Beyond the past

We, as a country, have become desensitized to war. True, politicians are still jabbering back and forth, but the discourse on both sides is comprised largely of sound bytes that lack real meaning. More than two years after the fact, we're suddenly fascinated with the asinine debate over the merits of having gone to war in the first place. I'm left a little incredulous, wondering why there wasn't more discussion beforehand.\nRegardless, we're there now, and we have a responsibility to not leave Iraq in a bigger mess than it was when we got there. So instead of debating an issue that has already been resolved, like it or not, we need to focus on the present and talk about what we're doing now.\nWhat's chilling to me are the recent reports that the Pentagon essentially sold stories to Iraqi newspapers to be presented as independent reports. If we indeed went to Iraq to instill democratic values, subverting the media is counterproductive at best. Our own history attests to the fact that an autonomous media is the key to a functional democracy. \nPrior to the White House's half-hearted "condemnation" of the Pentagon's actions (similar to the "condemnation" of the leak of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plume's identity), a U.S. military spokesman claimed that Abu Musab al-Zarkawi was doing the same thing for the other side. This argument presumes that the Iraqi people are too ignorant to analyze what they read and understand terrorist propaganda. \nHow can we expect to bring the Iraqi population to our side when we are concurrently insulting their intelligence?\nMoreover, this "but mommy, he hit me first" mentality is especially damaging in a war predicated on moral superiority. Though it might work temporarily, it will harm us more in the long run. \nAs a nation, we've put ourselves in a bit of a quandary recently regarding our clandestine actions in Iraq. Our leaders are arguing that the ends justify the means, yet the means and the ends seem to be one and the same in this case -- instilling a democracy. So even if we are so Machiavellian as to believe this credo, we are subverting ourselves by shaking the very foundations on which a stable and free democracy rests.\nWhile our opponents might take underhanded measures, it's up to us to play fair. In the long run, it will cost far fewer lives and assist us in gathering international support in the future. \nWhatever happens, our generation will pay later for the way this war is handled now. We've been distracted by the past long enough.\nAlthough it might seem that we, as citizens, have little power in how the Iraq War is managed, we have an overwhelming responsibility to pressure our legislators into discussing the issues that matter. We vote them in and out of office; eventually, they will have to listen.\nBesides, what better way to instill democracy in Iraq than to demonstrate democracy in action here at home?