It's not an engine or computer, it either works or it doesn't, right? There are no buttons, no switches, and no adjustment knobs. Wires touch wires touching my cell phones special place giving it the negatively charged juice of life.

The only reason I bring this up is because the day I left for Tianjin I had no juice in cell phone even though it spent all night on the charger. This was a double cell phone folly because I was having to use my old phone after dropping my new one in a waterfall whilst mountain climbing. I was having to turn it on once an hour to see if, as I suspected, I would receive my departure plans from the company. I was expecting a "you fly out tomorrow morning," not a "your train leaves 3 hours after you get home from classes," but hey... minor details, right?

I spent an hour searching for a charger in the neighborhood around my school during my [2.5 hour] lunch break. After scolding two businesses for selling Motorola phones but supposedly no chargers I found a guy selling phone accessories out of a cart. I charged up and napped while waiting for my next class

The phone was important because this was a homecoming of sorts. I had a few Chinese friends in Tianjin that I desperately wanted to see. There were two teachers from the Jixian retreat when I first came to China. The other was my "Tianjin girlfriend," a one-on-one student of mine who was in grad school at Tianjin University. My last night in Tianjin I became the second boy she ever kissed.

My biggest fear was that I was going to get to Tianjin, run through whatever process I needed to do and get flown right back down to Shenzhen perhaps even Wednesday night. We have a teacher shortage in Shenzhen and I was sure it was extremely difficult to cover my classes. That's why I had assumed they would spend the extra $60 and fly me instead of playing with 27 hour trains. I was afraid then I'd have to pick who I wanted to see and snub others, if I had time at all. It didn't wind up being an issue. I wound up staying up north till Thursday. Furthermore, my "Tianjin girlfriend" was in Shandong for a chemistry conference. Sad, sure, but definitely logistically convenient.

* * *
It was like a dream coming back to Tianjin. I didn't realize how much I missed the city. It seemed strange to be returning to a city I used to call home that's so far from Florida. It's all so relative now. I forgot how well I knew it in those two short months I was there. I knew where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. I missed the street food, wide roads filled with cheap taxis, and massive bike-lanes. The things I hated most about the city had changed for my arrival - there wasn't a hint of smog in the air and the weather was perfect.

I began my day coming to the office. Coming up the marble steps into the company HQ, the first person I saw was my John LǎoShī [pronounced Laowsheer, Chinese for venerable/old teacher], my Chinese teacher. In a moment of instant recognition, we feigned a Hollywood reunion and ran towards each other for the bittersweet embrace of parted lovers. We went to Muslim noodles where I showed off my new-found Chinese skills and ordered for us and we traded stories of the past two months. I couldn't stop wondering wondering what it'd be like when I finally go back home to Jacksonville, how many lunches and dinners I'd have and with whom.

I spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for dinner with friends in my old hangout at the 4-story electronic store next to the company building looking for new headphones. I hadn't realized I missed playing with haggling over cheap electronics so much. I spent another two hours venting frustration with the local operation to the sympathetic ear of Brian.

Six O'Clock rolled around, it was time to catch a cab to He Xi District dinner with my two Chinese English teacher friends...

Take a Gander

Very Short Story Contest

Post in the comments section a guess as to how, exactly, I set my iPod on fire. Here are your clues: it still works, it didn't happen at my apartment, it was playing Iron & Wine's Our Endless Numbered Days when the damage occurred, I suffered small 2nd degree burns on one of my fingers, and the damage went beyond just my iPod.

Everybody who participates will receive, via email, the real story of what happened. That means that if you don't have a blogger account you need to put your email address in with your version of events. Let's see if fact is stranger than fiction :-)

It should be easier to make comments now... fire away!