"The Waiting Game From Hell"

Right now the Flyers search for answers after a defeat to a hapless Buffalo team. Right now people are increasingly frustrated with their NCAA brackets not matching the actual outcome of the tournament. Right now as I type this most my readers are fast asleep in their beds waiting for the alarm to buzz off again, and to start another day. Whether it be going to school or work, or just loafing around the house. Right now thousands of American solders stand in a sanding desert awaiting orders.

Driving home from my girlfriend’s tonight hardly a car was on the road. Everything appears normal that is unless you turn on a television, click on the Internet or pick up a newspaper. The hours of a pending war are dwindling. As I type this we have just a few minutes over 18 hours left until the war has begun. I know this because the NBC cable affiliates have shamelessly been running a clock in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. I know that their ratings have been below FOX News and CNN, but it is not like but they act like there are proudly launching a new reality series. I fear many cable networks will package this war as something or an entertainment value.

Turn on the news and you see hundreds of protests around the world. Most people I talk to are either admittedly against the war, or like myself on the fence. Some people think that 9/11 and Iraq are related. Are they? I haven’t been giving hard evidence yet, but I wouldn’t at all be surprised. We know that terrorists involved in plots against America have met with high up Iraqi officials. Yet we have no proof that money exchanged hands. It seemed people were more irate about the possibility of Enron and Bush exchanging money than Iraq and terrorists groups. Some people think its one of the best public relations campaigns ever. Critics of the war site the lack of recent references to Osama. Bush has not publicly mentioned him since July 2002, and not said his name in a speech since February 2002. Not that we haven’t had success going after his followers. The last few months have been highly successful in the war against terror.

Talk to people, and try to research the war, and you will find it’s a confusing situation. People have different variations about what’s going on out there. This lady I work with was telling my this is the first start in a evil American plan to take over the world. She said we were going to destroy Iraq and take all of the their oil. Than we will move on to North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan destroying and looting everything in our paths, but I seriously doubt we have the manpower to do that. Nor will Bush have enough time left on his term. Some Americans are just totally against the Bush policies.

Some fear this war will rage on for years and become a disaster. A friend of mines mother who was giving me advice on my current job search hinted that I might end up in the military. She is under the impression that we are short handed and a draft is not out of the question. Others think it might be over in a few weeks. It would be nice to see most of the Iraqi people just allow American troops to move into Iraqi. From what I understand more people would rather Saddam be ousted than not. However, he still has followers that are likely to fight to the death. I fear that if Saddam has any lethal weapons he might use them to go down out with a fight. Many people think this war will be done in mere weeks.

Many people are irate that the UN didn’t get a final vote on the situation in Iraq. However that would likely just draw things out more, and agree or disagree about this war I honestly think its either now or never. The weather over there is going to get worse in the next few months, and further delays would result in a harder battle for our troops. Or perhaps delay the ordeal another calendar year, which would be deviating to the mental state of our troops.

Still others think our meddling in other countries is responsible for terrorism itself, and we should just let Saddam do his thing and hope that he stays in his corner. Most people think that since he hasn’t been overly aggressive since 1991 he has learned his lesson. Most people thinks Saddam is a horrible person, but cant justify war. While others think, we should deal with North Korea. However, I doubt we would go to war there, given the size of their forces, and the fact that they have means to destroy most of our major cities. Oddly enough some people thing we should throw in the towel on the missile defense system. Well if Iraq doesn’t have nuclear capabilities it very well could in years, than we would have two North Koreas on our hands.

People seem a little more on edge than they did in 1991 about the pending war. I guess that’s understandable in a post 9/11 war. There could very easily be cells waiting for the right moment to strike. I hope that’s not true. I pray for our troops, and hope for peaceful solution even though many cable networks will be disappointed. I hope to be kicking back a cold one with Price this summer.

I have been going through mental anguish trying to get aspects of my life in order since I finished college, and grow ever more increasingly frustrated with my current job status. Part of it is my own damn fault, and I am lucky to have a terrific girl who helps me from feeling too discouraged and helps me keep my sanity. I shift through meager offerings and job openings for resent college grads and it’s a major obstacle in my life. But as far as hardships go compared to the troops at the Iraq border mine is roughly the size of an orange and theirs perhaps the size of the Empire States Building. Sometimes I fear I could fail at a new job, but than I think to myself if people my age and younger can have the balls to stand out in that desert than I can certainly succeed once I get my foot in a door some place. Any place.

I have also heard that Vegas is even running lines on how long the war will last. I think the lost of human lives is simply a horrible thing to put money on. Who out there thinks they know how things will play out? This isn’t something you can put a bet on for any reason, and that is scary as hell.