Uncertain

There is one thing that I seem to question from time to time.  Whenever people make a mistake, they always tell themselves that it will never happen again.  At that moment, they believe so deeply in their words that they would never do such thing again.  Yet, when they are done making the mistake, they tend to forget the words spoken to them. Of course they move on and worry about other things.  And then one day, they hear in the news or from friends that someone made a mistake similar to their mistake in the past.  Where am I going with this?  Let’s apply this concept of making mistakes.  There have been numerous wars in the past.  There was World War I, World War II, Gulf War, Korean War, and many more.  Each time when the war is over, there is always somebody who was had significant control and power says within their head that the war was unnecessary.  They never say it publicly.  Deep down they hope that a second chance could be given to them so that they would not have made the mistakes again.  But I bet, with the results presented to them, if given another chance, they would have done things a little differently.  There is a good possibility that they will use talks to solve problems instead of missiles.  It’s a lesson learned to late.  Back to the topic of a good leader, a good leader is someone who handles a situation that does not involve picking on the weak.  The Iraq war is a perfect example of picking on the weak.  Three years after the war, I saw in a documentary on CNN it was I believe, explaining why Bush invaded Iraq.  During one of the scene, the narrative states that after 9/11, US took out Al Qaeda’s territory with heavy missiles.  Within a couple of days, the territory was in total ruins.  What struck me was the tone of voice in the narrative.  He said it with patriotism and pride because of such accomplishment.    A good leader is a well informed leader.  He should understand the effects of his decisions by reading and understanding history.  Why? He should understand it because his decisions effects thousands and thousands of lives.  There he should be well informed of the consequences and not use his short-sight decisions.   I have an idea how we could be put good leaders in office other than formulating a system that takes some power away from the main controller, the president.  Qualities of a good leader should be taught in school for those who wish to hold important leadership positions.  In fact, the government should make it mandatory.  Doctors have to keep up with their education so they can treat patients better.  Lawyers have to constantly try to learn new laws as they are published that is relevant to their trials.  Why not presidents?  If they do not take leadership classes, many blogs will be filled with sorrows and sadness such as this one. “Painful memories Going out in the city became an exercise in blocking out painful images and scenes; in some cases there were areas of the city you plainly avoided. Have you seen what has happened to Baghdad’s book market? I would rather have the image of that street as I remember it in my mind than the reality of what is left of it today.  Eventually, we had to leave our home when my neighbourhood was taken over by Sunni militias - all my Shia uncles and aunts also left their homes with all their belongings. Then came the walls which transformed an ethnically mixed and vibrant city into a series of sectarian ghettos.  And can one ever forget the neverending Iraqi civilian casualties.   To be honest, I still have no idea how to refer to April 9, 2003. For a while, one of our shortlived early governments called it ”Baghdad Liberation Day” but that feels like a contradiction in terms as foreign forces stormed the city and that usually is described as an invasion.  On the other hand, I never really could bring myself to describing it as the “Fall of Baghdad”. I thought we were never going to let that happen although after five years of mostly death and bloodshed my beloved city is certainly not what it used to be. I don’t want to say fallen. But Baghdad is unquestionably and deeply hurt.”  

Source: Al Jazeera

 This blog was written by Salam Pax.  He is an Iraqi film-maker and the author of the Baghdad Blog.  He graduated from Baghdad University but after the invasion of Iraq, he started blogging.

In a recent article I read on BBC news, Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that the president is avoiding the people’s questions and concerns.  In a statement she said, 

“The president has taken us into a failed war, he’s taken us deeply into debt and that debt is taking us into recession,” she said. “We need some answers from the president.” Source:

Let me take some time and do an analysis on Bush.  What I do not understand is why he has not pull troops out of Iraq.  If he reads the polls and the words spoken by many who occupy the White House, he should fully understand that the majority of the people in American do not support it.  Why has he not made a decision yet?  I do not know but what I do know is that a good leader should put his pride aside and admit that he has made a mistake.  In this case, he has not done that.  Bill Clinton did not admit to his affairs with Monica but later on, through testing, it was shown that he did have relations.  He is a true leader.  He knows that he has made a mistake and admitted to it.  He even went further and wrote a book so that people may understand why he made the decisions that he did.  Bush should do the same; he should admit that he was wrong.  The number of deaths in Iraq, the number of US soldiers dead, and the poor economy of Iraq should be a adequate results to show that he failed.  But he does not do this and continues to go along with his agenda. 

“The US military strength should not be given to one person.” 

Sometimes I wonder what is it that holds him back from making a decision.  It is because people in America tend to focus more on the negative things that we do and less on the positive thing such as the changes that we make afterward.  A rapist is still a rapist even if he did his time in prison and went to treatment programs.  Even if he has completely recovered and has a differently mentality, he is still labeled by others has a rapist.  A failed president is still a failed president even if he decides to make changes after.  Is this the driving force that keeps him from making a decision?  He hopes that later on in the future people would recognize that his decision was a good one?  So far, it has not been good. 

It makes me think of all the great discoveries that we have had in science.  The scientist would said the Earth revolves around the Sun was disliked and hated by his peers.  Now that he is dead, we give him recognition.

Then again, this type of thinking cannot be applied to war because soldiers and citizens are dying everyday.  A person should never put his ego before others when the decisions that they make affect thousands of lives, especially in a negative way.