WE DESERVE THE ANSWER!!

As the "leaders" of America parade themselves in front of "we the people" in the weeks before the mid-term elections and flood our TV's and radios with appearances and speeches in their desperate attempt to get our almighty vote, the most critical question is not even being asked.

In the days following the attacks of September 11th, 2001 and then during and since our attacks of Afghanistan and Iraq, our country's leadership has been pounding our senses with the single theme that we must "stay the course" and remain in a "state of war" UNTIL WE WIN. The "enemy" MUST be defeated.

The most critical question that is NOT being asked is; "EXACTLY what does WINNING mean?" I'm not talking about progress or the "taking" of a village or making it possible for some people to cast a ballot. The question is about the end of this "War" on terror (aka; evil). The media, the politicians, and we the people don't ask or answer that question because that would require facing a horrific reality and that might be disruptive to our daily lives.

I would propose that to actually face the question directly would force all of us to also face the reality that (as it has been throughout human history), there is NO winning in the fundamental "war" of perceived good vs. evil. That "war" has been and will be fought between all humans and all nations because "good and evil" is as ingrained into our concepts as our instinct to breathe and survive. Good and evil are nothing more than opinions and concepts and our "opinion" depends solely on our position at the time.

When our current President declared "War on Evil", he simply made the eternal battle of humanity, an official position of the United States of America. When our "enemies" declared "War on America", they simply made their "position" official. When the line was drawn in the sand the test began. Which side has the bigger guns? Which side has the better strategy? Which side is more willing to lose their soldiers? Which side is willing to do whatever it takes (literally) to win?

The ONLY question that faces the American people that really matters is this; "Are we willing and able to KILL EVERY SINGLE PERSON on the planet that wishes to harm us? Take a minute and let that question sink into your mind because everything else is secondary. All the strategy and all the "battles" and all the talk is really irrelevant. If "we" answer yes to this question, then let's get on with it and stop the policy of "killing us slowly". If "we" answer no to this question then we had better figure out how to bring this "war on evil" to an end before that option is taken out of our control.

Most Americans have grown up with the belief that in every contest there is a winner and a loser. All of our sporting contests work that way. Our previous "wars" dating back to the Revolution, the Civil War, WWI and WWII were brutally fought with the goal of winning. In each of these conflicts there came a point when the "war" came to an end and all sides accepted the conclusion. The enemies of those wars gradually got on with the future and in most cases have built alliances with each other. How many Americans in 1942 and 1943 would have accepted the idea that Germany and Japan would become major partners in commerce and peace? I would think almost all Americans would have dismissed that idea as treasonous at best. But, rational minds prevailed. Korea and Vietnam were both misguided "wars" (although never officially declared wars) that after over a combined 100,000 American deaths and hundreds of thousands more wounded, were eventually ended in a draw situation. For over 50 years our strategy has been to "contain" Korea and trade efforts have improved with the people of Vietnam and that great evil of Communism never did spread and take over the far East as our "leaders" of that era tried to convince us it would if we didn't "save" Vietnam. The "Evil Empire" that was the Soviet Union (contrary to all thinking for over 40 years) is now an ally of the United States (at least publicly) and none of us thought that could ever happen! The point is that America (and the world) have confronted many enemies and many "perceived" threats to our existence portrayed by our leaders as the worst enemy ever and we have survived in part because "winning" didn't necessarily mean the full and complete destruction of everyone who didn't like us.

The growing frustration that many Americans (and people around the world) have with our nation's current policy and direction is that we are not getting the answer to the question; "What does winning mean?" Well, I would suggest that "we the people" not only ask the question at every opportunity but that we DEMAND the answer! If our troops are going to continue to be killed (a few every day) and American families are going to be asked to accept the immense suffering created by this "war" then I believe it is way past time for the leadership (of both political parties) step up and "lead" us to a conclusion and start by answering that primary question without "spin" or any other evasive tactic that is so common.

A few other questions might be; 1) What exactly do these "terrorist" enemies want? 2) Is there anything short of mass annilation that can bring about a cessation of hostilities? 3) Can this situation be contained by any means other than military confrontation? 4) Does the American Military Industrial Complex actually control the U.S. Government enough to prevent all efforts to slow its agenda down? 5) If there is a God, whose "God" is correct and why?

I will end this post with the hope that some of you will at least think about our situation and then face the reality and the choices we have right now. We either must commit ourselves and our country to an all out effort to kill everyone (whom we perceive as even a potential enemy) OR we must develop policies and strategies to "contain" our enemies (both perceived and real) because this "evil" we are fighting will always be among us in one form or another until we finally destroy our species completely.

It is TIME TO THINK AGAIN!