It's a great article about the reality of tribalism in the Arab world which makes the whole notion of a "happy prosperous democratic state in the center of the Islamic world" not too likely in the near term. The importance of such a notion is that the whole enterprise of invading Iraq was to stop the evil and the WMD...no wait it was to save the Iraqi people...no I mean it was to draw the terrorists into a honey pot...no sorry wait I mean it was to create a happy prosperous state in the Middle East to act as a beacon of light...no wait what was it again? Hold on a second...a new strategy is coming up..we'll give everyone a kitty and the purring will calm everyone down and make them happy so they'll stop fighting and we'll all be delirious with cuteness.
I've liked your right wing pro-war links. My father was a Marine in Vietnam. I've got lots of the mind set and usually run towards trouble. So tales of valor and honor touch me. The problem is that for every tale of valor and success is one of insanity or corruption. No one seems to be able to say how they all balance out. The right blathers on and on about the success of the "mission" and the left blathers on about "the lies and the mistakes of the Bush administration". And they're both right in some way. If you've got access to comprehensive analysis I'd love to see it since all I ever see is the success/failure argument.
That said, it would be nice, if just once a leader of this failing nation would talk about the complex picture, of the interconnected problems that are out there. Look Americans, we helped create Sadaam Hussein and so we have a bit of a responsibility in getting the Iraqi people up and running again in a freeish way and help them start to build a revitalized nation. And Iraqi people, if you don't start working harder at building your own future eventually the American people will get sick of this bullshit and leave you to create a sea of blood you'll all drown in. And everyone, we did a really shitty job at the beginning of the whole enterprise, we sold the American people a bunch of easy to swallow, advertising created taglines, and it almost went completely to hell and it's only coming back because of the dedication of the military and their intelligence in adapting to circumstances and problems caused by our asinine political system which seems hell bent on totally destroying all that was good and pure in the American enterprise. And you military people, the bureaucratic culture of the Pentagon and upper echelons is as corrupt as the political class so don't start crowing about how amazing you guys are because there are enough instances of generals engaging in pure unadulterated cronyism that risks the lives of the fighting men and women in the field to make one vomit for a week. And all you Americans again, yeah, uh, just pointing out that we are totally fucked in a decade if we don't fix our failing economy and spiraling to infinity debt. Some difficult times are going to happen either way, but we have the choice of REALLY difficult or a little pain in the short term. I'd vote for a little short term pain but that's up to you. Oh yeah, one more thing, Americans, we really need to stop saying how great we are and become that greatness again. The last 50 years we sat on our giant fat asses because we did some amazing things and now about all we do is say how great we are instead of living up to the ideals that founded the nation. We're considered a weak culture and a failing nation by everyone on the planet and while some of that is the simple reaction to power much of it is quite true because we gave up and watched too much fucking tv.
But then, I'm pretty damn cynical when it comes to anything where a politician or a lawyer is involved. Funny how most politicians seem to have law backgrounds. Maybe that's the problem.
I guess it's just the nature of things that they grow and die. Still, seems such a shame since it didn't have to be that way.
Hope London is treating you spectacularly.
Scott
I just had way too much coffee and now I'm
probably going to read about Zen Buddhism.
[Note: Scott really didn't think any of this through and could easily spend months crafting this thought so that it covers all perspectives and realities but that's a lot of work and he'd much rather just walk in the forest or the desert as that's a lot more fun. Or maybe just take a photo of the hot girl at the coffeehouse who wears the crazy ear rings.]
http://www.ewav.com/
Links to Iraq stuffy things
Actually, right now I only have one interesting link.
I And My Brother Against My Cousin
It's a great article about the reality of tribalism in the Arab world which makes the whole notion of a "happy prosperous democratic state in the center of the Islamic world" not too likely in the near term. The importance of such a notion is that the whole enterprise of invading Iraq was to stop the evil and the WMD...no wait it was to save the Iraqi people...no I mean it was to draw the terrorists into a honey pot...no sorry wait I mean it was to create a happy prosperous state in the Middle East to act as a beacon of light...no wait what was it again? Hold on a second...a new strategy is coming up..we'll give everyone a kitty and the purring will calm everyone down and make them happy so they'll stop fighting and we'll all be delirious with cuteness.
I've liked your right wing pro-war links. My father was a Marine in Vietnam. I've got lots of the mind set and usually run towards trouble. So tales of valor and honor touch me. The problem is that for every tale of valor and success is one of insanity or corruption. No one seems to be able to say how they all balance out. The right blathers on and on about the success of the "mission" and the left blathers on about "the lies and the mistakes of the Bush administration". And they're both right in some way. If you've got access to comprehensive analysis I'd love to see it since all I ever see is the success/failure argument.
That said, it would be nice, if just once a leader of this failing nation would talk about the complex picture, of the interconnected problems that are out there. Look Americans, we helped create Sadaam Hussein and so we have a bit of a responsibility in getting the Iraqi people up and running again in a freeish way and help them start to build a revitalized nation. And Iraqi people, if you don't start working harder at building your own future eventually the American people will get sick of this bullshit and leave you to create a sea of blood you'll all drown in. And everyone, we did a really shitty job at the beginning of the whole enterprise, we sold the American people a bunch of easy to swallow, advertising created taglines, and it almost went completely to hell and it's only coming back because of the dedication of the military and their intelligence in adapting to circumstances and problems caused by our asinine political system which seems hell bent on totally destroying all that was good and pure in the American enterprise. And you military people, the bureaucratic culture of the Pentagon and upper echelons is as corrupt as the political class so don't start crowing about how amazing you guys are because there are enough instances of generals engaging in pure unadulterated cronyism that risks the lives of the fighting men and women in the field to make one vomit for a week. And all you Americans again, yeah, uh, just pointing out that we are totally fucked in a decade if we don't fix our failing economy and spiraling to infinity debt. Some difficult times are going to happen either way, but we have the choice of REALLY difficult or a little pain in the short term. I'd vote for a little short term pain but that's up to you. Oh yeah, one more thing, Americans, we really need to stop saying how great we are and become that greatness again. The last 50 years we sat on our giant fat asses because we did some amazing things and now about all we do is say how great we are instead of living up to the ideals that founded the nation. We're considered a weak culture and a failing nation by everyone on the planet and while some of that is the simple reaction to power much of it is quite true because we gave up and watched too much fucking tv.
But then, I'm pretty damn cynical when it comes to anything where a politician or a lawyer is involved. Funny how most politicians seem to have law backgrounds. Maybe that's the problem.
I guess it's just the nature of things that they grow and die. Still, seems such a shame since it didn't have to be that way.
Hope London is treating you spectacularly.
Scott
I just had way too much coffee and now I'm
probably going to read about Zen Buddhism.
[Note: Scott really didn't think any of this through and could easily spend months crafting this thought so that it covers all perspectives and realities but that's a lot of work and he'd much rather just walk in the forest or the desert as that's a lot more fun. Or maybe just take a photo of the hot girl at the coffeehouse who wears the crazy ear rings.]