The Hammer, or, "If I Only Had a Brain"
My neighbor said to me yesterday, "Do you know what lesson you should teach a man with two black eyes? . . . None: he's already learned the lesson twice." Entirely relevant to the 4th anniversary of the war in Iraq.
As I am wont to do, I watched NBC's "Meet the Press" this morning, and was amused/distressed to see Tom Delay, aka "The Hammer," squaring off against Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), a retired Vice Admiral of the U.S. Navy who is the highest ranking former military officer to serve in the House. Also on the program were Richard Perle (who looks terrible--one wonders if the stress is killing him), primary, and unapologetic, co-architect of the war, and rounding out the foursome, a former house member who is involved in an organization that opposes the war. Delay is still the ridiculous former-pesticide huckster (appropriately, since he is "toxic" beyond belief) and was promoting a new book that deems all those are opposed to the war as "traitors" and the purveyors of "treason." Hmmmm, democracy? Methinks Mr. Delay should clarify what his own country's democracy is—you know, the freedom of dissent—before foisting it off on countries who never asked for it in the first place. When Rep. Sestak pointed out that the vast number of Iraqi citizens wanted the U.S. out of Iraq, Delay responded with his usual brilliance, "I only care about American citizens." Good lord!
The report that caught my ear, and the one that was most distressing, as Delay is hopelessy and willfully ignorant and will never be more than a bilious clown, was Sestak's narrative that told of resources being lifted from Afghanistan and being, unnecessarily and stupidly in his mind, directed to Iraq. He was actually there—launching airstrikes and other operations from his carrier—unlike anyone else on the show. He told of how when his ships were ordered to go to the Persian Gulf, the only ships from the coalition that followed them there were the British and the Australians. The Japanese, Italians, et al did not go. That, according to him, spoke volumes. He is not the first former brass that has spoken against the war. The six retired generals that spoke out earlier this year were recently profiled in Vanity Fair, (a must read) and their stories are heartbreaking—the most compelling is Lt. General Newbold's, who resigned in protest of the the impending Iraq war because he did not see, along with other officers, Saddam Hussein as a threat. He saw the battle in Afghanistan as being of primary importance. He has been reviled by many, but history, I believe, will redeem him, and will prove him to be a real patriot, not a paper-tiger patriot like Delay.
But back to the "black eye" analogy. We are running out of eyes, and limbs for that matter. What will it take to refocus our efforts on Afghanistan? Not just militarily, but economically? What will it take for us to eat humble pie and seriously, and I mean seriously, negotiate with all the warring factions in Iraq and Iraq's neighbors? It won't take a hammer to the head; it will take a brain transplant—essentially a change in our government. I hope that all parties concerned can hang in there for two more years.
My neighbor said to me yesterday, "Do you know what lesson you should teach a man with two black eyes? . . . None: he's already learned the lesson twice." Entirely relevant to the 4th anniversary of the war in Iraq.
As I am wont to do, I watched NBC's "Meet the Press" this morning, and was amused/distressed to see Tom Delay, aka "The Hammer," squaring off against Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), a retired Vice Admiral of the U.S. Navy who is the highest ranking former military officer to serve in the House. Also on the program were Richard Perle (who looks terrible--one wonders if the stress is killing him), primary, and unapologetic, co-architect of the war, and rounding out the foursome, a former house member who is involved in an organization that opposes the war. Delay is still the ridiculous former-pesticide huckster (appropriately, since he is "toxic" beyond belief) and was promoting a new book that deems all those are opposed to the war as "traitors" and the purveyors of "treason." Hmmmm, democracy? Methinks Mr. Delay should clarify what his own country's democracy is—you know, the freedom of dissent—before foisting it off on countries who never asked for it in the first place. When Rep. Sestak pointed out that the vast number of Iraqi citizens wanted the U.S. out of Iraq, Delay responded with his usual brilliance, "I only care about American citizens." Good lord!
The report that caught my ear, and the one that was most distressing, as Delay is hopelessy and willfully ignorant and will never be more than a bilious clown, was Sestak's narrative that told of resources being lifted from Afghanistan and being, unnecessarily and stupidly in his mind, directed to Iraq. He was actually there—launching airstrikes and other operations from his carrier—unlike anyone else on the show. He told of how when his ships were ordered to go to the Persian Gulf, the only ships from the coalition that followed them there were the British and the Australians. The Japanese, Italians, et al did not go. That, according to him, spoke volumes. He is not the first former brass that has spoken against the war. The six retired generals that spoke out earlier this year were recently profiled in Vanity Fair, (a must read) and their stories are heartbreaking—the most compelling is Lt. General Newbold's, who resigned in protest of the the impending Iraq war because he did not see, along with other officers, Saddam Hussein as a threat. He saw the battle in Afghanistan as being of primary importance. He has been reviled by many, but history, I believe, will redeem him, and will prove him to be a real patriot, not a paper-tiger patriot like Delay.
But back to the "black eye" analogy. We are running out of eyes, and limbs for that matter. What will it take to refocus our efforts on Afghanistan? Not just militarily, but economically? What will it take for us to eat humble pie and seriously, and I mean seriously, negotiate with all the warring factions in Iraq and Iraq's neighbors? It won't take a hammer to the head; it will take a brain transplant—essentially a change in our government. I hope that all parties concerned can hang in there for two more years.
posted by mariestaad at 12:33 PM
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