This country is based on having a “good guy” versus a “bad guy,” where the “good guy” should always win. It is the basis for just about all of our entertainment. But unfortunately, it is the basis of our reality as well. U.S. citizens are so brainwashed with the idea of good versus evil that we cannot tell the difference between the two anymore.

George W. Bush has justified a war on people in Iraq with a lie. al-Qaida members were not involved with Saddam Hussein; Iraq has no weapon of mass destruction; people are dying every day and there is no exit strategy in sight. And what happened to Osama bin Laden? Who are the “bad guys” here?

In no way do I sympathize with killers of any kind, but if someone came to my country and took over, killed my friends and family and made my life a living nightmare, all the while claiming they did it for my freedom, I would be inclined to act. Americans’ blindness to the truth is sickening. By taking a country under siege, we create terrorists. President Bush has created a problem and is forcing us to fight and pay for it. And the only reason is economical. The longer we are at war, the more money goes to these large corporations sponsoring the war and eventually our gas prices may drop. These rich, slime-bag Republicans are profiting off of dead soldiers while those soldiers — who just wanted to pay off their college loans — fight for their lives for “Iraqi Freedom.”

The soldiers are serving their country valiantly, but they should ask why their Commander-in-Chief put them in harm’s way to gain an economical surplus they might not be able to enjoy. I am still amazed at how the American public can be fooled by this administration when they constantly lie and avoid important questions. We are committing atrocious war crimes, but who can prosecute? After all, the president did pull out of the World Court.

Sometimes I wonder who the bad guys really are. Are they the ones attacking or the ones being attacked? There weren’t any terrorists in Iraq before all of this, so where did they all come from? Well, if you kill someone’s family and friends, you can expect them to want revenge. Understand that the rage of the “terrorists” is in response to things done to them by the Bush administration’s war. Terror is not a person or a group of people. It is an act based on feeling. Why do terrorists become terrorists? Why doesn’t anyone ask that question instead of “let’s go kill them all!” Don’t you think by “killing them all” you are creating others who want to kill you?

Since this whole killing thing doesn’t seem to be working in the negotiation process for peace, why continue? The United States will probably invade Iran then North Korea, in the same order the president called them “the axis of evil.” More Americans will die, but we will achieve our ultimate goal of — wait, what was the point of all this again?

Teddy Harris is a senior communication studies major and a columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. He can be reached at [email protected].