Kodiak, I suspect you're a little too close to this emotionally to allow for a discussion with anyone but a true believer. I say that because no one, not even Fox news, denies that many Iraqi men have died in fruitless and impossible attacks against American and British forces. That kind of sacrifice is based upon thinking and beliefs that we should be careful to consider. If you wish to ignore it or diminish those action, so be it. We all make choices with respect to what we will allow ourselves to consider.
As for the hitting of the statue of Saddam with their shoes, that does have meaning. Its meaning at this point tells us only that two hundred or so people out of a huge city came out and demonstrated their revulsion toward Hussein. They may be representative of the majority, or even a huge majority, of the people of Baghdad, or they may not. That may reveal that the Iraqis will give us a warm reception post-Hussein, or it may not. You seemed to be declaring that the images proved the mood of the nation of Iraq, I disagreed. That was my point, what was yours?
My point on the economic status of most Iraqis was valid. You can say that the U.N.-U.S. imposed sanctions caused havoc with economic stability and that there were shortages, but you cannot compare their plight with that of the N. Koreans or the people of many third world countries whose everyday goal is to avoid dying from disease and starvation. My point was that people who are hopeless will likely welcome liberation more readily than people that live like the majority of the Iraqis lived. Once again, this is a factor that may be important when we evaluate the likely reception we will have post-Hussein.
As far as the "greatest victory" issue, call it what you want. It was a great "battle plan" and may rank high strategically but I thought you called it "the greatest military victory in a century." If that's true then we'd have to look back in history at other instances where overwhelmingly superior forces crushed their opposition and evaluate how they ranked. War is never easy but I always considered great victories as those where an inferior force used strategy to overwhelm a superior force or at least overmatched an evenly matched force. How about the wars for survival that the Israelis fought against technologically similair and numerically overwhelming forces? Don't those rank higher as "great victories?"
As far as the "baby elephant," "Marty" and "back to the future" aspersions, you should realize that what I AM DOING is trying to pierce the fog of snap photos and the "trying too hard" press conferences to see what is really going on and where it leads us. If you believe that the cards have been put on the table for all of us to see by either the administration, the Arabs or the other factions of the world, then you've been watching too many movies. This may be a great day for the world, for America, for Arabs, for Iraqis and it may lead to a great new era of peace and prosperity for us all. Hope and unquestioning acceptance of all you're told will not, however, make it so. I counsel vigilance, critical thinking and debate. What is it you counsel? Unblinking adherence to the party line? Calling each snapshot from the middle east that supports the party line a defining moment that represents the view of Iraqis? Refusing to look back in history to learn from all of the times that we've manipulated and misjudged the Arab culture? Everything we discuss when we look to the future is speculative but my questions raise no more speculation than your pronouncements of permanent and benevolent success.
With respect to your insinuation, or was it a statement of fact, that I'm saddened by the potential for a quick victory in Iraq and a better world to follow, I think you know me better than that. I wish the war had been over in one day without the loss of one American life. I hope that your predictions of a better world prove to be true. I also, however, question authority and particularly an administration that has wreaked havoc on individual rights and made contradictory statements whenever it suited their current purposes.
In another time and in another place I recall you as a man who had a deep distrust of power in government, as did I. It seems that you only distrusted power in the hands of the Democrats. That's fine but some of us will continue to take a critical look at what we're told by those who wield the awesome power of America. It's an American tradition, don't you know? |
