In past week we’ve seen just about every pointless, meaningless political question that any moron could possibly think up.
Well there’s one very obvious one, that oddly has not been asked.
How many people here who consider themselves liberals have been convinced that this war is necessary? How many conservatives think it is unnecessary? And, of course: Why?
Pointless, meaningless? Yes, but that doesn’t mean it can’t invoke good discussion.
This is a sort of poll or survey, so I’ll move this thread to IMHO.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
I am a leftie who supports the idea of ridding the world of rogue states/regimes using war after all other channels have been exhausted. So I guess I support this war. But I question the motives of it.
Do political moderates/centrists count?
Well, I’m extremely conservative politically (all about the small government) and extremely liberal socially. I believe in, to some degree, the good that this will eventually bring to the people of Iraq, and that Saddam Hussein is a truly evil person who should be removed from power. In that sense, I support the war.
However, I believe it was extremely foolish to rush in to this war despite the international community’s feeling on it, and I don’t really believe that war was treated as anything like a last option. I believe this is being done completely wrong.
A really good analogy for me would be this: Imagine a conservative who is strongly against abortion. They believe that every aborted fetus is an innocent little baby being savagely murdered, and the mere thought of it horrifies them. Despite this, they do not bomb abortion clinics, because they believe that violence and killing are wrong. Does that make sense?
LC
I’m sort of all over the place politically. I’m against the war because a) I don’t see a compelling reason for it to begin with, and b) I believe that removing Saddam (particuarly in the manner being done now by Pres. Bush) will result in far more instability and terrorist activity than leaving him in his pre-war state of isolation.
To answer the OP, I know they exist.
There’s even a whole livejournal community - http://www.livejournal.com/community/pro_war_liberal
I’m pretty liberal on most things, and I agree with the war. I don’t agree with Bush, I think it’s for the wrong reasons, and what it’s doing to our international relations makes me sick, but I think all of that is completely trumped if we can just get Saddam Hussein out of power. It’s just too bad we don’t have a cart and a guillotine for that mustachioed lump of sun-cured camel smegma.
I’ve never voted Democrat, but this whole thing is making me itchy. I do understand the logic behind what Bush is saying about backing up UN resolutions. I taught school, and I know that if you don’t have a “big gun” to back up your rules, they never get followed.
But I wish that Bush had instead put 3000 inspectors in Iraq with Marine detachments to bully their way in any facility they wanted, which would be well within the bounds of the resolutions, as I understand them. Then threaten Hussein with real war if something is proven in the way of WOMD, or Al-Queda links.
The political fallout in the Arab world is liable to be so great here that I’m starting to despair of getting it repaired.
That with the seemingly slavish devotion the American govenment has to Israel. But that’s a different discussion.
I HATE Bush. I don’t think he’s done a good thing since he’s gotten in office, and I still have hard feelings about the election.
While I think that the war has destroyed our credibility internationally, that Bush is fighting it all for oil, and that the “terrorism” excuse is pathetic and dishonest, I also feel that Saddam needs killin’.
So, basically, if we hadn’t gone off to war by waving our middle finger at the UN, essentially destroying it and the 50some years that it took to build a useful UN, I’d support the war.
I’m generally considered moderate or centrist. I am ambivalent about the war; I didn’t really want it, and kept on hoping it would be prevented. But now that it is here, I want the USA to prevail, I want Saddam out, and I hope everything works out. I am rooting for our troops.
I have heard some compelling arguments for the war, which makes me think that maybe it’s just something that must be done. And I hope it is something that must be done, because, well, we’re doin’ it already!
But my gut reaction when I realized that war with Iraq was in the wind was that I didn’t want it. Don’t rock the boat, that’s my first instinct. But that’s not always a correct instinct.
I’m very far to the left, and I’m swaying to be in favor of this war. I can see the bad sides; US acting as world policeman, controlling the future Iraqi government etc, but I cannot see Iraq coming off worse after the war than before.
I’m pretty much a liberal and I support the war.
And I’ve heard that Pat Buchanon is against the war.
My feelings exactly. I’m extremely liberal, but I can’t help but feel that the Iraqi people will be better off without Saddam. That mofo had a freakin’ mural of the bombing of the WTC!! He needs killin’ indeed.
It doesn’t raise my opinion of George W., however. I think he’s a power hungry, sneaky s.o.b. Yikes - getting out of IMHO territory now…
My dad is a conservative and a veteran, and he thinks the war is a terrible idea. He’s worried that it sets a bad precedent of attacking other countries without direct provocation.
If it helps any, polling by USA Today revealed that 30% of “Very Liberal” respondants were for the war, and 25% of “Very Conservative” respondants were against the war.
I think of myself as a conservative Democrat, but I tend to be on the liberal side of a lot of issues. Personally, while I’m disappointed that the administration went to war for questionable (IMHO) reasons and without overwhelming public support (nor mine), we are now at war and cannot second guess ourselves. Dissent at home, especially at this early stage, will at most lead to a lack of complete committment on the battlefield, and that will help no one.
I consider myself to be hard Right on most issues, but Left on a few other issues.
I think Bush made a terrible decision in pushing this war. Iraq was not even a threat to the US. While Hussein is a hardcore dictator, what do you expect from a leader in that area of the world? He’s had to deal with different factions in his own country that would try to take it over. Bush should have just had Hussein assassinated. And what are we going to do when Hussein is gone, the Iraq military is destroyed, and Iran is then the regional military power? We are going to have troops in that country for 50 years just to keep the peace. I’m willing to bet that Iraqis are unwilling or unable to accept a democratic government anyway.
I think this is essentially what the current war is.
In response to the OP, I am a liberal on some issues and a conservative on others. Prior to a year and a half ago I was quite
anti-violence. My kids never had toy guns or toy soldiers, and never watched anything more violent than the Muppet Show as long as I had control over that sort of thing. However, if I had a gun and knew how to use it (which I don’t) and someone was threatening my children, I would quite cheerfully blow his head off and not have a single guilty thought. That’s how I feel about any extremist like OBL or SH, so I 100% support whatever it takes to rid the planet of them.
I agree with a lot of what Cardinal said, although I’m probably more libral than anything else.
MLS responds to Cardinal:
The very important difference is that the current war is not part of the diplomatic system and this is very troubling to me.
Bush is no diplomat, and no one in that administration seems much interested in making him one. It seems clear that in many othery countries, the attitude is that there should be a war, but the US should not fight it - which is not a very mature view, especially when no other candiates are put forth. Additionally, the French are taking a high-horse stand on what seems to be a purely material issue. Instead of diplomatically addressing these concerns, the US was just as stubborn.
I am not for the war as we have gone into it. If we had, indeed, proposed serious efforts at containment and made agreements about what would constitute a failure and how we, as a global community, would respond and then gone to war, I’d sleep better.
And on the liberal conservative question, I’m not the only one whose been struck by how often my loudly liberal friends (many of whom I KNOW to be non-voters) are against the war only because they, for reasons they are unable to articulate, don’t like Bush. Again, not a very mature view. The conservatives I know who are anti-war are generally concerned about two things: 1) cost and 2) long-term diplomatic relations with developed nations.