Ever since I started normblog four and a half months ago, I’ve been getting emails like the one below from Jane (in Los Angeles). I won’t say I’ve had a flood of them, but I get them regularly. I’m posting this one for others on the liberal-left who felt they had to support the Iraq war and may sometimes get to wondering how many other such people there are. There are plenty is the answer, even though we’re a clear minority in our particular segment of the political universe:
Surrounded as I am by liberal friends and relatives, I find myself checking out your blog page almost every day for a dose of sanity. As one who would describe herself (at least until 9/11) as a liberal Democrat, it’s been disheartening to find myself so isolated when it comes to my views of the Iraq war. No, I am not one of the polled Americans who believes there was a direct link between 9/11 and Saddam, but I am a person who believes strongly that military action was the only way to remove this tyrant. The abuses against his own people have been ignored too long by the world at large. While it’s true that there are human rights violations going on daily all over the world, we can rest easier knowing the suffering for one people is over. Will Iraq still face a struggle? Yes. Will there still be hardships? Yes. What they won’t face, however, is the knock on the door in the middle of the night. Thanks for keeping track of the views of so many! It makes me realize that left and right are, at best, incomplete labels to describe a person’s moral stance. Jane