The World of Grandpa Don

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War With Iraq - The Decision

On Thursday, March 8, 2003, President George Bush spoke at a news conference and answered questions from reporters on the subject of the impending decision on war with Iraq. I am amazed that there is a lack of understanding about how our government is designed to function and that the president does not remind us of the way it works as a way of explaining why things are.

The president was asked why, in the face of the protests of  large number of people in this country and others, he doesn't heed their advice. To me, the most obvious answer to this is that the protesters are not privy to all the information that the president and his staff have regarding the subject. They do not have the military and and non-military information that has been gathered.

The protesters, and indeed most of us, would like to have this information and lacking it, question it's existence. We do have, however, a very open society and by it's very nature, any information made available to the general public, is also available to our enemies. Divulging such information could jeopardize it's source and result in the loss of those sources. So, the nature of the society which allows and in fact encourages disagreement and protest can work against us.

A little about our form of democracy must be explained. We are a representative republic. As such, the majority of our states, based on the majority of their individual citizens, elect a leader of the nation for a limited term of office. 

He is in office because a very large number of citizens feel his values and ideals closely match their own and the constitution of the nation. Having been placed in office he is expected to be a leader who will be well informed and have access to all the information he needs to make his decisions. 

Many, and I would hope, most of us, would prefer not to be at war. But the president has been placed in the position of having the awesome duty to make that decision. We must trust that he will make the right decision or our system of government will fail. A government in which every decision had to be made by popular vote would be impossible. The citizens do not have all the information  and incite to make all the decisions. 

But we say, "Other friendly  governments do not agree with our views." No, they may not because they have their own ax to grind. They have their own internal situations with which they must cope. And, their leadership may actually agree but to mollify their citizens or simply out of selfishness say they do not agree in order to leave the dirty work to us. There could be many reasons to be, or to appear to be, opposed to war in this situation or in any situation.

In conclusion, I think that it is our privilege and our duty to make our views known. It our duty and privilege to pray that our leaders will govern their actions on a need for the betterment of all mankind and not selfish interests, their own or of those they represent. Having done that, we must rely on our leaders to do just that, ... LEAD!

Don Plefka
03/07/03