The War in Iraq
In 2003 Raul attended the funeral of Corporal Armando Ariel Gonzalez, a brave United States Marine from Hialeah that lost his life will fighting in the Iraq War. For Raul, that moment turned the discussion of the war in Iraq from theoretical and philosophical, to tangible and real.
Raul wondered how this brave soldier’s widow and their child would be cared for? How would they be able to move on? Would this fallen soldier’s child be able to have the same hopes and dreams that Raul’s children had growing up?
The immense and unnecessary burden the Iraq War has placed on our soldiers, their families, and on America’s fiscal and economic condition must end if we are to move forward as a nation.
America must end its involvement in the Iraq War, and begin bringing home our men and women in uniform. America’s armed forces have done all that has been asked of them. However, American soldiers are not the answer to a religious and sectarian civil war. The answer to the Iraq War is a political solution, not a military one.
The Bush Administration's mistaken instigation and incompetent execution of Iraq War will go down as one of the greatest foreign policy blunders in history. The damage that has been done to the reputation and strength of the United States by the conduct of this war will take decades to repair - longer even than the time that will be needed to pay down the Bush Administration's contribution to our national debt.
Raul has given his full support to the efforts of bipartisan groups in Congress that are attempting to use all the powers allowed by our Constitution to shake some sense into the Bush administration on Iraq. The first step must be to abandon the Bush Administration's stubborn insistence on an American solution to an Iraqi problem. Whether the troops come home by applying pressure to Bush administration, by the installation of a president with new ideas, or by the election of veto-proof majorities in both houses of Congress - the troops will come home.
The deep religious conflicts in Iraq have led many to believe that the most promising strategy for the Iraqis is to partition their country into separate religious and tribal enclaves. Should the Iraqis embrace this strategy of separating the religious groups, the U.S. could play a supportive role - much as the American lead NATO effort did successfully in Bosnia, or the "no-fly zone" that protected the Kurds for the decade between Gulf Wars. Under all circumstances, American ground forces must begin the process of coming home as soon as possible.
America must also never again start an unprovoked war of choice without the full debate and formal declaration of war that was intended by our Constitution.
