Saturday, June 03, 2006

The Army clears itself of wrongdoing

The Ishaqi massacre, more recent than Haditha, resulted in a determination of no wrongdoing by the US Army. But the Iraqis are protesting this result, and here's a bit of background, contemporaneous with the event, that pounds nails into the coffin of the veracity of our military's investigation of itself.

I gotta tell ya, this quagmire's more quagic than Vietnam. In Southeast Asia, the gooks didn't have the temerity to question our outrages. Now we've got the people we invaded crawling over our conduct and our paperwork, and revealing our force for what they are: mercenaries, hateful of their duty, hating the people they commmand. And, unlike the "wogs" the British tried to subjugate, these Arabs have video and the Internet.

Is America--are Americans--better, kinder, gentler?

With the revelation of Marine massacre and others atrocities by our troops in Iraq, we now engage in self-analysis. Is this the tip of the iceberg? Have all those uncounted Iraqi bodies remained uncounted because so many were our victims? Are we, as invaders and occupiers, any different from previous invader/occupiers?

Surely, we're not Nazis. But aren't we comparable to the French or the English or the Romans? If we concede that, we become just another empire, capable--indeed effectuating--similar disdain for occupied territory and conquered peoples. And that, ladies and gents, means My Lai and Haditha and abu Ghraib--and many other, yet-unnamed outrages.

It's time Americans understood this: We're just another nation, with the same quality of folks as previous nations. We're not "special," not "God-blessed," not better, not worse. Just another nation, warring and winning, and eventually declining because of it.

Sartre and Charlie Brown

This article evaluates the musings of Charles Schulz's character against the existentialist writer's thoughts about meaning. I must admit I've read more of the latter than the former, but now I'm thinking I'd better buy a Peanuts anthology.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Out of the mouths of NeoCons...

Michael Ledeen, one of the most egregious malefactors ever to have burrowed his way into the federal government (having burrowed through a far-right burrow), says Condi's latest "overture" to Iran is either (a) a ploy to split the baby with American politics while offering Iran a veiled ultimatum, or (b) a Bush/Rove ploy to force an attack on Iran, knowing that Iran couldn't possibly capitulate to Condi's terms of "give up and then we'll talk."

Ledeen's right on the money. Condi's latest is either a ploy or a ploy.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Football fever no more

Riverbend's tale of Iraq's decline. Sad, sad, sad. What have we wrought?

Taken for granted

This morning I surfed through my usual news sites--Common Dreams, Buzzflash, Truthout, ICasualties, a few others--then visited a few lefty blogs and blogs of buddies, while sipping my morning coffee. Got up to speed, so to speak.

Five or six years ago, no such thing. I'd have to wait until Mother Jones arrived in the mail, or until I bumped into some more-informed liberal crazy who shared some news, before I could find out what's really happening in the world. No quick access to London's Independent or the Asia Times, no way to penetrate the distortions and omissions of the MSM's reportage except to wait for the truth to seep through.

No seeping anymore, no waiting. With the Internet and a few keystrokes, the truth will out.

Verrry interesting

I wonder how the US military--and any other US entity that conducts an investigation into the Marines' killing of civilians in Haditha--will deal with Iraq's own investigation. Certainly, if Iraq finds our Marines at fault and demands justice, the US will have to go along, right? That's one way to keep the administration from sweeping the matter under the rug, eh?

Bush says he wants to create an independent, sovereign democracy in Iraq, ruled by law not by dictator. Well, George, be careful what you ask for.

Monday, May 29, 2006

Don't get me started

about how gut-wrenching is the prospect--a reality, according to this LA Times article--of the emergence of a war-mongering faction of the Democratic party, a "liberal" group who cites the tough-guy posturings of Truman and John Kennedy to support a military solution to the "war on terror" (and, for that mattter, who adopt such a phrase). Must we human beings--I'm talking now about me and others who despise war, who are repulsed by its use by American politicians as a tool of foreign policy--fight for peace on yet another front, the Democratic Right? Is there no peace for persons who only want peace?