My neice, whom I love as my daughter, is "over there" now. She has sent me pics, which I will post, but it has made me think about so much stuff..I think my head my explode.
I have remembered her days in "travel ball", when we all went city to city across So Cal, watching her and rooting her and the team on to victory in softball. She played catcher, our little "johnny bench",whacking that ball out of the park like it was nothing. She was good at it too folks, got a full-ride scholarship to Sam Houston State and graduated very high in her class..She is reading my blog now! Her comment is in the post below this one. She graduated with a degree in criminology, and in less that 4 years..makes me proud of that kid.
She will be the first one to tell you she can't stand Bush. That doesn't mean she isn't behind what she is doing over there..because she is. She knows how I hate the war and everything it represents. Its not a conundrum for us because I love her and only want her to be happy and safe.
But for me, this changes things.
I have a vested interest in the War on Terror now. I am a stockholder. My stock is that tiny, beautiful blonde-haired kid..who really is an adult..I have to keep reminding myself of that you know…but I digress.
George Bush is the President and fucking CEO of this war, and as a stockholder I have a right to bitch, I have a right to complain and ask for an accounting. I have the right to ask him just wtf he is doing to wrap this shit up and bring them all home safe and sound. We have had troops there since October 2002. We are now looking 2007 square in the eyes. Thats almost five years of soldiers over there, fighting the “War on Terror” and trying to capture Osama. Tony Snowjob will tell you our forces have done a great job over there, Karzai was elected and we have broken the back of Al-Qaeda.
I will tell you that based on various news reports..its going backward more than forward over there in Afghanistan. The opium trade is alive and well. The farmers have no choice and we haven’t offered them one either, as far as I can tell. The “bad guys” are running back and forth between Pakistan and the mountains of Afghanistan. The people of the region have been suffering through decades of wars and this decade isn’t any different. Its the same ol’ shit, just a different country running the war now.
We talk about Iraq because its front and center in our news and our consciousness. Its the war thats going “badly”, to put it in a general term. To be more specific..its a real fucking mess in Iraq. But I now hope we can actually FIX Afghanistan. I want all the lives we have sacrificed to be for the common good of the citizens of Afghanistan, to make their lives better. I want it to work, I don’t want Afghanistan to fall back into the clutches of the Taliban, I want alot of things..but you can’t always get what you want..sometimes, you get what you need.I have asked Chris to write me a long email, telling me how she sees her job, and how other’s see her job there. I told her I wanted to tell a story from her pov. As I have said before, she will tell you in a heartbeat that she can’t stand Bush43, but she seems excited about what she is doing, and for that..I am thankful. I thank god everytime I see a new email from her in my inbox. She has read my personal blog and commented on it for the first time yesterday. She is a good kid, she never shirks away from a job or responsibility. I bet she is tired of me tellling her to be safe. I hope she never tires of me telling her I Love Her.
This is her home away from home now. A fucking tent. But as long as the emails keep coming..I am happy and I thank Bush for at least allowing her internet access with all the billions spent over there..this one I won't bitch about.
Tags: Politics,War on Terror, Afghanistan
