By now, we've all heard Obama's plan for ending combat missions in Iraq by August 2010. After that, 50,000 non-combat troops will remain until the end of 2011.
First of all, it is clear, combat or not, the troops will continue to fight and die. The difference is their mission and label. The biggest explanation for what our non-combat troops will be doing is training Iraqis to maintain a police force to enforce the laws of a democracy. Before that can happen, though a stable environment needs to be reached and maintained.
How, exactly will they go about this? With such a short time line at play and the huge amount of work they've got cut out for themselves, it seems to make the most sense to take the war from the public forum and create an underground enforcement system protected under the umbrella of agencies like the ones we have; FBI, CIA, etc.
What better way to deal with something as big as this war than to throw a blanket of agencies over to hide it? Don't get me wrong, I'm not personally supporting that approach, but I don't see it happening any other way. I guess, with the past eight years of Bush in my sites, its hard to see the picture through rose-colored glasses. So far, I do stand behind Obama with my fingers crossed that the established system doesn't swallow him whole too quickly. I want to give him a chance.
It seems that he at least has the bases covered. Obama has increased the budget spending on health care and other veterans' programs by about 11% and plans to vastly increase VA funding over the next five years. An important investment since we will be seeing a surge of soldiers coming back and having to face the war of home. It will be interesting to say the least to see how we all cope with the mass amounts of soldiers transferring from one dimension into another. I feel a shift of consciousness on the way. You know, 2012 is just around the corner.
No comments:
Post a Comment