A Vote of "No Confidence" in our troops - it's a big mistake.
Last week was crucial week in our nation's capitol as shown by the heated debate that took place on Capitol Hill. The subject of the debate was one of the key issues of our time: Iraq, one of the key fronts in the GWOT. To be more specific, the debate was concerning the troop surge that President Bush has put forth as the new direction in the war in Iraq. The focal point of this debate was a non-binding resolution that condemned the troop surge.
One thing must be made clear at this point, a non-binding resolution does nothing. It is called a non-binding resolution because it is not bound by anything, as a result of it's passing, nothing will change and nothing new will go into effect.
The debate was a heated one, a debate that did little, a debate where no persuasion went on, but people's opinion were heard. Many within Congress has opposed this surge and the war for quite some time. Some have been opposed to all of it from the very beginning, others supported it in the beginning but are now against it, while even others have supported it from the beginning. The only true positive was that there was a platform for those in Congress that do support the troops, to say so, publicly.
Personally, I believe that if you say that you support our military then you must support the mission that they are risking their lives for. If you do not support the war, if you think it is morally incorrect, then you are morally bound to do so - even if I am going to disagree with you. The rub comes when those that say that the war is morally wrong draft, debate, vote on, and pass a piece of legislation that was impotent and in actionable from the start, doing nothing and accomplishing no real action. This, in fact is what was passed last Friday.
So, if no real action can be taken as a result of this passed legislation, has it done anything? Yes and No. No it hasn't put a stop to the war in Iraq, but it has told our troops that a majority of Congress has no confidence in their ability to complete the mission - something that should never have happened in the first place. Thankfully there were a number of individuals who do support the troops who spoke out loud and clear. They spoke out about the importance of the mission that our Armed Forces is engaged in, why it must be fought and won.
As an American, I believe that we all have a moral and patriotic responsibility to support our men and women in uniform. Why? The have volunteered to do what they are doing; they made the free will choice to serve. They serve, fighting and protecting us all, making sure that the conflict stays where it is and doesn't come to our shores again. We owe them our support, and our confidence; this resolution does not do that, thus it's a mistake.
One thing must be made clear at this point, a non-binding resolution does nothing. It is called a non-binding resolution because it is not bound by anything, as a result of it's passing, nothing will change and nothing new will go into effect.
The debate was a heated one, a debate that did little, a debate where no persuasion went on, but people's opinion were heard. Many within Congress has opposed this surge and the war for quite some time. Some have been opposed to all of it from the very beginning, others supported it in the beginning but are now against it, while even others have supported it from the beginning. The only true positive was that there was a platform for those in Congress that do support the troops, to say so, publicly.
Personally, I believe that if you say that you support our military then you must support the mission that they are risking their lives for. If you do not support the war, if you think it is morally incorrect, then you are morally bound to do so - even if I am going to disagree with you. The rub comes when those that say that the war is morally wrong draft, debate, vote on, and pass a piece of legislation that was impotent and in actionable from the start, doing nothing and accomplishing no real action. This, in fact is what was passed last Friday.
So, if no real action can be taken as a result of this passed legislation, has it done anything? Yes and No. No it hasn't put a stop to the war in Iraq, but it has told our troops that a majority of Congress has no confidence in their ability to complete the mission - something that should never have happened in the first place. Thankfully there were a number of individuals who do support the troops who spoke out loud and clear. They spoke out about the importance of the mission that our Armed Forces is engaged in, why it must be fought and won.
As an American, I believe that we all have a moral and patriotic responsibility to support our men and women in uniform. Why? The have volunteered to do what they are doing; they made the free will choice to serve. They serve, fighting and protecting us all, making sure that the conflict stays where it is and doesn't come to our shores again. We owe them our support, and our confidence; this resolution does not do that, thus it's a mistake.
posted by A. R. Welty at 10:36 PM
1 Comments:
hey man, i picked up blogging again and this was the first post i have read of yours in a while...so keep writing and i'll keep reading!
now for my two cents (ha, you thought you were gonna get off easy):
I personally believe that anyone in Congress who opposes the troop surge should use their Constitutional powers and cut off funding for those 21,000+ troops. Instead, the Democrats (and some Republicans) have taken the political "easy-way-out" with this nonbinding resoluation. I'm not naive, though, for as Murtha found out, any attempt to cut off funding for the troops is gonna be met with sharp criticism. The nonbinding resolution allows them to make a statement without taking any real action - the action supposedly demanded of them by the people who put them in power.
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