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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Saturday, February 14, 2004 I listened in disbelief early this morning to the CNN account of a "skirmish" in Fallujah. 20 Iraqi's, mostly policemen, were killed, while US troops did nothing to help. CNN.com printed this quote from Gen. John Abizaid, US commander in the Middle East: Friday, Abizaid told The Associated Press that Iraqis must depend less on the U.S. military, even if that means a bigger risk of violence in coming months. "We have to take risk to a certain extent, by taking our hands off the controls," he said. "It's their country, it's their future. Our job is to help them help themselves." Helping them "help themselves" sounds an awful lot to me like throwing them off the deep end of the pier and watching the trail of bubbles as they sink. [EDIT] Well, well, well. The article has been changed since I did a cut 'n' paste about 9:00 this morning, and no longer includes this quote. Darn--I really wish I had saved the earlier version of it. This attitude made absolutely no sense to me (well—it still makes no sense) until I ran across Iraq'd, a new blog by Spencer Ackerman in The New Republic Online. TNR has taken a beating recently from folk who are just a leetle bit suspicious of its true loyalties. This column may go a long way toward redeeming its reputation. Ackerman was writing in the wake of Bush's Meet the Press inteview, specifically in response to Bush's statements about Iraqi democracy."These people are committed to a pluralistic society," Bush told Russert, and there are indeed Iraqis committed to pluralism. The problem is that Bush's policies are marginalizing them. Or worse. Not only have moderates been weakened politically by the November 15 Agreement; the inability of the U.S. to provide security has led to the assassinations in Baghdad of hundreds of Iraqi intellectuals and civil servants--the backbone of Iraqi civil society, which itself would be the backbone of a potential democracy. "This works against everything we're trying to do here," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told The New York Times on Saturday. But rather than demonstrate that we're serious about the future of Iraq by renewing our offensive against the assassins, U.S. military commanders are intending to rapidly turn over security responsibilities in the city to the inadequately trained and relatively ill-equipped Iraqi police--a force of 8,000 for a city of over 5 million, which security experts consider vastly insufficient. Bush's rhetoric about terror is beginning to sound a little more valid. The tragic irony, though, is that the terror is being inflicted most intensely on the very nation that his actions were supposed to save. If I were an Iraqi policeman this morning, I might be having serious thoughts about a career change. posted by Liz @ 9:31 AM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. 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I listened in disbelief early this morning to the CNN account of a "skirmish" in Fallujah. 20 Iraqi's, mostly policemen, were killed, while US troops did nothing to help. CNN.com printed this quote from Gen. John Abizaid, US commander in the Middle East: Friday, Abizaid told The Associated Press that Iraqis must depend less on the U.S. military, even if that means a bigger risk of violence in coming months. "We have to take risk to a certain extent, by taking our hands off the controls," he said. "It's their country, it's their future. Our job is to help them help themselves." Helping them "help themselves" sounds an awful lot to me like throwing them off the deep end of the pier and watching the trail of bubbles as they sink. [EDIT] Well, well, well. The article has been changed since I did a cut 'n' paste about 9:00 this morning, and no longer includes this quote. Darn--I really wish I had saved the earlier version of it. This attitude made absolutely no sense to me (well—it still makes no sense) until I ran across Iraq'd, a new blog by Spencer Ackerman in The New Republic Online. TNR has taken a beating recently from folk who are just a leetle bit suspicious of its true loyalties. This column may go a long way toward redeeming its reputation. Ackerman was writing in the wake of Bush's Meet the Press inteview, specifically in response to Bush's statements about Iraqi democracy."These people are committed to a pluralistic society," Bush told Russert, and there are indeed Iraqis committed to pluralism. The problem is that Bush's policies are marginalizing them. Or worse. Not only have moderates been weakened politically by the November 15 Agreement; the inability of the U.S. to provide security has led to the assassinations in Baghdad of hundreds of Iraqi intellectuals and civil servants--the backbone of Iraqi civil society, which itself would be the backbone of a potential democracy. "This works against everything we're trying to do here," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told The New York Times on Saturday. But rather than demonstrate that we're serious about the future of Iraq by renewing our offensive against the assassins, U.S. military commanders are intending to rapidly turn over security responsibilities in the city to the inadequately trained and relatively ill-equipped Iraqi police--a force of 8,000 for a city of over 5 million, which security experts consider vastly insufficient. Bush's rhetoric about terror is beginning to sound a little more valid. The tragic irony, though, is that the terror is being inflicted most intensely on the very nation that his actions were supposed to save. If I were an Iraqi policeman this morning, I might be having serious thoughts about a career change.
Friday, Abizaid told The Associated Press that Iraqis must depend less on the U.S. military, even if that means a bigger risk of violence in coming months. "We have to take risk to a certain extent, by taking our hands off the controls," he said. "It's their country, it's their future. Our job is to help them help themselves."
"These people are committed to a pluralistic society," Bush told Russert, and there are indeed Iraqis committed to pluralism. The problem is that Bush's policies are marginalizing them. Or worse. Not only have moderates been weakened politically by the November 15 Agreement; the inability of the U.S. to provide security has led to the assassinations in Baghdad of hundreds of Iraqi intellectuals and civil servants--the backbone of Iraqi civil society, which itself would be the backbone of a potential democracy. "This works against everything we're trying to do here," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told The New York Times on Saturday. But rather than demonstrate that we're serious about the future of Iraq by renewing our offensive against the assassins, U.S. military commanders are intending to rapidly turn over security responsibilities in the city to the inadequately trained and relatively ill-equipped Iraqi police--a force of 8,000 for a city of over 5 million, which security experts consider vastly insufficient.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
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PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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