Survey Says: War Hurts USA, Helps Iraq

"Without some milestones by which they can evaluate whether progress is being made or not, Americans are very unsettled about the war," Republican pollster David Winston says, "and it makes them unsettled about the direction of the country." [Yahoo News]

At the risk of sounding callous, some of us knew that the direction the country was going was the wrong way, round about April of 2001. By the time the administration had invented the proof they needed to justify the invasion of Iraq, there was no question if you were even paying the slightest bit of attention, which, clearly, few people were.

Now, in 2006, after what has been called a series of mis-steps and use of incorrect information, rather than calling it lying, the American people are finally realizing how far down the garden path their leaders have hoodwinked them. And it is not just the war the war that is making people uneasy. From the instable and increasing costs of gas, which affect all goods from groceries to HD TVs (why do we need HD TVs? The FCC still has yet to explain this suitably. The "emergency responder" answer does not hold water, but that is a different discussion), the number of displaced residents in the Gulf that are now defaulting on their loans because they never really hand economic stability to companies shipping the high paying jobs off-shore and eliminating the pensions and retirement funds that so many are depending on, there are serious markers that the average American notices because it directly affects them.

As more and more soldiers return to a United States they do not remember, many without their friends and relatives that are forever resident in foreign lands, they must surely be asking themselves, is it worth it? A much better question that the average American should be asking, is did it really need to be done? And, more importantly, how will I vote in November to make it better?