Good Sports

by Budd Glassberg

Reprinted with permission from the Zionsville Times Sentinel on May 23, 2007

Rushing to a Wrong Conclusion

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair

Could it be that Rush Limbaugh just does not get it? While scrolling through the local radio stations on my way to Indianapolis last week, I overheard a caller to Limbaugh’s show refer to himself as a ditto-head and wonder why, “if the liberals claim there is no Al-Qaeda in Iraq, how could they be holding our three soldiers captive?” Rush readily agreed with the caller as he often does despite the convoluted thought process the caller exhibited. So often our so-called political pundits have very short memories of events and somehow twist the situational facts to push their personal agenda. In this case, rather than explain to the misinformed, that neither Al-Qaeda nor links to Al-Qaeda existed in Iraq prior to our military involvement there, Rush made like a bobble-head as if the caller had stumbled on some brilliant discovery that somehow justifies the entire botched policy of foreign affairs of this administration. I wonder if Limbaugh is as clueless as he seems, or perhaps his fame and fortune require him to just play the fool.

After the horrendous 9/11 crime committed on our citizens, our country was in the position where nearly every country on Earth sympathized with us and were extending a hand of help to us. That was a time to build a true alliance with other countries to track down the criminals and prosecute them. It was a time to build consensus and diplomacy among nations and to create a world where no nation would dare to harbor such criminals. It made sense for our military to go in to Afghanistan whose government gave sanction to the criminals and allowed them training camps.

Then our administration began on a course of foreign affair disasters where nearly six years later we stand virtually alone and wear the collar of pariah, entrenched in a war entered into with faulty assumptions. This turn from a favored nation to one of aggressor in such a short time is one that I believe is similar to Rush Limbaugh’s turning a blind eye to the facts. Instead of viewing our enemies as criminals, similar to the mafia, our leaders mistakenly looked to nations as the target. So we declared war on Iraq with the purpose of eliminating their weapons of mass destruction and convinced several nations to go along with us in this quest. Our faulty intelligence also somehow linked Iraq’s dictator with Al-Qaeda. Even Rush Limbaugh would concede that no weapons of mass destruction were found. The critical look at this war is not a criticism of our troops. They did not make these faulty claims. Our leaders like to claim that criticism of the war is harmful to our troops. This is clearly a ruse playing on our citizen’s patriotism to blunt the condemnation this administration so richly deserves.

Normally, I will give a person the benefit of doubt when looking at his actions. In the case of our administration, I am having a difficult time viewing our entry into this conflict just as a colossal series of mistakes. When looking at the players involved, it seems like there are too many oil people concerned with what they know best. Judging from our actions on flawed “facts”, I can’t help but feel we have been duped to consenting to a very unjust military action. Most of our citizens surely would like to believe this travesty was played out innocently enough, but I have my doubts.

Perhaps this sham played upon us stems back to former President Clinton. We were so disgusted with his personal immoral behavior that we overcompensated by electing a deeply religious man whose personal morals were not in question. Our country does tend to swing from one extreme to another. The problem we encountered was that while the philanderer was no personal role model, his executive actions were, for the most part, in most of our citizen’s best interests. Our next President has led an exemplary family life, while his executive actions have benefited the people he has been exposed to his entire life, and so entrapping our nation, it’s military and resources in a war that is spiraling out of control.

When looking for a professional, for example, a surgeon, I would prefer both a person whose morals I respect and whose skill in his trade is well documented. If I must make a choice between the two, I’ll take the one with the skill. Next year when we will be voting for a new President, let’s hope we find one with some skill.

Budd Glassberg is a resident of Zionsville who is active in the local running community. Visit www.runz.com for reprints of all his columns. You can reach him by email at budd@runz.com.