Sunday, March 14, 2004

I am speechless (almost)

I've just watched two separate hour-long accounts of the US invasion of Iraq, presented on TV on the first "anniversary." One by CNN, the other by The History Channel. Presumably "trusted" sources.
What a crock! Both consisted entirely of "embedded reporters'" stories and recollections, and/or US analysts' observations. Not a frame was derived from news services that were on the ground (but not on our side), and not a single reference was made to the impact of the war on the other side, except for some exculpatory shots of our troops helping a family that had been wrongly targeted.

Listen up, mutherfuckers: We initiated this war. We declared war on a foreign nation, invaded it, just like Hitler invaded Poland. But even worse. Our supposed justification was that the leadership (Saddam) was an oppressive dictator whose defeat would liberate the Iraqis. The Iraqis weren't our enemies, just their leader.

And so all this footage about how effective we were at blazing through the desert and the cities, and how little collateral damage we caused, is repulsive. We shouldn't have been there, killing Iraqis. And even if we were there, illegally, our entire concept and justification was that the people weren't our enemies, just their dictator. So why, I ask, are we judging this invasion as if it were the conquest of Germany or Japan, whose nations were aligned against us?

I'm running out of vitriol. Except to say this: On yesterday's march, someone drove by in an SUV the size of Rhode Island and shouted at us, "Four more years!"

I couldn't reply. I gagged.

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