Senator Boxer's comment

Senator Boxer's exchange with Condi Rice about a single mother being not able to give any sacrifice on behalf of her country because of absence of an immediate family member is right on the mark. Some critics note that the comment should not have been personal as it adds nothing to the national discourse on the war in Iraq. Although, I do share some rhetorical assessments of the comment by these critics, I sympathize with the senator. For some time now, however, Bush administration has been making decisions based on some abstract notion that democracy is God's gift to humanity and that we must prevail because failure to secure democracy in a country where it has not been given a serious chance to flourish spells disastrous for the US.

Well, let's see who PAYS the actual price by this argument. ONLY the service men and women and their families pay this price. You see, the reality of it is that not only the most of the country is uninterested in giving more sacrifices but it is always mostly those at a disadvantage economically that go to the military disproportionately to have to pay the price. We can all cry about our national tragedies in Iraq and here in this land, but, at the end of the day, when the dust settles, it is they, the families of service men and women, that have to give the most sacrifices for our inapt decisions.

In other words, we cannot carry out any meaningful political/military solutions to the problem on the backs of small number of people, unless the whole country feels that it shares the same burden and the cause to which it must contribute, it is bound for failure. Therefore, it is the requirement of the government during the time of national crisis via-a-vis war to provide and lay out the specific, detailed strategy to get the country on the wagon. Fail to do so, the government does not have a clear strategy. If so, the people will not support its cause. That's where the real danger lies, I am afraid, that there is a disconnect between the reality on the ground and the political incompetence to come up with any meaningful solutions to the problem.