Singing the End of The Semester Blues
This has been an interesting semester. The introduction of students to the world of Iraqi and American blogs was at times hard and at other times rewarding. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was, at many of my students' sheer ignorance of the war and what exactly it entails. It's not their fault; the war has been so media-managed by the Pentagon that one doesn't see the graphic images that I did as a child during the Vietnam war. I remember flag-draped coffins and soldiers who were near death carried into helicopters on stretchers. It was apparent that war was brutal and ugly. The sacrifice was obvious, even to a ten-year-old like myself. Presently, the Pentagon will not allow the media to film the caskets of the war dead being unloaded from the planes, and American, or any Western, correspondents can't leave the Green Zone, which, in itself, is the height of neocolonialsim madness and hubris.
I am half way through "Fiasco." At times, I have to put it down because I find myself getting so angry. If you planned to screw up a war so badly, I don't think you could. The CPA and the Pentagon should be held accountable for all the deaths of American soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians. They should be accountable for the Dantesque condition of Baghdad. They should be accountable for the millions of educated Iraqis who are fleeing because of the violence, and because the intelligentsia is always first on the firing line during wartime. And young Americans need to occasionally divert their attention from their iPods, their Playstation 3s, their "Grey's Anatomy" and watch the news. We, as civilians, aren't asked to sacrifice anything-- except our soldiers' lives: to not dignify them by being aware and holding our officials accountable is unforgivable. Not to speak of the Iraqis whose plights are spelled out in their blogs, in English, for Americans to read and digest.
Finally (I'll get off my soapbox here), I'm so glad to see (and very saddened in a way because this should have never happened) that Zappy of "Where Date Palms Grow" has left Baghdad. Every time he didn't post for a while, his readers held their collective breath. Read of his darkly funny escape from Iraq. He is linked to this blog.
This has been an interesting semester. The introduction of students to the world of Iraqi and American blogs was at times hard and at other times rewarding. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was, at many of my students' sheer ignorance of the war and what exactly it entails. It's not their fault; the war has been so media-managed by the Pentagon that one doesn't see the graphic images that I did as a child during the Vietnam war. I remember flag-draped coffins and soldiers who were near death carried into helicopters on stretchers. It was apparent that war was brutal and ugly. The sacrifice was obvious, even to a ten-year-old like myself. Presently, the Pentagon will not allow the media to film the caskets of the war dead being unloaded from the planes, and American, or any Western, correspondents can't leave the Green Zone, which, in itself, is the height of neocolonialsim madness and hubris.
I am half way through "Fiasco." At times, I have to put it down because I find myself getting so angry. If you planned to screw up a war so badly, I don't think you could. The CPA and the Pentagon should be held accountable for all the deaths of American soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians. They should be accountable for the Dantesque condition of Baghdad. They should be accountable for the millions of educated Iraqis who are fleeing because of the violence, and because the intelligentsia is always first on the firing line during wartime. And young Americans need to occasionally divert their attention from their iPods, their Playstation 3s, their "Grey's Anatomy" and watch the news. We, as civilians, aren't asked to sacrifice anything-- except our soldiers' lives: to not dignify them by being aware and holding our officials accountable is unforgivable. Not to speak of the Iraqis whose plights are spelled out in their blogs, in English, for Americans to read and digest.
Finally (I'll get off my soapbox here), I'm so glad to see (and very saddened in a way because this should have never happened) that Zappy of "Where Date Palms Grow" has left Baghdad. Every time he didn't post for a while, his readers held their collective breath. Read of his darkly funny escape from Iraq. He is linked to this blog.
posted by mariestaad at 2:44 PM
2 Comments:
I am embarrassed to say that if I had not been required to research whats really going on in Iraq and GITMO, I probably would not have. It's not that I wasn't interested, but more that I didn't want to know. It was easier to remain in the dark, because I was a lot less angry that way. It's overwhelming and I don't understand how the world is letting us get away with it. I miss not knowing; I miss having respect for my government.
This is a war with no winner.
I don't know if my writing improved any during this semester, but I definitely learned a lot. I appreciate you telling us how it is. Thanks.
As for the Iraqis, you're in my prayers. I'm sorry.
I know--when I became cognizant of Vietnam as a kid, there was no going back to a completely carefree youth. One misses that innocence. But if you don't pay attention to what your government does, in your name, well. . .your country ends up in a mess like this. There are no good answers for this war. The Baker-Hamilton report provides ideas for trying to salvage Iraq, but whether the administration will heed the report's advice is another thing. Thanks for posting!
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