When President Bush was pushing his plan for war in 2002 and early 2003, I was somewhat supportive. I am a Democrat, a moderate liberal, but not a true pacifist, so there I was, thinking about how the issue was working. The war didn't seem like that bad an idea to me; despite my reservations aobut the legitimacy of weapons of mass destruction, I figured that the elimination of Saddam Hussein would be a good idea.
I knew that the war was not connected to the "War on Terror." I knew that Bush would probably rob quite a bit of oil, but getting rid of a bona fide tyrant... That seemed like a decent thing to do. The anti-war movement did not sway my limited support.
I've never been an activist. I don't generally understand activist tactics, as they don't seem productive. Rallies, in particular, seem rather counterproductive. I was walking through the Student Center at MIT during an anti-war rally. Some of the protesters had a table set up with an American flag on the front. Plastered in the middle of the flag was a swastika. Being pretty unfazable myself, I didn't say anything, but another guy in front of me stopped at the table and said something to the effect of, "Get that damned swastika off of the American flag!" Banter ensued.
Stupid, I thought. Just stupid. I was fine with people protesting the war, and I thought that it was their right to put the symbol of the Nazi party on the flag. It was very unproductive for them to do so, however. I moved on.
The war started, and I watched some of it on CNN. Being a military history buff, I tried to get what I could out of the coverage, but really, that wasn't very much. Then, the first realization that the Bush administration was running the war poorly happened. They did not plan for humanitarian aid. The war was partly being sold on humanitarian values. The war was going to turn into an occupation soon, and we were going to have to prevent as many Iraqis as possible from becoming resistance fighters. And we forgot to bring the food and water. What the hell?
It was all downhill from there. We lost focus in Afghanistan, if we ever really had it. There were not enough troops in place for a successful occupation. Our troops were not properly equipped. In order to get support for the war, the administration was referring to guerilla fighters as terrorists (which was not often true.) It became apparent that the administration was extremely incompetent at conducting a military action.
Gradually, I came to terms with the fact that I was on the wrong side of the issue. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction since the end of the first Gulf War. Those that they had then were given to them by the United States, and many of the people involved in that act are today in the current administration. I came to realize that the president was manipulating the good will of the American people in order to continue his immoral and poorly conducted war.
He continued to manipulate them throughout the election. He lied about his reasons for going to war, either on his own or by proxy. He continues to lie about the progress. At some point, I lost all confidence in the man and his administration. My faith that all Americans who run for office having the best intent for the American people but with different philosophies about what that is was crushed. He is not to be trusted.
In his manipulation of public opinion, George Bush actually became a terrorist. I am not an extremist, but I have come to feel just that. George Bush uses the fears of the good people of America to rally their support. He used it in the election, and he's going to continue to use it in the years to come. I have my own fears about the man. He is the most powerful person in the world, and he has betrayed my reluctant trust in him. And I don't know what to do now.