I mean, is it naysaying for the sake of naysaying to point out that the utopian vision of our great leaders can't even hold up to support a stable municipal government in the capital? Is it naysaying for the sake of naysaying to observe the irony that a coup d'etat just happened in a place where we're supposed to be establishing democracy? Furthermore, is it just pissing on somebody's parade to imply that, perhaps, the Shiite incursion at Baghdad City Hall might just possibly be the canary in the mineshaft (though, quite honestly, aren't we just about to drown in little yellow dead birds?)?
I don't make the fiasco by saying it's a fiasco. George W. Bush and his team of utopians are the ones who made the fiasco. I didn't let UBL go at Tora Bora. I didn't insert those 16 words into the State of the Union. I didn't refer to the case for war as a "slam dunk." I didn't withhold orders to stop the looting. Yada. Yada. Yada.
I'm still shocked that the coup in Baghdad hasn't received more press. There are so many aspects to this story that scream "fiasco." The coup of a municipal government in the midst of the U.S. effort to build a democracy. The coup, motivated by the municipal government's failure to provide Baghdad with adequate power and water. How long have we been in Baghdad, now? The promise of American power's incredible capacity to rebuild infrastructure has been clearly broken. The coup, upsetting an instituted power that was to have been a shining example of how to do it.
The bottom line of this story, to me, is that if we aren't even providing stability for Baghdad's municipal government, then we're not even close to providing security and stability for the nation as a whole. We are five days from the day that the new Iraq is supposed to have drafted a constitution, and the adage of the day in Baghdad is still "don't drink the water."
Anyway, enough of that. There're other things going on. Like:
- Salon has an excellent Sidney Blumenthal piece on Novak that includes an excellent explanation of Novak's explosion—Ed Henry was taunting him with on-set a "Who's Who," where Novak had said anyone could have found Valerie Plame's name...
- Can you say "indictment," boys and girls? Knew ya could...
2 comments:
<< Yes, plenty of mistakes have been made and more will be made. But you're like the dude who sees a fire and just stands there screaming fire, fire! Get a bucket of water and help out. >>
Are you suggesting that I enlist? LMFAO
But seriously. What you've offered to me here is the following proposition: Sure, there have been mistakes, and sure, this administration sure has made a big mess. But, you might as well pitch in and start shoveling slop right along with the rest of us.
To that proposition, I give you a big, fat "NO." What you don't seem to grasp is that I don't even accept the initial circumstance. We shouldn't have invaded Iraq. We should have kept our mission simple and within reach, should have kept it to the direct actions of pursuing justice and peace. This president had an opportunity to lead the world, to truly and honestly create change for the better, to build alliances and friendships that could have shaken off the scourge of terrorism and other blights and would have made the United States the leader in that shining effort.
Instead, what you're telling me is, here's your fucking gruel. Eat.
Do I have any better ideas right now? Nossir, aside from evicting George W. Bush, I do not. The United States will eventually have to make decide whether to leave Iraq or to become a permanent occupier. When and if we do cut bait, it will always in my opinion be risky in terms of pending civil war. We're already starting to hear stirrings that we will not achieve the shining Baghdad on a hill that PNAC dreamed of, and anyone who studies 10 minutes of history will grasp that these fractions do not run shallow. It seems to me that civil war is a risk no matter what we do, in fact, it seems to me that they're already at the fringes.
Four years ago this month, President Bush had within his possession a briefing titled "UBL Determined to Attack Inside the United States," and he went golfing. What I want is real leadership back in the saddle again. I want a government that can actually answer the question you asked, because frankly, Trevor, I don't think they have any better answers than I do.
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