Predictions for 2007: doesn't look good

I remember when Bush proclaimed the Iraq war to be over. Remember the cheesy suit? The carefully staged fighter pilot wannabe setting? He took a page out of Top Gun and unbelievably enough, people swallowed it.

The Iraq war, needless to say, was nowhere close to finished that day. Friends are still going to the front lines - recently a good friend's husband of a few months went to Iraq, leaving her behind -- and war goes on. There is a proverb: It is easy to light a fire, but hard to put it out. That is the truth behind war. It seems that we never learn.

Here are Kiplinger's predictions for the war in 2007. The death of Saddam Hussein changes nothing, according to Kiplinger. It was just another act of barbarism in a senseless world, according to Yellow-Dog Democrat. A lynching, according to Baghdad Burning. Today we reached a death toll of 3,000 U.S. troops. My prayer for 2007? For peace, for an end to occupation, for an end to U.S. Imperialism and for a new beginning.

Let there be peace, and let it begin with me...

Barbarians

Saddam Hussein was hung today, after a “fair trial” for the deaths of 148 Iraqis. Death toll from Iraq war to date: 52,139 (min. count). Who will hang for this? And will there be a “fair trial”? War is the stupidest thing on earth, only to be bested in its stupidity by our politicians who put our brave men and women’s lives on the line for political bullshit.

Words I Wish I'd Written Myself

From Barak Obama, senator from Illinois:

The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

Making Strides

I believe in feminism; I believe in women having rights. But road signs that eliminate sexism? I don’t think this is the sort of thing to worry about. Let’s focus on something a bit more substantial; spousal abuse, perhaps?

Network Neutrality

Here's an article about the current fight in Congress about keeping neutrality on the Internet. Moveon.org, of course, has a campaign going as well.

Another great post...

from Baghdad Burning:

Today they [Iranian clerics] rule the country. Over the duration of three years, and through the use of vicious militias, assassinations and abductions, they’ve managed to install themselves firmly in the Green Zone. We constantly hear our new puppets rant and rave against Syria, against Saudi Arabia, against Turkey, even against the country they have to thank for their rise to power- America… But no one dares to talk about the role Iran is planning in the country…

Cowards

I have been reading a lot about retired generals and their comments about both the Iraq war and Donald Rumsfeld and this is what I have to say about them.

Cowards.

Yes, I mean cowards. I find it unbelievably offensive that these men, with all their power and influence, waited three years to express their opinions. They waited until public sentiment turned against the war before they stood up to say something. They didn’t get any backlash from friends or family or the public in general for openly stating their opinions before this Vietnam-like mire of a war. Oh no. They waited three years. They retired. They waited for public opinion to turn. So, essentially, now that it is basically too late to really change anything, they are standing up to say, “Wow, this war was really poorly planned and we should never have done it, but (wait, what did Newbold say?) ‘while I don’t accept the stated rationale for invading Iraq, my view–at the moment–is that a precipitous withdrawal would be a mistake.’”

So why bother saying anything at all?

This is what I have to say to these generals:

Where were you in the fury of patriotism before the war, when any dissent would have been a death knoll to your career?

Where were you when General Shinseki risked his?

Where were you when protesters lined the streets, saying this was a bad idea?

Where were you when so many people suggested that Iraqi culture was very different from ours, and that keeping tribes and warlords and religious sects from killing each other might be more difficult than shouting “Hoowah” and bombing the heck out of the place?

Okay, so you don’t want to do anything about the war, you just want Rummy out. And your ideal replacement is — Joseph Lieberman? Are you insane? Lieberman is Jewish. Have you not noticed there is, um, a little bit of rancor between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East? Or that some saw this war as “pro-Israel” before it even started? What better way to unleash a fury from Palestine and other Arab countries, who would see that a Jewish leader was directing the Iraqi war.

Here are a few comments I received when I stated that I did not think the Iraq war was a good idea back in 2003 (and my thoughts regarding those comments):

“If you don’t like our country, go back to Japan.” Never mind that I was born here

“Stop sending me anti-American e-mails. I believe our president is a God-fearing man who prays and God is directing his actions.” Of course, thinking comes secondary to prayer.

“Please tell Missy not to send me any more unpatriotic articles. They are just upsetting.” I find 2,000 dead soldiers upsetting, too.

I have never understood why opposing a war is unpatriotic. We have learned the hard way that starting a war is easy and ending it is hard. I have always felt, and will continue to feel, that starting a war is not something to be done blindly because the lives of many, many people are at stake. If I think my country’s leaders are entering into war for the wrong reasons, or even if they choose not to justify their reasons to me, then it is my patriotic duty to oppose them.

Yes, I marched against the war in the spring of 2003. Yes, I wrote letters to my friends and family, urging them to oppose the war. Yes, I wrote to my congressman and whoever else I thought would listen, asking for them to stop, to wait, to gain support from our allies, to make sure the war was justified, and I did all of these things at cost to myself and to my reputation in the eyes of my friends and family, many of whom are military or former military. And, after the war started, I stopped protesting, because there was nothing left to be done. Nothing. And why beat a dead horse? I had my say and it was ignored, and three years later, all I could possibly do now is to say is “I told you so.” Which doesn’t mean a whole lot when people are dying over there, and thus I don’t bother saying it.

It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon now. I agree that we cannot simply withdraw from Iraq — it would be too dangerous to leave an unstable country in that region. But I don’t think changing the guard is going to change anything — except perhaps salve the consciences of those who said too little, too late.

Baghdad Burning

Riverbend, a nameless woman in Iraq, writes:

The thing most worrisome about the situation now, is that discrimination based on sect has become so commonplace. For the average educated Iraqi in Baghdad, there is still scorn for all the Sunni/Shia talk. Sadly though, people are being pushed into claiming to be this or that because political parties are promoting it with every speech and every newspaper- the whole ‘us’ / ‘them’. We read constantly about how ‘We Sunnis should unite with our Shia brothers…’ or how ‘We Shia should forgive our Sunni brothers…’ (note how us Sunni and Shia sisters don’t really fit into either equation at this point). Politicians and religious figures seem to forget at the end of the day that we’re all simply Iraqis…Three years after the war, and we’ve managed to move backwards in a visible way, and in a not so visible way. (From “Uncertainty” posted March 28, 2006)

Congratulations to Riverbend for her new book, which is longlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction.

Red Meat

Recently Marti has introduced me to a new way of procrastinating: the McVideo game. This is a game where the player gets to learn how to succeed as a fast food restaurant. Players must raise cattle (preferably by clearcutting rainforests — it’s cheaper) add industrial waste, hormones and animal byproducts to fodder, buy off politicians and nutritionists, and market to kids and hippies. It’s actually very difficult to play — neither of us have made it much past about 12 years or so. We don’t compare to the 50 years of most fast food restaurants. This game, of course, is to illustrate how awful the industry is — mad cows must be shot, epidemics stopped, health inspectors paid off, etc. It should encourage me to stop eating red meat. It just makes me feel guilty, though, and not guilty enough to stop. After all, the 3rd world is far away now, and beef is goood.

I’ve decided that eating red meat is a lot like premarital sex. Those who abstain are smug; they are never going to get any awful, debilitating diseases as a result of their personal choices. But those who do eat meat give this response: “Mmmmmmmm!” Pretty much exactly the same for premarital sex.

I’ve been a vegetarian off and on throughout my life. I really, really want to be a vegetarian, but it’s hard to imagine the rest of my life with no turkey at Thanksgiving, no summer sausage, no medium rare rib-eye steak so tender it can be cut with a fork. It’s just not possible. I don’t eat a lot of meat, but when I do eat it…I like it to be worth the global warming.

The longest I was ever a vegetarian was my freshman and sophomore years at college. I became a vegetarian because I had anger management problems, and I honestly thought that changing my diet (no, I did not consult Tom Cruise) would help me to be a calmer person. It’s possible that it did, because it also made me very tired — one reason I’ve never been able to stick to a vegetarian diet. But I ate absolutely no meat for about 10 months. Part of this time I was in Iowa, land of pork and beef, and Iowans were traumatized by this anomaly. Honestly, people were really freaked out because I was a vegetarian (and I had a nose ring). I mean, in Seattle, I wouldn’t even have been worth noticing, not unless I had dyed my pubic hair purple, set it on fire and run through the city center. Even then I would have only gotten a blurb, probably in one of the independent papers. But we weren’t in Seattle anymore, Toto. Oh no. We were in Ames.

One good Iowan friend of mine, Seth, has never forgiven me for asking to go to a vegetarian restaurant on our first date. He was a typical Iowan — substantial, with rosy cheeks and a healthy glow, probably due to eating large amounts of meat and potatoes from a young age. He drove an old car (by old I mean vintage, antique, you know, old and expensive), kept Reeses Pieces in a bowl next to his computer in his dorm room, and forcibly reminded me of my father. I’m sure they are cut from the exact same mould. Nevertheless, I took him to this “new agey” coffee shop that featured eggplant in many of its dishes. I remember the look of horror as he stared at the menu and asked, “Isn’t there anything with, you know, meat in it?” He still reminds me of this experience from time to time, even though we are both married to other people and have only seen each other twice since 1995. It was a full meal without meat, of any kind. Not even baco-bits. He may never recover.

I, on the other hand, am a shameless hypocrite. I know that meat — particularly red meat — is bad. Poor ranching practices ruin rangeland here and elsewhere; methane-producing cows add to global warming; precious forests and rainforests are cut down so cows can graze, and valuable grains go to feed the cattle. E-coli, listeria, mad cow disease — all meat-related. All I can say to this however, is —

“Mmmmmmmmm.”

Too Good to Pass Up

Here’s a link to the story about VP Dick “Dick” Cheney, who, in a rush of adrenaline from shooting captive quail released specifically for his shooting pleasure, put a bead on the birds and swung around and shot his partner, a 78-year-old Texas lawyer.

Let’s hope there isn’t a “red button” for nukes in the White House anymore, and if there is, Dick “Dick” Cheney has limited proximity.