Ah, the curse of the well-informed is the heavy burden of the daily onslaught of bad news. I discussed this the other day with a friend and we mutually concluded that despite the psychological impact that the daily news had on us, anything less is ignorance. People occasionally remark that I am intelligent, I argue that i am merely well-informed. As my CEO once said of me to a client , "he can talk to anyone about anything at any time." But lately it is getting costlier to absorb the deluge of bad news, in fact it is starting to hurt.
Here are a few stories of the day, some new and others old but getting worse.
Iraq:
Everyone is sick of Iraq as a topic of conversation. Beyond whether we agree on the war (even if two people did they would still disagree over several aspects of it) it is a topic of great frustration. This site alone has hundreds of articles about it and everyone makes valid points. But the brutal, senseless attacks against civilians and military personnel of this week alone have left me more exasperated than ever. But instead of discussing whether I agree with Bush, whether WMD's exist or not or even if the world is a better place without Saddam, I just hate the Middle East. I absolutely despise the mentality of the entire area and I wish that we could sever all ties with any country that has a Islamic fundamentalist regime masquerading as government. I loathe the potential for conversion to extremism inherent in the muslim community and I truly believe that we can never relate to them on any level because our cultures are just too differerent. We're not better, just different. But I will say this, I truly do not give a shit about any issue that pertains to the Middle East. Even Israel, they can and do handle themselves just fine. The Palestinians are their own worst enemy and I would rather have Israeli mops clean up their entrails than ours.
The biggest issue I have with the Iraq war is that there was clearly little consideration of an exit strategy. Knowing the political climate of the Middle East did we really think we could win these people over? And how did we not recognize that our presence in Iraq would inspire neighboring nations to take some vaca days and go take some pot shots at their favorite targets, Americans?
So the clerics of Falluja condemn the attacks on American civilians as "contrary to the concept of Islam" but they do not call for an end to the attacks on Americans, do they? That is because these people hate us, they always have and they always will. It is not about gratitude, it is centuries of hatred that spans and encompasses many generations past and future. Some of the rioters cheering the charred, hung remains of slaughtered Americans were as young as 8 years old. And as for the soldiers dying every day and the people at home bitterly disputing the war (or occupation) I am torn betwen both camps because it is not a cut and dry issue.
Everyone that is arguing back home is actually "supporting the troops". A war protester is not anti-American if they want our troops to come home safe. That is supporting them. Often when a supporter of the war condemns a protester, what he is actaully saying is approve of the policy of the government that put our sons and daughters in harms way. We all support our military. And let's not forget that we do not have a draft, our soldiers want to do what they do. The caveat is as follows, they join the military under the presumed notion that their government would only call upon their services (and their mortality) in the event of a just, righteous cause that is clearly in the best interest of the USA. Does this qualify?
I have so much to say about this issue but I will spare you.
bye for now
Macdaddy