Finally
I want to say thank you to NBC. Matt Lauer announced this morning on the Today show that "after careful consideration, NBC News has decided that a change in terminology is warranted, that the situation in Iraq with armed militarized factions fighting for their own political agendas can now be characterized as civil war."
The pundits will continue to argue, of course, but this move by NBC, while certainly belated, is nonetheless welcome. Many of us have realized the Iraqi people have been embroiled in a civil war for a long time now. I knew bad was going to worse when the ancient Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra was destroyed back in February, but things were already dire before the Golden Dome was bombed. It would not be wrong to say that the very stage was set for civil war with the beginning of the US invasion three years prior; cooler heads, among them it is rumored even the president's own father, had warned of just that outcome before the bombing of Baghdad began. I won't be part of the "I told you so" crowd; after hearing of people being doused in kerosene and burned alive after prayers last week outside a mosque, I am simply too horrified and heartbroken to be smug.
Even the president has been moved out of his fantasy bubble enough to finally scramble a bit to exercise some diplomatic excursions. I wish I could believe the man finally understands he has another chance to begin to solve the mess he played such a large role in bringing about, but I fear that is too much to hope for. I have long argued the case for bringing the man up for impeachment on Constitutional violations, but it is becoming clearer day by day that by further destablizing an already troubled region, far more here is at stake than our own beloved rule of law.
Not just Iraq is in civil war; Lebanon as well is in danger of falling into sectarian anarchy, while in Israel there are tenative signs of sanity on the part of Tel Aviv towards negotiations with the Palestinian radicals holding an Israeli soldier. Right or wrongly, many worldwide blame the policies of the US, particularly the current administration, with aggravating these hotspots; certainly we've been less than attentive to the needs of many peoples, especially if they happen to live on top of "our" oil.
Last December we experienced an evangelical call in this country bemoaning some sort of secular "war on Christmas". I think we might have just witnessed the first salvo back on November 7th of a backlash against the more subtle, but far more devastating War on Reality. America is quite correctly disgusted with all the scandals, all the ugly attacks on other Americans' patriotism, and sick to death of being lied to. Many evangelical folks, if not their leaders, feel blessed enough by the Lord to recognize if you believe He created the world, his children have done a lousy job being stewards of it, and feel called upon to show respect. How long before cynicism can set in and ruin all of this remains to be seen; but in the season of traditional Good Will, there is hope.
If public outcry can kill a publicity stunt like the recent OJ flap, and NBC can finally get on with telling the truth, there is a great hope for real change. People, the Berlin Wall finally fell. I learned to believe in miracles.
Please take a few minutes to read this great article from the Katrinacrat: http://thekatrinacrat.blogspot.com/2006/11/six-boston-catholics-burned-alive.html
An excellent piece of work to remind us of how priviledged we are, and why we should pay attention.
The pundits will continue to argue, of course, but this move by NBC, while certainly belated, is nonetheless welcome. Many of us have realized the Iraqi people have been embroiled in a civil war for a long time now. I knew bad was going to worse when the ancient Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra was destroyed back in February, but things were already dire before the Golden Dome was bombed. It would not be wrong to say that the very stage was set for civil war with the beginning of the US invasion three years prior; cooler heads, among them it is rumored even the president's own father, had warned of just that outcome before the bombing of Baghdad began. I won't be part of the "I told you so" crowd; after hearing of people being doused in kerosene and burned alive after prayers last week outside a mosque, I am simply too horrified and heartbroken to be smug.
Even the president has been moved out of his fantasy bubble enough to finally scramble a bit to exercise some diplomatic excursions. I wish I could believe the man finally understands he has another chance to begin to solve the mess he played such a large role in bringing about, but I fear that is too much to hope for. I have long argued the case for bringing the man up for impeachment on Constitutional violations, but it is becoming clearer day by day that by further destablizing an already troubled region, far more here is at stake than our own beloved rule of law.
Not just Iraq is in civil war; Lebanon as well is in danger of falling into sectarian anarchy, while in Israel there are tenative signs of sanity on the part of Tel Aviv towards negotiations with the Palestinian radicals holding an Israeli soldier. Right or wrongly, many worldwide blame the policies of the US, particularly the current administration, with aggravating these hotspots; certainly we've been less than attentive to the needs of many peoples, especially if they happen to live on top of "our" oil.
Last December we experienced an evangelical call in this country bemoaning some sort of secular "war on Christmas". I think we might have just witnessed the first salvo back on November 7th of a backlash against the more subtle, but far more devastating War on Reality. America is quite correctly disgusted with all the scandals, all the ugly attacks on other Americans' patriotism, and sick to death of being lied to. Many evangelical folks, if not their leaders, feel blessed enough by the Lord to recognize if you believe He created the world, his children have done a lousy job being stewards of it, and feel called upon to show respect. How long before cynicism can set in and ruin all of this remains to be seen; but in the season of traditional Good Will, there is hope.
If public outcry can kill a publicity stunt like the recent OJ flap, and NBC can finally get on with telling the truth, there is a great hope for real change. People, the Berlin Wall finally fell. I learned to believe in miracles.
Please take a few minutes to read this great article from the Katrinacrat: http://thekatrinacrat.blogspot.com/2006/11/six-boston-catholics-burned-alive.html
An excellent piece of work to remind us of how priviledged we are, and why we should pay attention.
posted by meldonna | 11:06 PM
10 Comments:
I agree, the press seems to be changing their tone and even though it's late, it's at least happening. They are going against the administration by calling the war a civil war. Too bad they hadn't been this independent and objective before the war began. If they had, we might not be in the mess we are today and a lot of lives might have been saved.
we have to realize that our press belongs to capitalist, corporate america. i think i am going to have to do another post because you brought up many points in this one. i have been thinking about change quite a bit lately and holidays and the american way of life in general. the only conclusion i can come to is- we as a nation overall did not want to grow up. well, we have had to in a hurry. we are an adolescent, spoiled, selfish country who can't believe why the world views us so negatively. hmmmm... perhaps some have started waking up out of their stupor and put down the credit card long enough to realize. maybe not.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061128/ap_on_re_eu/bush
This is so sad...Bush in Latvia claiming it's all al Qaeda's fault that sectarian violence is rampant.
I spoke out of turn; he's still in his own bubble.
I'm starting to feel we have to impeach him as quick as possible to spare more lives falling into his maw. His opinion is so divorced from what the generals on the ground are saying that it boggles the mind!
Iraq is in civil war because the Sunnis had power and money under Saddam, the Shi'ia majority got the brunt of the ugliness, and Bush bombed away any semblence of order. It don't take an Einstein to figure out if you take away any sort of police, people will take out their long grudges. And Bush still denies al Qaeda was ever in Iraq until after his invasion opened the road.
Honestly, who is really terrorizing Iraq?
betmo, you hit a thought I've had for years...
Americans (including myself) are so terribly spoiled it's disgusting. I been trying to explain the concept to people for a decade and a half, simply because I know if I'd been born in Mexico, I'd have been coming across the border myself. Ain't nothing illegal about looking for work.
I've finally come to understand there are too many otherwise good people in this country that believe it's either "them" or us. Two billion taxpayer dollars a week we are spending in Iraq for worse than a quagmire, or a stalemate. At this point we are witnesses and targets -- no more, no less. We can't fix what is fucked up in Iraq; at last, we must let others take over the healing, and if Iran gains from it, so be it. More honesty in nationwide news in the US would help here...Iran is a secure, large, calm country. This spectre of Islamic Persians wanting to impose a caliph on the world is simply a dream of some radicals and a handy boogyman of the west. "Neo" Nazis in the nineties were able to frighten many people, and terrorized folks in America and Europe. I didn't notice we felt we needed to bomb Idaho at any point...
Terrorism is a tactic. People who use it are criminals. It is dealt with efficiently only in that frame; terrorism is as old as humanity itself.
Unfortunatly, so is overaction.
well, i'd haffta disagree - just a tad bit - with the wording
it's not a civil war but a tribal war..
check out this link - it is mind-boggling - 150 or so tribes just in iraq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Tribes_in_Iraq
offtopic, but 15" precip in Seattle? you doing OK up there? wow, when it hits, it sure hits hard. we're expecting 12-degrees overnight & snow down here this week in "dixie". ~~ D.K.
ontopic: not just network NBC, but even their satellite cable MSNBC says NBC passed down the word as of today, personnel are instructed to use the words "civil war". Let the word go forth ...
don't expect bush to change from "sectarian violence", though. he's still working on the 25-35K iraqi death count. not credible in the face of 13K from just the last 3-mos alone.
saddam was their tito. take him away and boom, their cobbled together country cannot hold. there's much to be said for a 3-country solution.
mel, you're absolutely right. Impeachment is no longer good enough (but it's still a good start). i'd like a double impeachment (bush-cheney). oooh, unprecedented! but since they've been co-presidenting (with more co from cheney that a competent prez would allow), it's only fair they be co-impeached, dont'cha think? ~~ D.K.
Bush long ago used up all the oxygen in his bubble. He's redefined "brain dead." Yes, it's all al Qaeda's fault for the current state of Iraq.
Before we invaded, Iraq was just teeming with latent al Qaeda's. It just took Bush to bring them to the surface, to unleash 'em. He doesn't even recognize his own bullshit of sanctimony and contradiction in which he drowns himself.
I think betmo makes a very good point about us being a nation that did not want to grow up (though I'm not sure we have, or ever will until we experience the "real world" we so conveniently impact but unempathetically disregard outside our own).
(Mel, loved your "bomb Idaho" analogy!)
And DK, co-impeachment? Absolutely. After all, they're joined at the fucking hips which forbids them from appearing before investigating committees separately (although I'm not sure what cojoined hips has to do with their inabilities to take oaths to tell the truth...unless it's "either": they're above the law, "or", they're lying mutherfuckinsumbitches. (God, I hate either-or worlds....maybe there's another logical explanation for these winglesschickenshitwarhawkingassholes?
whoa....off topic post, but first an apology for my previous post. I appear to have a bad case of "enigma-mouth" this morning. (Hahah! - hope e4e doesn't read that.)
Anyway, good morning from the tropics. I'd just like to thank you, Mel, and you, DK, for officially ending our summer! (grin) It's supposed to get down to 25 Wed. nite with a chance of a snow shower or two tomorrow morning. (Yeh, I know, that sounds like the tropics to you, but honestly--with the doggie door reinstalled, it's drafty in here. I may have to change outta these summer shorts!
I'm for the double impeachment myself, deke. And az, tribal or civil, it's still war between Iraqis and should have been called such for a long time.
Meanwhile, back at the igloo...
Seattle is cold as the dickens; we got about an inch of snow Monday, and have had patch ice, especially on the hills ever since. Tonight, we're getting a second wave of snow (Wed); I was just outside and it's coming down in handfulls. If it's like this in downtown, I can only imagine what it's like in the outlying areas; they already had three inches to a foot before this latest. I got friends up in Granite Falls that haven't had electricity since Sunday; thank god they have wood heat! Brrr!!!
Oh, Dada ~~ maybe some (faux) fur-lined Bermudas would do the trick?
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