Iraq's Constitution

Am I the only one who is thoroughly confused over the whole Iraq voting thing?  I realize that this is a big deal and that a constitution is an important thing to have in our age of democracy.  However, I thought this stuff had already been decided.

I distinctly remember back several months ago, probably in January, that an election was held.  A leader was chosen.  Now, I understand that this was for the transitional government but nevertheless, there were already principles that had been put in place at that time - not just by some arbitrary American leaders but also by Iraqi leaders.  (Of course I'm not sure how they decided who the Iraqi leaders were without an election before this point.  Were they just the opposition group?)

Anyway, another thing that I distinctly remember was people saying that once the election was held it would prove that democracy was going to work and that the terrorists were going to pack it in and give up.

This weekend I heard the exact same thing.  Once the constitution is approved, the terrorists will understand the resolve of the Iraqi people and they will give up.  No doubt, I will hear the exact same thing when the "real" leaders are elected in a real election to take place in December I believe.

My point is this, these terrorists are not going to be deterred.  If it came down to a matter of resolve, one could reason that terrorists would have given up on the United States a while ago now because we are resolved to stop them.  Israel, likewise, is resolved to stop terrorists and makes our arrests and terror raids look like slaps on the wrist by comparison.

I am not saying that we should give up and come back home because the terrorists will not be deterred though.  We just need to realize that we are at war and deaths will occur.  That doesn't mean that we need to feel good about it, but we need to accept the fact.  Anybody comparing our situation in Iraq to that of Vietnam should be ashamed of themselves. 

The loss of lives in Iraq is sad, but it does not compare to the 58,000 killed and the 304,000 wounded in Vietnam.  At current count, there have been 1,979 killed in two and a half years, 1,582 of these being combat related deaths.

By comparison, in 2003, the year the war began, over 5,000 people were murdered in the 25 largest cities in the United States.  Where is the public outrage over this?  Where are the rallies and protests against drugs, which many of these deaths can be related to?

It is not needless and pointless death that people rally against.  It is against political causes and media fueled scapegoats.  If a Democrat was president right now, many of the protestors would not be protesting.  But make no mistake that there would be many more Republicans protesting.

We try to turn issues like these into black and white and pretend that they are clear cut.  Who is really in favor of seeing American men and women get killed on foreign soil?  It is a matter of tallying the cost of sacrifice.

It is questionable if the Vietnam War accomplished anything worthwhile in the region or if it was simply a needless sacrifice.  With the passing of a constitution in Iraq, we have proof that change has been made.  There has been a step taken in the right direction and that cannot be reversed.

It may be some time before the country is totally "safe" from terrorists and there will be more loss of life before it is over.  However, we now live in a different era.  It would be difficult to even consider the United States "safe" from terrorist attack.  We can only pray that one day all of sacrifices made will be worth it in the end.

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