Category: Current Events

Ok, I admit it. I’m in a weird place. I was completely against the war. I thought the reasons were bullshit (still are), that it was part diversionary tactic to get people to stop thinking about the economy and it was part planning for the 2004 election and part “Keep the war on terrorism going no matter how tenuous the actual connections are.” But now that it has started my attitude is one of “Let’s get it done.” Rather than demand we end the war, I’m thinking we should make sure we actually finish it this time. Do the regime change. Get Saddam out. And on top of that, don’t do our magic tablecloth trick (“The flowers are still standing!”) and vanish the next day but actually help the Iraqis pick up, clean up, and get something better in place (better by their standards, please, not ours). Heck, I’m even fascinated by the CNN coverage, something I avoided in ’91. I’m not sure why I’m suddenly a cheerleader. Maybe it’s come down to what Paul Berman is saying (and Salon is reporting). That Bush is an idiot, but he was right about Saddam.

Of course, as my friend Jim put it, “But bombing the crap out of the seat of past Islamic glory and storytelling strikes me as a Bad Idea…” and I do agree with that too. So, let me modify the stance I took in the previous paragraph: Let’s get it done but make sure that we do everything possible both during and after to work with the Isalamic nations. Basically, can we please stop pissing everyone off so much?

The Joint: Article Rebuttal

This is an excellent rebuttal. I’m somewhat guity of posting links to things without editorializing which may indicate a certain position which is not actually one I’m taking.

In this case, I do agree that comparing Bush to Hitler is way too extreme. I think the comparisons to what’s happening in the country today have much more in common with McCarthy in the 50’s than anything as awful as Nazi Germany.

On the other hand, I have seen repeated evidence that people are ignorant of history. I remember when Babylon 5 aped McCarthyism and duplicated almost word-for-word, the taped “confession” of a “dissident” and people savaged the writer of the show as being rediculous; that such a thing could never happen in a society such as America (which was clearly the basis oc the larger Earth Government in the show).

So, while the comparison may not be fair, I do think the article needs to be read by as many people as possible for the simple reason that people ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.