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30 de Marzo, 2008
The Invaders Press On
Categorized under Derechos Humanos , Guerra , Iraq the Casbah , Política Estados Unidos , When the Right is SO wrong | Tags: hypocrisy, Iraq, Support the Truth
IF WE STEP BACK a moment from our ethnocentric surety and simply think out what it might mean to be INVADED by another nation, no not simply bombed once and let be to work our economy and feelings of unity and national safety out as we all have (supposedly) done in the last seven years—but bombed and bombed and rocketed and strifed and then OCCUPIED for years—if we think this out, then it sort of becomes gruesome to condemn Iraqis (whether we call them "insurgents" or "Sadr Supporters" or "sandniggers") for fighting back. It seems grotesque, even, to condemn Iran for helping Al Sadr, if that's what is really happening. After all, if the United States of America were suddenly invaded by Russia, for example (or if you're feeling the China-Fear, go ahead and imagine them, yeah, better them, better someone who currently seems more Otherly to the nation, as we surely must seem to Iraq), whomever you want to imagine strutting their military camo through our streets, go ahead. Whomever you want to envision sleeping in the White House after ousting our own government, go ahead. But if we were invaded, tanks rolling down our streets, women raped, museums robbed empty, statues felled, families bombed out of homes, fire and explosions in our public squares every day, and yet told constantly that it was all for our own good, even while mass graves were being uncovered and diseases were spreading and water was drying up and electricity rarely working—even after five years of promises...wouldn't we want Mexico or Canada to help? Wouldn't we praise them with every breath if they were sneaking our insurgency weapons and food and cash? I'm finding it hard to condemn Iran for coming to the aid of Iraq! We imply it with fury as if that makes their aid criminal. Hello? We are the criminals. Let's not get confused. You do remember, of course, Geneva? Nuremberg? You do recall that we had no right to invade under any standing law? You do remember the Aluminum Tubing lie? The Mushroom Cloud line? The Downing Street Memo? Our leaders were never in doubt. There has been no error. None whatsoever. They knew what was going down, and they still do. We can talk coldly of playing card sets and Mahdi and Sadr and Al Qaeda and Al Maliki and Iran and IEDs and assume that anything standing in the way of our new oily installed government is Bad, but I can't see it that way. I just have to reiterate: I am for peace. But not before Justice is served. And I promise you this. If any nation invaded ours, killed our President, and then tried to prop up a government designed to favor their own massive company contracts and oil needs—no matter how much I hate Bush—I would rise up against that force. With rocks, with fire, with plans, with weapons. I would no longer be asking for peace. I would be asking for anything that would rout the invader. Because it is nobody's right nor business to come here and judge and depose our corrupt President or call our greedy government to account. That is our responsibility.
Green Zone attacks this week have killed two Americans; embassy personnel are sleeping in the thick-walled former palace of Saddam Hussein for protection.
"In the last 48 hours, we have seen more extremists," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a military spokesman in Baghdad. He said the military had killed 78 "bad guys" in the past three days. "They are violating the rule of law. They are firing rockets indiscriminately. They are criminals and terrorists, and they deserve to die."
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Comentarios (2)
Kathryn dijo:
and Republicans try to label democrats non-patriotic. Your last paragraph gave me goosebumps! I agree completely. I remember a few years ago there was some fuss over what to call the "insurgency". I still think it is most appropriate to call them freedom fighters or Iraqi Patriots. Unfortunately, the right won that framing argument.
Palabras por Kathryn spat forth on el 30 de Marzo, 2008 at 09:23 AM
hsuper dijo:
Remember that 80s Patrick Swayze movie Red Dawn? When the Cuban/Russians invaded Midwest America? The occupiers also labeled the teenaged insurgents as terrorists and criminals. The communist forces also could not figure out why their varying tactics of being nice and being mean weren't working, why more troops didn't work, why trying to vilify the insurgents didn't work.
But, of course, that was just a movie.
Palabras por hsuper spat forth on el 30 de Marzo, 2008 at 10:52 AM