| Truth hurts; Reality bites | 09:49 am |
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The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had a video at their web site {though it seems to have disappeared} which among criticizing Bush and his policies, Republican congressmen embroiled in corruption scandals, and the overall direction the country is headed in. In criticizing the Iraq war they show an image of flag-draped coffins coming home from the warfront. Of course Republicans and even some Democrats are pissed off about this saying they've crossed the line. I think what they mean is it's an image they'd rather the public not see because it tends to make moderates wince and gives voters impetus to change the status quo.
Personally, I don't see anything wrong with it. If they were made up or exaggerated that would be different but this depicts a reality.
The war is obviously a big campaign issue and rightly so, therefore it is extremely relevant how many have died because of this war, and as such anything that conveys that message including images like this are fair game. Insensitive? Perhaps. But I notice the President had no problems using symbols like this for his election, he even used pictures from 9/11 as a sort of 'rallying cry' to battle. So I figure if the Republicans can use shocking propaganda images to further their agenda I don't see why the Democrats can't do the same thing.
As for these complaints, my feeling is that outside of political bullshit I think it makes people feel uncomfortable, maybe even a little guilty, especially those who supported the war and who no doubt now have second thoughts, even regrets.
When it comes down to it I think people need to look at these images. It's important to see what they/we signed on for. To those who are bitchin' about the pictures I say: 'you people wanted a war, you got a war, now look at it!'Feeling like:  accomplished Listening to: Nine Inch Nails ~ The Hand That Feeds |
Israel is attacking Lebanon again for a 6th day. The level of destruction is really starting to take it's toll on the entire infrastructure of a sovereign nation and all this supposedly started over the abduction of two Israeli soldiers... Can you say overkill much? I might find it more believable if it weren't for the fact that Israel admits it's had a plan for destroying Hezzbollah {the radical Shiite terrorist organization that accepted responsibility for the soldier's abduction and the recent retalitory fire of rockets into Israel} for 5 years.
Obviously Israel has had a hard-on for attacking Hezzbollah {among others} for a long time now. I can't say that I blame them considering the admitted terrorist acts Hezzbollah has committed for decades, but I must admit this does seem to be a bit of a pattern for the Israeli government. I've noticed that so many times the violence will quiet down a bit, sometimes even a cease-fire in place, then a terrorist does something drastic in Israel and this is used as a justification for Israel to react by dropping bombs, firing rockets, shelling settlements, bulldozing villages with tanks, and assassinating people. All this on the claim that the Palestinian leadership isn't doing enough to control terrorist organizations like Hamas, therefore they've got to start blowing shit up. Sometimes it seems all too convenient.
I don't know just how much control the Palestinian Authority has had over Hamas in the past, many officials and impartial experts of the conflict have said it's been rather limited — it may not be realistic to blame the Palestinian Authority for what Hamas does. This seems to have been especially true a few years back when Arafat was running the show and much of the Palestinian government infrastructure was destroyed by Israel and Arafat was a captive in his own headquarters. What's more, just what sort of message does it send to violent militants that hate you and want to kill you already when you're blowing up their country? If someone was hitting your mother and so you were hitting them back and they said they were going to keep beating your mother until she makes you stop. Would you stop, or would you kill the fucker? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Currently the political wing of Hamas runs the government so it seems fair to assume if Hamas' military wing resorts to terrorist acts or fires rockets at Israel that Hamas' political wing is somewhat responsible. However, one has to wonder if Palestinian government officials are at fault every time some low-life terrorist straps on a bomb so he can become a martyr and get his harem of 72 virgins in Heaven by blowing up a bunch of innocent people. But just this sort of blame has been lodged against the Palestinian Authority, not just today but long before Hamas was in office. I'm not sure how fair it's been to punish the Palestinian people every time some terrorist scumbag blows up innocent people. A government is not always accountable for what it's people do, now are they? Supposedly our government wasn't at fault when Tim McVeigh used terrorism to get his point across in Oklahoma. Should we assume that these suicide-bombers never act on their own? Is it possible that though they might have been loosely armed by Hamas, some of them may be a loose cannon?
Much has lead me to believe that Israel doesn't really want peace with it's neighbors anymore than it's neighbors want peace with it. It wants to be by far the most powerful, most feared, and most dominant country in the region and will do whatever it can to undermine any peace process which includes an autonomous Palestinian state and an independent Muslim region. I think the soldier's abduction was just a red herring for this overzealous attack against Lebanon. I think Israel was waiting for something drastic enough, symbolic enough to unleash their wrath in order to not only intimidate their enemies and destroy terrorist organizations, but to weaken their neighbors overall. The Prime Minister in Lebanon has said these attacks have set his country back 50 years.
For those that would seek to justify Israel's actions and say this is all necessary I'd have to ask just what do they think all this will achieve? Is more bombs, more killing, more accusations, more declarations of war whether officially or by one's actions going to bring peace? Bombs and invasions rarely bring servitude from a people, but even less does it bring tolerance.
Israel may stop it's attacks in the next few days or weeks but it must be taken into consideration that the animosity hatred doesn't go away when the bombing stops and Israel puts it's pit bull back in it's cage. Violence begets violence, it's a simple concept really and not just a bunch of hokey bleeding-heart liberal mumbo-jumbo either. You don't need a degree in world politics or sociology to understand the harsh reality of the 'cycle of violence'. So it would seem when Israel throws it's tantrums it infuriates the enemy even more, kind of like how the US bombing and occupation of Iraq encourages disgruntled Muslims to become enraged militants ready to give their own life as part of their 'war on Imperialism'. What's with all the 'isms' anyway?
Just some food for thought. The real question is now just as it has been in the past: 'How justified is Israel in it's reactions to terrorist attacks?' and 'Will Israel's aggressive tactics bring less violence & more peace?'
The current attacks in Gaza and Lebanon may be inflicting great harm on the terrorist organizations there, but they are also adding fuel to the raging fires of hate among the common folk that burns for Israel and the West. The cycle of violence continues as more and more innocent people are caught in the middle between terrorist organizations & a war-mongering state. What's more, these terrorist organizations aren't just going to go away. Even Israel admits these organizations are funded by other countries, namely Syria & Iran, and as such the money & materiál isn't going to stop. Outside of destroying every nation that is opposed to Israel and it's occupation of Palestine, and this goes for the U.S. as well, the only way to create a genuine lasting peace is to build bridges, not destroy them. Get to the root cause, which isn't the overused and patently ignorant "Muslims hate freedom", but rather the far more reasonable 'common folk hate imperialism'. Israel and the West must address the reasons why there is so much mistrust & animosity against us among Islamic countries. There might be some differences or misunderstandings about freedoms, as evidenced by the backlash against those Danish cartoons and our belief in 'freedom of the press', but the issues that are bothering the common people in Muslim countries have far less to do with religion and the concepts of liberties in other countries and far more to do with their place in this world which has long since been dominated by us.
The Bush Doctrine hasn't been going very well for us, Iraq is on the edge of civil war, the Taliban is making a comeback in Afghanistan while the government there is holed up in a few cities, Iran is defiant to build a nuclear program, and North Korea not only has nukes but defiantly tests missiles which could bring those nukes to US shores. But now just as one could expect, the Bush doctrine has obviously been embraced by a bully and ally. It has given Israel all the rationale it needs to wage this conflict. We had our 'axis of evil', the Israeli's have their 'axis of terror'. We waged war on Iraq, a fairly easy target, as part of our 'war on terror', and Israel is now waging it's war on Lebanon, also an easy target. Where it goes from here who knows, but obviously the whole region is a tinderbox and it's not just waiting for a spark, there are plenty of red hot embers there now, it's just a matter of time now for the fire to catch and engulf the entire region. How we will put out this fire remains to be seen. Bush is entirely incapable of defusing situations, he and his Neocon puppetmasters are much more adept at aggravating problems. It almost seems as if there is no hope other than if cooler heads in the region can prevail, which considering the past is about as good as a snowball's chance in hell when the air-conditioner is on the blink. The sad truth in all of this is that often once such fires take off all you can do is try to contain them and wait for them to burn themselves out after all the fuel has been consumed. With all the fuel in that region, the toll it will take in life alone will be enormous.
Even if the worst doesn't happen, things are settled, a truce is called and the dust has settled a hard reality which has been overlooked in all of this is that when you blow a couple of people up, no matter how justified the cause, you end up with tens, maybe hundreds who will seek to avenge them. That's common sense and human nature. So as we've killed tens of thousands in Iraq, and as Israel kills hundreds or more in this attack on Lebanon & Gaza how many thousands, hundreds of thousands of new enemies are being created? We will have to face them someday. Terrorist cells can be wiped out, others will replace them, terrorist leaders can be taken out, others will replace them, one terrorist organization can be destroyed but another will take it's place. If this generation doesn't do it the next one will. The animosity of those who have been brutalized doesn't just go away because the brutalizer is ready to start anew. So many will not forget, and as the weapons which can kill millions become more numerous and more difficult to track & control, those who learned to hate their oppressor at a young age will have to be reckoned with. Unless the plan is to kill 'em all, then we better take heed how we can try to reconcile things because superpower or no, there will be no victory in a war against millions of Muslims.Feeling like:  worried |
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