You are NOT on the DirtyGreek.Org homepage. Please CLICK HERE to go there.
 Today is the one-year anniversary of the war. There are tons of protests going on, and I just wanted to state that I haven't wavered a bit about this war. I still think it was a bad idea, I still think that our government made a huge mistake, and I still think they purposely lied to get support for it.
Take all of that for what it's worth, and read this from Riverbend."I'm feeling irritable and angry today. It's exactly a year since the war on Iraq began and it seems to be weighing heavily on everyone.
Last year, on this day, the war started during the early hours of the morning. I wasn't asleep… I hadn't slept since Bush's ultimatum a couple of days before. It wasn't because I was scared but because I didn't want to be asleep when the bombs started falling. The tears started falling with the first few thuds. I'm not very prone to tears, but that moment, a year ago today, I felt such sorrow at the sound of those bombs. It was a familiar feeling because it wasn't, after all, the first time America was bombing us. It didn’t seem fair that it was such a familiar feeling.
I felt horrible that Baghdad was being reduced to rubble. With every explosion, I knew that some vital part of it was going up in flames. It was terrible and I don't think I'd wish it on my worst enemy. That was the beginning of the 'liberation'… a liberation from sovereignty, a certain sort of peace, a certain measure of dignity. We've been liberated from our jobs, and our streets and the sanctity of our homes… some of us have even been liberated from the members of our family and friends.
...
And where are we now? Well, our governmental facilities have been burned to the ground by a combination of 'liberators' and 'Free Iraqi Fighters'; 50% of the working population is jobless and hungry; summer is looming close and our electrical situation is a joke; the streets are dirty and overflowing with sewage; our jails are fuller than ever with thousands of innocent people; we've seen more explosions, tanks, fighter planes and troops in the last year than almost a decade of war with Iran brought; our homes are being raided and our cars are stopped in the streets for inspections… journal (`entry_id`,`time`,`title`,`body`,`topic`,`description`,`delicious`) ists are being killed 'accidentally' and the seeds of a civil war are being sown by those who find it most useful; the hospitals overflow with patients but are short on just about everything else- medical supplies, medicine and doctors; and all the while, the oil is flowing.
But we've learned a lot. We've learned that terrorism isn't actually the act of creating terror. It isn't the act of killing innocent people and frightening others… no, you see, that's called a 'liberation'. It doesn't matter what you burn or who you kill- if you wear khaki, ride a tank or Apache or fighter plane and drop missiles and bombs, then you're not a terrorist- you're a liberator.
The war on terror is a joke… Madrid was proof of that last week… Iraq is proof of that everyday.
I hope someone feels safer, because we certainly don't. |
So, she's obviously happy with the invasion, eh? I bet that Riverbend was one of the first of the thousands that were waiting on the liberators with rose petals. You know, when I read things like this it just makes me so angry. We're sitting here in the U.S. being told by our government that the Iraqis are all better off, and that they're happier and are on their way to a democratic government. In the meantime, the Iraqis are saying that they've actually made things worse. They're railing against the puppet government that is being installed. They're trying to find jobs and clean up their cities. Without our "liberation," none of this would be a problem.
I understand that it's only some Iraqis and not all who are upset. I know Saddam had to go. There's no doubt to that. But maybe, just maybe, the Iraqis themselves knew better than we did when the time would be right to liberate themselves. Maybe, just maybe, being halfway around the world and having no actual knowlege of the intricacies of a culture that's been around FAR longer than ours sort of makes it difficult for us to know what is best for the Iraqis.
Maybe. Of course, there's no reason anymore for us to think that liberation was the first thing on the minds of the folks who carried out this invasion. Perhaps at first there was, but there's no doubt in my mind now that there was a completely different motive.
Just don't forget that the US government may have succeeded in separating us from some of our allies, many of our important alliances remain strong.
|
