OK, I read your stuff, which poses the question "Why not here?" while completely overlooking the details of how we got here.....as if the ends justify the means. And where is "here" anyway? I will admit that the Shiites have exercised admirable restraint so far in not responding to the post-election violence, but to characterize what is happening in Iraq or anywhere else in the Muslim world as some kind of wondrous event overlooks the fact that we are being spared most of the details of what's actually going on. How many were actually eligible to vote? What areas had high turnouts and what % of Sunnis did not vote at all? If the overall turnout is accurate, it was far below that of Afghanistan, and there were areas of Iraq where it simply wasn't safe to vote at all. The press is huddled in a hotel afraid to leave, there are those who have left only to have their video disappear mysteriously.
Then there's that matter of how we got here. We have Rice's deceptions before Congress, Powell's shameful lies before the UN, the entire rationale for invasion segueing from WMD to "making the world safe for democracy," an attorney general who sanctions torture, Abu Graib, US citizens being held indefinitely and without charge and incommunicado in secret locations, the Valerie Plame outing, the use of illegal weapons, massive collateral damage, private security forces running amok, unexplained murders of US citizens who knew too much about kickbacks, massive overcharging by US contractors, and the piece de resistance, Cheney's secret talks with with US energy corps. How much ya wanna bet they talked about Iraq? And if you can sweep all of this under the rug just because somebody in Lebanon is talking about democracy, you have been sold a bill of goods.
And this is all not to mention the greatest mistake of all, squandering the lives of our armed forces who are prepared to give us the greatest gift of all, their very lives, so that this faith-driven bunch of(as Hunter Thompson put it) "greedy little killers," who thirst for the Rapture, can hasten Armegeddon.
One more thing, the Berlin Wall came down without war. And the future of the human race depends not on might making right, but whether we can find non-violent ways to resolve conflict. This is 180 degrees from the imperial neocon agenda.
And a grub to boot. Wow. |
