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Things that bother me about the war
Mar. 26th, 2003 12:11 pmI keep hearing that part of our strategy is to make our presence known in Iraq just enough to get the Iraqi soldiers to abandon their posts, surrender, defect, assassinate Saddam Hussein, etc. I'm not saying we're wrong to think that our "administration" is better than their "regime" (I found it amusing that my professor said today that the difference between these two is that we like one word and not the other), I'm just saying it's interesting that the people who get on CNN and NPR are so utterly convinced that Iraqis love us, to the point that we count on their help and this is one of our strategies for fighting the war.
Another great tactic that seems to be backfiring to an extent that would be humorous if it weren't about war is the once-constant assurances that this war would be over quickly. In less than a week this was proven wrong (we have such a short attention span in this DSL age) and is now already laughable. As if the war would have been all right if those comforting words had been true--the war will be short, practically no one will die, we shall overcome. Not that it matters, now that they've been proven wrong...
America is becoming imperialistic! After going to so much effort to detach ourselves from an empire a mere 200-some years ago, have we forgotten already? Do we want this? Do we even realize what we're getting into? Of course we think we're doing good, but "the villain always thinks he's the hero of his own story." What will the rest of the world think of him?
This "support our troops" thing is quite an impressive piece of propaganda. By insinuating that to be anti-war is to be anti-American, you attempt to shame the dissenters into approving or at least shutting up so it looks like everyone approves (in war, as in the rest of politics, what matters isn't what's true but what's believed to be true). Is it not possible to be supportive of our troops without being in favor of what an insane government is telling them to do? No, any such sentiment is all-too-widely perceived as "unpatriotic." I can't stand that. This is America; we make such a big deal of how free we are. We're trying to bring that freedom to Iraq...isn't that the rhetoric? (On my way to school and back I walk past a yard sign that says "LIBERATE IRAQ"...just above "Support Our Troops" in fact.) So we say we're going to free Iraq from their oppressive unelected dictator, who imposes his own will on his sometimes-unwilling countrymen, who ignores the U.N., who has scary weapons of mass destruction...but then who will liberate America?
Another great tactic that seems to be backfiring to an extent that would be humorous if it weren't about war is the once-constant assurances that this war would be over quickly. In less than a week this was proven wrong (we have such a short attention span in this DSL age) and is now already laughable. As if the war would have been all right if those comforting words had been true--the war will be short, practically no one will die, we shall overcome. Not that it matters, now that they've been proven wrong...
America is becoming imperialistic! After going to so much effort to detach ourselves from an empire a mere 200-some years ago, have we forgotten already? Do we want this? Do we even realize what we're getting into? Of course we think we're doing good, but "the villain always thinks he's the hero of his own story." What will the rest of the world think of him?
This "support our troops" thing is quite an impressive piece of propaganda. By insinuating that to be anti-war is to be anti-American, you attempt to shame the dissenters into approving or at least shutting up so it looks like everyone approves (in war, as in the rest of politics, what matters isn't what's true but what's believed to be true). Is it not possible to be supportive of our troops without being in favor of what an insane government is telling them to do? No, any such sentiment is all-too-widely perceived as "unpatriotic." I can't stand that. This is America; we make such a big deal of how free we are. We're trying to bring that freedom to Iraq...isn't that the rhetoric? (On my way to school and back I walk past a yard sign that says "LIBERATE IRAQ"...just above "Support Our Troops" in fact.) So we say we're going to free Iraq from their oppressive unelected dictator, who imposes his own will on his sometimes-unwilling countrymen, who ignores the U.N., who has scary weapons of mass destruction...but then who will liberate America?