June 28, 2004
THE LONG ROAD
If the transition planned for the citizens of Iraq in the next few days goes along with reasonable smoothness much will have been accomplished in a remarkable short period of time.
This is no small task we have been asked to perform.
In saying Â?weÂ?, I mean both the Iraq and those of the United States. One cannot do it without the full, honest and dedicated participation of the other. This is no time for half-way measures; for complacency, or for any tendencies to let others do what we have promised would be done. It is, perhaps, ironical that the election of a President here in our own country depends, to some extend Â? some would say Â?to a large extentÂ? - on the behavior of our enemies and of our associates.
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This strange juxtaposition of some rather complex problems puts each of our major political parties in strange and challenging positions. If, at this juncture, one is too critical the other; without a keen sense of close cooperation for the common good of all concerned, each can suffer tremendous harm. In taking up pacifist banners at the last moment,John Kerry might do us all a disservice by thus conceding defeat through abject compromise with opposition around the world. His willingness to place United State's troops under United Nations command is only one of items which makes Americans wonder about his ability to be a leader of our armed force s and the actual it actual Commander-in-Chief while sweaallegiancegence to an entity as shaky as the United Nations leadership has, quite obviously, come to be.
Because of this event taking place within the next few days in Iraq, we are a politically divided camp here at home and along serious lines, this time - not petty political differences. For the contending side to be so strongly critical of any and all actions taken by those currently in charge verges on treason in the mind of many who take the basic tenets of our national being far more seriously than the average one of us.
If Â?moderationÂ? ad Â?toleranceÂ? are still viable terms in American political life today they might wisely apply them in the next few weeks to allow the transition in Iraq to proceed without undue frictions from Americans at war with each on their local political fronts.
We are at a point of real political crisis here at home in one sense. For the first time in many years our political feelings have become intense and, in so doing, have sacrificed many principles of common decency and fair play in favor of advantages gained by any means.
The real danger is that we are,in the mind of many,deciding homeland problems in too close of a relationship to transitory problems of international stress and concern. Such mixtures may prove to be exceptionally volatile it our future.
We would do a wise thing to attempt to keep the two forthcoming events separated in our mind rather than hinging one to the other.
A.L.M. JUNE 26, 2004 [c514wds]
