Proportion in Iraq
Are two deaths more to be regretted than one, and three deaths more than two, and so forth? Some people, especially those with political agendas, might say not so and that where death is concerned, any number is to be mourned equally. But I don't see that at all, and I think, while sending the 4,000 young Americans to early deaths was horrible enough, the million or so Iraqi deaths with the accompanying even greater number of maimings and dislocations should always be mentioned first and with a proportionate amount of mourning and outrage.
But human nature being what it is, Americans invariably focus first on their own deaths and in ways that suggest they see that as being the main tragedy of Iraq, if any. This attitude must be a carryover from primitive times, when humans had not yet coalesced into the huge, overwhelming, and, frankly, unsightly mass that now covers the earth in the strips and patches that are unlucky enough to be able to accommodate them. Instead they existed only in groups of various sizes and were so widely separated from each other that each group was absolutely certain that they were the only people on the planet. And even though they've long since found that they are not, something keeps them from being able to drop that conceit.
I guess more time has to go by before that badly skewed outlook in any national group is righted and the true perspective is recognized. Meanwhile the big problem for us and for others is that, as long as they see things only from their end of the gun barrel, Americans will continue to try to shrug off their responsibility for having allowed the Bush Administration to set off this incredible tragedy in Iraq and to keep adding to it. In addition this helps set the stage for the next chapter of the same kind of catastrophe, maybe in Iran, just as Bush and Iraq already had their model in the actions of another Republican, Nixon, who likewise threw open the door for disaster in Cambodia.
"What does that matter?" some good Americans will think, "as long as it doesn't happen here."
But even in human affairs, sooner or later pendulums tend to swing back the other way, and that should be additional cause for concern from Maine to Hawaii.
"Man proposes, but God disposes," an old saying goes. And right now a just and merciful God surely has serious doubts about a country that has allowed itself to be under the sway of people who, out of the most baseless and perverse of motives, instigated a calamity of this magnitude upon another country, and in this case a much smaller one. And now it seriously compounds that error by seeing nothing obscene in the proposal that that administration be replaced with another headed by a man who has promised to keep that crime going for another four years or more, all in the name of a concept that, in Iraq, has become not only thoroughly debased but also has been pushed far out of the realm of any rational possibility: victory.
Actually, from any standpoint, the Bush invasion was a defeat the moment the first U.S. Army tires touched the sands of Iraq.
But human nature being what it is, Americans invariably focus first on their own deaths and in ways that suggest they see that as being the main tragedy of Iraq, if any. This attitude must be a carryover from primitive times, when humans had not yet coalesced into the huge, overwhelming, and, frankly, unsightly mass that now covers the earth in the strips and patches that are unlucky enough to be able to accommodate them. Instead they existed only in groups of various sizes and were so widely separated from each other that each group was absolutely certain that they were the only people on the planet. And even though they've long since found that they are not, something keeps them from being able to drop that conceit.
I guess more time has to go by before that badly skewed outlook in any national group is righted and the true perspective is recognized. Meanwhile the big problem for us and for others is that, as long as they see things only from their end of the gun barrel, Americans will continue to try to shrug off their responsibility for having allowed the Bush Administration to set off this incredible tragedy in Iraq and to keep adding to it. In addition this helps set the stage for the next chapter of the same kind of catastrophe, maybe in Iran, just as Bush and Iraq already had their model in the actions of another Republican, Nixon, who likewise threw open the door for disaster in Cambodia.
"What does that matter?" some good Americans will think, "as long as it doesn't happen here."
But even in human affairs, sooner or later pendulums tend to swing back the other way, and that should be additional cause for concern from Maine to Hawaii.
"Man proposes, but God disposes," an old saying goes. And right now a just and merciful God surely has serious doubts about a country that has allowed itself to be under the sway of people who, out of the most baseless and perverse of motives, instigated a calamity of this magnitude upon another country, and in this case a much smaller one. And now it seriously compounds that error by seeing nothing obscene in the proposal that that administration be replaced with another headed by a man who has promised to keep that crime going for another four years or more, all in the name of a concept that, in Iraq, has become not only thoroughly debased but also has been pushed far out of the realm of any rational possibility: victory.
Actually, from any standpoint, the Bush invasion was a defeat the moment the first U.S. Army tires touched the sands of Iraq.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 11:11 PM
1 Comments:
That has never been my point of view. I believe (and have caught a lot of flack over it) that we are supposed to be 'the Good Guys', the guys in white hats, who stand for truth, justice, and the American Way. (Yea, yea, I know I stole it from Superman). But that does not mean that we are more important than anyone else. To me, it actually means we are LESS important than some others. I have been asked "What if Saddam had had WMDs and had used them against us? What if the number of dead were caused by an attack on this country by Iraq?" My response? "At least the US would not have lost its dignity over the dead. Sometimes it is better to die with pride, while free and without the stain of persecution on your soul." Again, most seem to think that I am insane.
And I do think the people of Iraq are as important as the Americans. Which is why I am concerned that if we pull our troops, their lives will be much worse than it is now or than it was under Saddam.
PLUS, women in the AF are now called Airman (or Sergeant as I was). Chowhalls are now called dining facilities. And there are women in most career fields, yes, they are on the line (if the line you are referring to is the flight line) many are running them.
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