Monday, May 29, 2006

Environmental Perspective: AAEA Supports Iraq War

AAEA supports the war because we believe it will ultimately lead to an improved environment in Iraq and the Middle East. Notwithstanding the faulty intelligence that got us into the war, we understand the post 911 need to communicate to the rest of the world, particularly totalitarian regimes and hosts to terrorists (including our ally Saudi Arabia), that the U.S. will not tolerate attacks on our homeland. Evil doers everywhere are not safe if the U.S. is attacked anywhere. Will there be mistakes? Yes. Will Iraq prosper if insurgents are defeated and democratic capitalism is allowed to flourish? Yes. As President Bush says, "Democracies do not attack each other." A stable Iraq will benefit the entire Middle East. Unfortunately, war, like race relations, is just another one of those issues that is probably beyond our human capability to solve. Thus, we are left to do the best we can. Hitler had to be fought. No doubt about it. Yet war is environmentally destructive by its very nature.

We are probably as hypocritical as many politicians on the issue of war. However, we reject the notion of supporting the troops but opposing the war. That is disingenuous. If you oppose the war then oppose our men and women fighting there. Straddling the fence is a spineless cop out. Yet from a purely environmental standpoint, war is environmentally damaging. We must do everything we can to prevent it because it is insanity. But just as we were pulled into the insanity of World War II, we prevailed in Germany and Japan and assisted them after the war. We believe the U.S. has the best intentions for the Iraqi people and will do everything in our power to assist them in achieving peace and prosperity. Hopefully, the end result will be a highly efficient and sustanable environment. War, like disease and death, is from the Devil. We simply have to do the best we can while living in his world. We wish President Bush good luck as he does the best that he humanly can to address terrorism.

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