Oklahoma Independent Media Center

With all the issues facing America the upcoming election will be crucial to cleaning up some of the messes the current administration will surely saddle us with. Our economy needs stabilizing. The War in Iraq is a mess in need of a practical solution and withdrawal plan. A change is needed from the mindset of the last eight years to a new style of leadership.

The American economy is struggling right now and the billions of US dollars being poured into Iraq per month could be used here at home. The reasons for remaining have worn thin especially as there was no reason to invade in the first place. Most Americans no matter their political affiliation agree pulling out is the best option at this point. Even the Iraqi government expresses the wish for us to leave and allow it to handle its own destiny.

The news of billions of dollars from Iraqi oil reserves sitting around waiting to be spent by the Iraqi government tells us they now have financial resources outside of what we can give them. The money we spend helping them rebuild can be used here at home on things like the sub prime mortgage crisis or the rising cost of energy for instance. We mistakenly spent vast sums of American taxpayer dollars toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein, but in so doing helped put the people of Iraq on the path towards a new future. Now the decision regarding how America proceeds deserves a shift away from leaders who have played fast and loose with facts and provocative statements regarding warfare.

Key figures in the decision to invade Iraq like Vice President Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld served in the Pentagon for long stretches of their political careers prior to working for the Bush Administration. Unfortunately the result was not the clear and sound decision making we would have expected following 9/11. Instead there was a rush to judgment and acceptance of faulty evidence on Iraq causing us to take our eye from the ball in Afghanistan and the task of rooting out Al Quaeda.

America cannot afford another group of people who will put us in a situation similar to the one in Iraq. We need leaders who can step away from a military crisis enough to analyze it from a somewhat detached point of view. The last thing we want is leadership refusing to wait for concrete evidence and plunging head long into war only to discover later it was a mistake.

Having good commanders and leaders on the battlefield is paramount to our nation’s military and security, but presidents willing to listen to the advice of various expert voices before proceeding with war are also needed. A degree of separation between the executive office and the armed forces is crucial if we don’t want to get locked into viewing national security from a singular view point. As it turns out we just cannot afford it.

If we have learned anything from the past two terms of the Bush White House it is diplomacy should never again be considered a weakness. In fact rushing into war and pointing the finger at everyone who raises doubts like the current administration did is in and of itself foolish and Americans are not by nature foolish people. With many perspectives come well informed decisions and narrow mindedness ends up costing many thousands of lives and squandering billions of dollars.

If we bring in someone steeped in a similar mindset we risk putting ourselves in the same situation as we have been in for the past eight years - perhaps worse. The Bush administration promised no nation building when running for office in 2000. In 2008 we are embroiled in nation building twice over and one of them as it turns out was a mistake for us to go into in the first place. We now rebuild a nation we are partly responsible for destroying.

We cannot spare more wasted time, money and lives on reconstructing Iraq which largely wants us to leave. It’s not like we can force them to be rebuilt by us. That is not the American way.

If we want change and a move away from politics as usual in Iraq that is how we should vote. If we want someone who can look at the entirety of the picture using the best possible information from our most trusted military commanders along with other experts we can consider that when we vote. If we feel we are heading in the wrong direction and need to change we should look carefully at each of the candidates and their stances in this election and the lead up to the war. If we want change we need to vote for a secure and at the same time sensible America with a movement away from the current administration and its narrow minded view of the world.

To read about my inspiration for this article go to www.lawsuitagainstuconn.com.