| Ego Buster |
| KARIM KADIRI | |||
|
Well a bipartisan commission has deemed this war “unwinnable” and our right wing friends simply do not like or agree with this finding! If you’ve been listening to folks like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others you must certainly have enjoyed the name they have given the ISG; they are of course calling it the Iraq surrender group instead of its rightful name “the Iraq study group”. I think that we all now what is happening at this stage of the game; the most fervent wing of the pompous right is having a hellish time hearing the dreaded words, America lost or is losing. After all these people elected Bush twice in a row for his John Wayne, cow-boy ways. They wanted a man who spoke to their dreams of infinite toughness, a president that would stand up to the world community as the new sheriff if town. He was to realize their dream of supremacy and world domination. For months and years we heard words and slogans of pride flooding the airwaves, the republicans and all the right-wingers were in power heaven evoking at every turn how America was the lone ranger in this wilderness, a lone super power that was to rule over savages in the Middle-East and elsewhere with an iron fist. They were going to reshuffle the cards and redraw maps as they taught the world the meaning of American freedom and democracy (come hell or high water). Things of course did not work quite as planned. Recently on a nudge from Bush, Israel attacked Lebanon supposedly because of two kidnapped soldiers. The idea of course was that this was a golden opportunity to destroy this little nuisance called Hezbollah. We all know what happened there, many innocent people died on both sides as the US dragged its feet calling for a cease-fire; the irony there being that the US had to call for stoppage to a battle it fomented while acting as a country looking for lasting peace (what a sick joke). We now have to face the reality that is Iraq! The choices are technically whether to admit defeat now or later. It does seem like Bush would rather drag this on until another president has to take the inevitable step towards ending this mess. My sadness comes when thinking of all the additional victims that will needlessly perish on all sides. Young American soldiers are dying daily and those who do ultimately survive this ordeal will be scarred for life. Let us look at all the damage done by this administration: - They have caused the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. - They bombed and destroyed infrastructure of a country that never attacked them. - They created a civil war and fragmented a country for no reason - They gave rise to more terrorism by initiating the birth of new cells and organizations. - They made America and Americans the enemy and therefore less safe around the globe. … and all of it for what?! Now talk show how hosts like Bill O’Reilly will still try to defend their country’s actions no matter what! When squeezed for intelligent answers concerning this Iraq fiasco they are quick to retort with stumpers such as “do you not want America to win?” Most liberals find themselves at a loss for a viable answer that would not land them in jail, have them deported or shunned from society. If I were prompted I would simply answer no! I also would not want my best friend to “win” in a bar fight that he would’ve initiated for no reason. I would want him to lose and hopefully learn a lesson that could serve him better in a long run. - I do not want any country or government that commits aggression against another to win! - I did not want Al Qaeda to win or get away with its crimes on September the eleventh. - I did not want Saddam’s army to succeed in its invasion of Kuwait and so forth… In the sad reality of things there is nothing to win in this case! Most sensible people thought and said so at the outset for this war. Even George Bush senior had stated in his book (after being criticized for not “finishing the job” in ninety one) that there was no viable exit strategy once we were in. Being a so-called super power does not mean you are unbeatable. Your powers are not boundless and you have responsibilities toward your citizens. Your obligations are to utilise your tax revenues to the betterment of the nation and not to squander them in the name of self-defense when there are absolutely no threats to your borders (especially when millions can’t afford healthcare or adequate higher education). If the fifties England had attempted the same type of charade in Egypt, a country it deemed an easy target. The stakes then were the Suez Canal and all that came with it. Today we may be talking about oil, although no one’s too sure what the real reasons are. England as we all know ended up losing badly despite involving allies such as France and Israel. The results were devastating for Great-Britain as it came near bankruptcy at the end of the conflict. America could have also learned from the very recent debacle in Vietnam or from the mistakes of others (Russian invasion of Afghanistan) and avoided this catastrophe, but it really thought itself different and invincible. The republicans had their chance at leading with their machismo, arrogance and feelings of supremacy, let’s hope that the democrats will show more humility and wisdom; only then will America have a chance to regain the stature, image and “charisma” it once held in not such a distant past.
Bookmark
Email this
Hits: 419 Comments (0)
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
