Incredibly, it’s been five years since the invasion of Iraq, and there are, as yet, no signs that this war/occupation will be coming to an end any time soon. The most 
incredible part is this: something like two-thirds of the American people want us out of Iraq, as do a large majority of the Iraqi people (not that anyone cares what they think – shut up and be grateful, damned foreigners!). And yet we’re obviously not bringing the troops home – quite the opposite. Congress is lukewarm on the idea of a change in policy, and the administration is just plain smug about their refusal to bring this disaster to a close. Confronted with the polling data, Cheney just smirked and said that it didn’t matter. We’ve even seen Bush going around opining that there’s something romantic about being dispatched to the Afghan frontier, and that he wish he were younger so he could do it himself (my ass!). Why aren’t these people run out of town on a rail? Why is it “politically risky” to advocate a timeline for withdrawal when it’s favored by 60% of the American public?
Are you waiting for an answer? I haven’t got one I can fit in this blog entry. Let’s just mark it down to the “Cokie Effect” – pop culture conventional wisdom. It was pretty much set in stone during the Reagan years that America is right, right, always right, never ever wrong. Any politician, journalist, or public intellectual who suggests otherwise is hung out to dry, accused of hating this country, despising our troops, etc. So the impetus is on pretending that we’ve never done anyone or anything wrong, that we walk around on tip-toe, that we make war with the best of intentions, and that we have consistently been a force for good in the world. That, of course, is a lie, but a very comforting one, and no one wants to rain on the parade. It’s not a ticket to popularity, as you might have guessed. Nevertheless, some are willing to stick their necks out.
That is what makes the Winter Soldier project so remarkable. Like its predecessor organization during the Vietnam war, these are individuals who were thrown into the abyss of war and are now driven to make their stories known to the rest of us – the vast majority of Americans who remain untouched by this unspeakably brutal experience. Not surprisingly, this project has received zero – I mean zero – coverage in the corporate media. Not a single word in my local newspaper, and from what I understand, no coverage at all in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, etc. These folks do not fit the paradigm – Cokie would not know what to do with them at all. We want to support the troops, but hell…. not if they tell the truth about the war!! So coverage has been limited to shows like Democracy Now! and the Web. On this grim fifth anniversary, I encourage you to listen to some of this testimony, to take a look back and remind yourself of what’s being done in our name and on our dime, and to support these brave soldiers who are doing more for American democracy than Rumsfeld could ever have dreamed possible.
Oh, and happy Easter, earth mother goddess.
luv u,
jp
flabbergasting, I must admit. With the coincidence of daylight savings time starting last Sunday, I kept wondering all week if I were merely sleepwalking and that things would be less bizarre when I finally came to, but no… this was the week that was. You’ve heard way too much about the Spitzer thing, I’m sure, and I will not add any weight to that burden other than to briefly visit one event that took place last weekend. It was the annual Gridiron dinner, a “press yucks it up with the President” type of affair. Bush was there, singing a clumsily satirical version of “The Green, Green Grass of Home” (penned by someone on the public payroll, no doubt) in which he made light of some of his administration’s most monumental failings, from the circumstances surrounding the deliberate distortion of intelligence in the lead-up to the Iraq war, to Hurricane Katrina. Spitzer was in the room, by that time well aware that his political goose was cooked, and I can only wonder what ran through his head as he listened to mister 15 percent yodeling his way to the end of a disastrous presidency, not a care in the world.
What a media spectacle this year is turning out to be. As the final fragments of plaster fall from the edifice that is imperial America, Bush is seen gleefully tap-dancing, breaking into song, and waxing poetic on the “romance” of combat in Afghanistan. And what of the man – the anointed successor – who will inherit Bush’s wars, his recession, his crumbling federal infrastructure? Well, McCain represents nothing so much as a third Bush term, one that will carry the expanded powers of the executive to a new and dangerous magnitude of “unitary” authority. The only difference may be that, whereas Bush is as unfeeling as a hollow tin soldier, McCain passionately believes in the necessity and efficacy of war. And if he and his advisors may be taken at their word, a McCain administration will mean more foreign interventions, more military action, and more international brinkmanship with respect to countries that can actually fight back, like Russia and China.
substantial number of children), and – predictably – Palestinian militants have struck back, shooting up a seminary in Jerusalem, killing 8. Is anyone surprised by this? Olmert’s policy of “isolating Hamas” (i.e. strangling Gaza to death) has elicited the kind of violent response that Israeli politicians pray for – the kind they can use to justify the very policy that provoked the response in the first place. And as the situation goes septic, what is more appropriate than having Condi Rice stroll through the wreckage of yet another Bush policy? As in the case of the Lebanon war two years ago, this consummate diplomat has refrained from calling for a ceasefire, uttering the usual platitudes about Israel’s right to self-defense and the importance of sparing civilian lives, when possible. Yes, we’ve been here before, and we’ve yet to see a military attack that the Bush administration wouldn’t at least tacitly endorse.
I’ve covered this ground before, I know, but I think it’s worth saying again. Amongst any people denied nationhood, denied basic freedoms, denied livelihood and frequently even life itself by a hostile occupying power, there will always be individuals and groups who will resort to heinous acts such as took place at that Jerusalem seminary. The more pressure is put on that oppressed population, the more a sense of hopelessness is engendered in them, the more likely it is that those incidents will take place. Consider the Israeli government’s consistent line on this. There have been no similar attacks within Israel in what, four years? Olmert and company mostly attribute this to their loathsome apartheid barrier, but it’s clear that no matter how massive a wall you build, you cannot stop a truly determined person. Their considered reaction is to accuse the Palestinian Authority – their Palestinians – of not doing enough to fight extremists. If there are no attacks, as during the past few years, it’s not because of the Palestinians, it’s because of the wall. This is a game the Palestinians know they can never win.