posted April 12, 2003 at 10:26 p.m. MDTCommon sense is seen as anti-American? Okay, then, common-sense is anti-American. Let us now proceed.
From the troops on the streets of Iraq we hear that they are there to fight the war, with no instructions concerning police duties. So, therefore, the Great Grande Self-Proclaimed Bringers of Peace, the Pentagon, is guilty not only of abrogating international law in launching this optional war (in contravention of the United Nations' Charter) but also of disregarding their responsibilities as laid out in the Geneva Convention.
With regards the consequences of the Ba'ath Party's rule, and the presidency of Saddam Hussein, we should speak of thugism as a cult, cutlure, world-view, and approach to questions of politics. In that frame of mind we consider "Henny Penny" Rumsfeld, good old boy "Tommy" Franks, and "Jay" Garner ... do any of these hugely powerful men know anything other than armed slaughter?
The people who brought you Windows 95 (presenting it as a legitimate and valid operating system) and Enron (presenting it as a legitimate and valid corporate entity) caused even the invaluable treasure of ancient Babylon to be subjected to ruin (50,000 items disappeared from a single museum, while brave young men soldiers, armed to the teeth, merely shrug) ... have they absolute impunity? What individual believes that armed gangs have impunity before the law because they happen to be American?
Americans are actually very powerful ... perhaps they behave as a nation of cowards because they have convinced themselves that righteousness is weak ... thugs who kill the good and see no lightning, so kill again and again and again, and yet again, and yet again. [Ask around to find out what it means to be a "double veteran" ... you'll then have clue #1, if you dare open your ears and then think.]
It's a hard rain, is gonna fall.
