Questioning the focus of war

By Stephen Kirkley
Staff Writer

Last week President Bush spent a very sorrowful Friday in St. Petersburg, Florida, mourning the deaths of recently slain servicemen.
The President’s primary goal in his visit to Florida was to discuss the economy and corporate responsibility while raising money for the re-election campaign of his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. However, the focus of that particular issue was lost in a much more emotional one as Bush introduced relatives of two Florida soldiers who died Monday in the war’s bloodiest battle to date. Applause filled the walls of the American II Electronics’ shop, and the President’s lips began to quiver as he fought back emotion-filled tears.
Spc. Marc A. Anderson, 30, of Brandon, Florida, and Sgt. Bradley Crose, 22, of Orange Park, Florida, were among seven Americans killed Monday in eastern Afghanistan’s mountains. Bush turned and with a deep exhale he addressed Anderson’s father and brother. “I know your heart aches, and we ache for you. But your son and brother died for a noble and just cause,” Bush said and then wiped a tear from his left eye.
“I hate to know that young soldiers are at risk,” said the President, thumbing away more tears. “But I want to assure you and all those loved ones whose sons and daughters are at risk that not only is the cause just and important and noble, but our United States government will provide the United States military with whatever it needs to win this war against terror.”
13 Americans total have been killed in combat or other hostile situations during the war in Afghanistan. Eight were killed in the current battle against al Qaeda fighters along with an additional 15 who have died in military aircraft crashes or while working in support of the war. Officials in the White House are concerned that Americans who have been supportive of the President and the war so far will become restless as this number of lost lives increases and the location of Osama bin Laden remains a mystery. This is exactly the issue that Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle attempted to tackle Thursday when he questioned the true focus of President Bush’s war on terrorism. Daschle stated that the United States will have failed in its war on terrorism unless it locates Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
“Clearly, we’ve got to find Mohammad Omar, we’ve got to find Osama bin Laden, we’ve got to find the other key leaders of the al Qaeda network or we will have failed,” said Daschle. “I think that it is critical that we keep the pressure on; we do the job that this country is committed to doing; but we are not safe until we have broken the back of the al Qaeda, and we haven’t done that yet.”
This is the issue that I would like to discuss. Is President Bush’s focus of the war concentrated in the right place? Will the war be a lost cause in the minds of Americans if Osama bin Laden is not caught? I don’t think so.
Certainly, it will become a great disappointment in the minds of Americans if time drags on and bin Laden is left untouched, but President Bush has made it very clear that this war is about much more than one person, and I agree.
The American government has raged an indefinite war against all terrorism in the world. The true, underlying meaning of this war, the true heart and sole of this battle that has been raged, is in the minds and hearts of the people of this country. No longer do we believe that we are untouchable. We have been touched. No longer do we believe that America is the safe haven for those who wish to escape from tyrants and oppressors. They have come to us. This is, however, still the land that people will die for, and this is still the land that people call home. Soldiers have left this home in order to protect and reestablish safety to it. Some of those soldiers, just like Spc. Marc A. Anderson and Sgt. Bradley Crose, have already died in the line of duty and, God forbid, more are likely to never return to their homes. I refuse to believe that this will all be in vain if one man (namely bin Laden) dies of old age in the confines of a dirt floor cave instead of being captured or blown up in the same cave.
President Bush has troops searching for bin Laden along with other infamous terrorist leaders that many would like to see brought to justice. (Please revert to my previous rant for what I think should happen to them.) President Bush, in my honest opinion, has been brought into an unforeseen war that will last long after his terms in office have ended. This war will continue to plague the next President and perhaps the next. Hopefully not. Never the less, as the six month anniversary of that fateful day passes by us with a tear and a rainy week, the scar of so many lost lives is brought back to the forefront of our minds and once again we are reminded of just how fragile our lives really are.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 15 2002. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry