August 26, 2003
The Mess We're In
Harley Sorenson has a column up called Saving Face, Losing A War. And it pretty neatly covers the crux of our problem with the situation in Iraq. And while the article discusses some of the strategic failures, those can't be fixed until we can deal with the honesty problem:
"Bring 'em on," the man said. He is not a brave man, but he plays one on television.
..."Bring 'em on," the man said, puffing up his chest. And they did bring 'em on, one bomb at a time, one rocket-propelled grenade at a time, one rifle shot at a time, so terrifying to a relative of mine that she cried herself to sleep every night she was there.
...Then we send the dead young people home to their parents and brothers and sisters and grandparents and other relatives and friends, and we send pretty flags with them, and handsome men in uniform, and we call the dead young people heroes.
We call them heroes because they're dead. If they were still alive, we'd be angling to reduce their combat pay and trying to figure out a way to close the hospitals they'll be entitled to use if they survive. ...
Body and Soul points out that while our troops can't hold back the rising tide of crime in Iraq, they had time to arrest the leader of a nascent labor movement in the process of breaking up a peaceful demonstration.
Josh Marshall talks about a plan to resurrect an oil pipeline from Kirkuk to Haifa. I can only think of one thing that would infuriate the Turks even more than letting the Kurds have Kirkuk's oil, and that would have to be letting the Israelis have it.
Avedon Carol has a lot of fun joining MWO in womping Kaus and Lowry, as well as wondering whether or not certain members of the political press corps are too inclined to take the official line at face value.
And in the case of another grim situation, this time on the home front, Mother Jones covers the Bush administration furious under the radar attacks on the environment.
Prepare for fresh outrages this Friday.
Posted by natasha at August 26, 2003 04:06 PM | TrackBack