President ignores voice of country

On Tuesday the President contradicted himself. He said, “This nation does not depend on the decisions of others.” Yet, we do. Bush is asking other countries to join the United States in a war against Iraq. We are members of international organizations like the United Nations. We also depend on other countries for oil and other goods.

Bush probably meant that America doesn’t live at the mercy of other countries. However, the way he said it hinted that he didn’t care about the opinions of the American people. Bush’s address seemed to say that whatever he wants – goes. He said terms like “I will, I urge, we will.” Who is “we”? If he is referring to “we” the U.S. people, then I never agreed to anything.

Bush ignored polls stating that the country doesn’t want war with Iraq. He ignored Americans who didn’t want to send troops to Afghanistan and kill innocent people. Bush didn’t ask. He demanded.

Bush also said a future of a country living at the mercy of terrible threats is no peace at all. Yet, America has not been living at the mercy of terrible threats. America has been living at the mercy of Bush.

Trying to soften this blow, he added, “No victory is free from sorrow.” That’s easy for him to say. He doesn’t know most of the people who will have to fight or die.

If Bush knew for a fact that Saddam had weapons and intended to kill us, I would understand why we would have to go to war. But he has yet to show proof.

The fact that Saddam is a well known anti-American, doesn’t mean he wants to kill us. If he wanted to kill us, and he’s had all those weapons, he could have done so a long time ago.

If weapons are found that violate the U. N. resolution, then Saddam needs to be disarmed. If it’s just speculation, we do not have the right to put Americans in danger.

Just because we are one of the world’s superpowers doesn’t mean we have rule everyone all the time. We can’t have things the way we want them all the time.

As Bush said, different threats require different strategies. The strategy for this situation may be diplomacy–not war.

Robyn Mizelle, 19, is a sophomore broadcast journalism student. She is the Famuan’s assistant opinions editor. She can be reached at Rkmiz@hotmail.com.