I can't really avoid commenting somewhat on this whole stupid "war" thing, much as I would like to. I spend most of my time sticking my head in the sand and trying to pretend that it doesn't exist. I can't tell if I'm relieved or dismayed that it really doesn't seem to affect my life in any way except at the gas station. And I begin to wonder just how much my world-view differs from people in the rest of the country. Do Americans really support this war? Or is the news lying to us?
See, I'm turning into a conspiracy theorist more and more every time I listen to the news. This morning, for example, I heard on the BBC news (the only news that I really listen to, because bad news seems more palatable when delivered in a calm, swoony accent) that apparently we're liberating the Iraqi people from a tyrannical despot. Which is odd, because three weeks ago, I thought we were just going to "get in and get out" in about a week to make sure that Iraqis didn't have and couldn't make weapons of mass destruction. I'm a bit dismayed that our agenda has changed coincidentally at the same time as the military realized it's going to be a longer war than they thought.
They keep changing the reason that we're at war. This worries me. Lots. See, the more they change their mind, the longer they'll be there, killing people. And I do say 'they' because I have less respect for people who voluntarily joined the military than I do for well-endowed women who pretend to be stupid. I've never agreed with anything the military stands for and I don't think "defending our country" should equal "tromping all over the globe to stomp on anyone who has different values, particularly if they're brown." I'm happy and proud to be a bleeding liberal, and I'm ashamed that mankind hasn't come up with a better way to solve political differences over the last X-thousand years than killing people. Usually people who die have very little to do with anything anyway. The only time I think violence is acceptable is in defense, and even then I've still got issues.
I'm thoroughly disgusted with the fact that this twit in the President's chair has done this. (He's not my President - I didn't vote for him, nor did a clear majority of my countrymen.) And no, I don't think W did it alone; I doubt he's that bright; I think Daddy Bush is behind it all. The Republicans are turning the world into their toy, making a disastrous mess of everything, and then they'll lose the next election and leave the Democrats to clean it all up which they won't be able to, and the conservative backlash will be even worse than in the 80s, with the Christian Right back, only this time totally propped up with terrifying corporate power.
Yes, I'm getting seriously paranoid.
Do you blame me?
What can the possible outcome of this "war" be anyway? The Iraqi people will kneel and kiss our feet in thanks for liberating them from a tyrant? Or do you think maybe the Islamic groups will just get even more frightened and aggressive, and resort to more terrorist attacks? Isn't terrorism in the eye of the beholder? Weren't the Native Americans defending their homelands against the Europeans settlers doing the same thing the Iraqis are? It's all going to get so much worse after this, when no country feels safe from the stomping big boots of American Defenders. Everyone will hate us. More than the already do. And with good reason; I hate us. Those fuckers are messing up the country I live in. The world I want to have children in. The place where I keep all my stuff.
Mostly thought, I'm just sad. I can't do anything, and it's tiring to be angry and helpless. So I'm sad. Sad that it's all about who has the bigger cock, who has the most money, who can stop other people from doing what they want to do. No, I don't think Saddam Hussein is a good leader, and I do think assassinating him would probably be a good plan. But I don't think we needed to declare war on a whole country or bomb an ancient city into smithereens or kill civilians however "accidentally." I think of the people in Baghdad who couldn't flee, of the reports of women eight or more months pregnant in line trying to get a Caesarian before the war started, of all the poor people with no where to go, of those who don't want to fight and are caught between two armies, one defending their home and one doing god-only-knows since the agenda changes every few days. And I'm filled with despair.