The Business Blog at Intuitive.com

Dave Taylor has been involved with the online world since 1980 and is recognized globally as an expert on both technical and business issues. He has been published over a thousand times, launched four Internet-related startup companies, has written twenty business and technical books and holds both an MBA and MS Ed. He's a columnist for the Boulder Daily Camera and Linux Journal and frequently appears in other publications both online and in print. Additionally, Dave maintains four weblogs: The Business Blog at Intuitive.com, Ask Dave Taylor, Dave On Film, and GoFahterhood. Based in beautiful Boulder, Colorado, Dave is an award-winning speaker, sought after conference and workshop participant and frequent guest on radio and podcast programs, as well as active member of his community and busy single father to three children.

Now what?

I live in "alternative" Boulder, Colorado, so it was no surprise to me that this afternoon there was a big peace rally with "impeach the president", "what's the real story, George?", "oil is not a good justification for war", "war is terrorism" and similar banners. Yesterday would have been a different story (I'm not at all in favor of what I believe is our heavy-handed action in the Middle East and have agitated for us paying more attention to the United Nations as a primary diplomatic body) but today I really wanted to ask the demonstrators "so what exactly do you think is our alternative now that the war has started?" Surely no-one is naïve enough to think that we can just 'back out' and say 'sorry' at this point, even the most confirmed peacenik?

It's a dilemma for many Americans, I believe, because as much as we might not want to be a part of the current military action, we can't pull out. So we must rally and support our troops and pray for a quick, bloodless end to this fracas and madness.

To try and address the inevitable comparison, I don't believe that Vietnam was the same situation at all. In fact, now that I think about it, wasn't it the fault of the French that we were suckered into the region in the first place? In Vietnam we were "keeping the world safe for democracy" and were less concerned about the welfare of the South Vietnamese peoples. In this case our rhetoric (at least) is all about the welfare of the Iraqi peoples and our desire to ensure that, by acting preemptively, we minimize and contain the threat ostensibly posed by Hussein and his minions. Vietnam dragged on and on because we were in a tactical situation where we had a substantial disadvantage. In Iraq we have every advantage with an overwhelming force armed with the most advanced weaponry in the world, a strong air force with little, if any, meaningful resistance, etc. If it comes down to a door-to-door struggle in Baghdad, I believe that, again, it's a finite and easily contained space and that, while inevitably bloody, it's doable. The jungles of Vietnam were quite a different story, even after defoliants were used to 'eliminate' the jungle regions entirely.

That's my two cents.

And being able to express my opinion without worrying about Brownshirts or Stazi knocking on my door tonight is one primary reason that we're a great nation. The right to disagree, even vehemently, is a powerful and amazing right, one that precious few other nations share. And while I might not agree with the demonstrators today, I definitely and wholeheartedly support their right to demonstrate and even call for an impeachment. That's what differentiates America from Iraq (along with a lot of other things!)

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