Dirty Little War
By now it’s a safe bet that even if it were possible to end the war in Iraq by dealing strategically with Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and other states fueling the insurgency, if this administration attempted it they would fuck it up. They are simply too ideology-driven (read: blind, incapable of nuance) to be crafty, clever, or wise in any way.
This is a great tragedy for our country, not to mention the rest of the world. In national terms, it reduces our options about what to do next to two: send in more troops to die, or bring the troops home and let the civil war flourish. What a horrible choice! And no wonder that the Left is floundering, finding it impossible to create a unified, sound alternative voice to Business As Usual. There needs to be a third option, one that respects the sacrifices of all the families of good faith who have sent one of their own on this mission, and that doesn’t leave all of Iraq to twist in the wind with civil war, now that their country is reduced to rubble.
I certainly don’t know the answer, but I have been thinking a lot lately of my cousin’s kid, Colin Waskiewicz, a champion wrestler in high school who enlisted in the Army so he could go to college. His enlistment date: Sept 10, 2001. Colin is still over in Iraq as far as I know, and during the ‘04 election was encouraging his family to re-elect the president, as a show of support for the troops. I’ve never talked to Colin myself, though I’ve watched him grow up from a distance through the years. But lately, I feel the need to pray for his safety.
Anyway, this war is such a depressing subject I can’t write about it for too long. I do have an incredible website to recommend, though. It is a deceptively simple animated timeline of Iraq War Coalition Fatalities since March 20, 2003. Press the red button, and just watch. And for heaven’s sake, if anyone has a solution to this mess, please speak up!
August 11th, 2005 at 10:46 pm
Well living in London where we had the recent bombings the general view is troops out now…as it was in the Irish struggle. As you know in Ireland the troops stayed and the ‘troubles’ continued. They used a similar argument if we withdraw troops from Ireland there would be a bloody war…what did they have there anyway!!!!!
I was in Edinburgh for G8 (where else would I be!) There was a moving demo which ended up on top of a hill overlooking the city. Here all the names of the known dead - mainly people in Iraq was read out. It sent me through a flood of diff emotions/ideas. The main one being we are not helping anyone by being there! My main fear now is the anti Iran stuff that is going on in the papers in England, it was how the prepared us for the Iraq war. PEACE and love and fighting for a better world…Ann
August 17th, 2005 at 9:07 am
Hi Ann, glad you got to the G8. I wish the Iraq war was more analagous to the England/Ireland struggle, at least geographically. Then at least we would have more options for what to do, and not as many pesky border nations able to keep things in turmoil. But it’s just looking pretty tragically bleak at the moment, especially factoring in what Bush’s dirty little war is doing to our economy. It will take us decades to recover, I’m afraid.
I share your concern about the anti-Iran sentiment going around, almost as much as I am concerned about the corrupt mullahs running that country right now. Blair certainly seems to be going down the Bush path after the London bombings, sad to say. But again, all roads lead back to the fact that if we had actual intelligent leaders in this country, the future for all of us would look a whole lot better.
August 18th, 2005 at 8:53 am
I just saw a recent Daily Show episode where Jon Stewart (one of my heroes) interviewed Seymour Hersh. Hersh says in no uncertain terms, we need to get out now. So as much as I hate the thought of us leaving Iraq totally trashed and in the throes of civil war, with women’s rights down the toilet, maybe getting the hell out is the best thing we can do at this point. Anyone?