In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Thomas Friedman wants to know why the rest of the world hates us. This is what I wrote him:
Guilt was the cause of a disagreement, I suppose you could call it, between me and a friend of more than 30 years, that almost ended in a fistfight right before the start of the last Iraq war. I was born and raised a Jew. Guilt is not unknown to me. It is the source of many problems. But guilt isn't always a bad thing; in fact a little of it can go a long way toward preserving lives, of people whose only crime is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet it's complicated. I think my friend had a point, I'm just trying to understand it. Here's the background: He is Jewish and half his family lives in Israel, he frequently visits them and has dual citizenship. Politically he is right-leaning, and when it comes to Arabs, his eyes cloud over with hate and he begins making his point in a highly agitated manner (not unlike me arguing). Now, this was before we officially invaded Iraq, so I was asking him how he felt about starting an unprovoked war against an Arab country, since I felt that Israel and its existence was implicitly involved in the outcome. Not only did his eyes light up at the prospect of killing, he began to vehemently justify the invasion using all the official administration arguments -- in other words, he swallowed them all hook line and sinker. Everyone's entitled to their viewpoint, especially in my house. So I pointed out that perhaps these arguments were specious, since they ran counter to intelligence reports about Iraq and how much of a threat Hussein was to the U.S. (don't forget, we knew it at the time -- there was some question about WMD, but nothing solid, and zippo evidence or proof positive, but this can be argued). Moreover, I suggested that perhaps the preemptive invasion was a cynical ploy on the part of a White House administration that would stop at nothing -- not even mass murder -- to get their man reelected, using lies and a spirit of national pride and revenge to do it. That someone, somewhere in Arabia, was going to get it, even if they had absolutely nothing to do with the actual perpetrators of 9/11. And how cool were you with that? That noncombatant civilians -- i.e., families -- living in Iraq were going to die in mass numbers for a phony reason, and it hasn't happened yet, and when it does -- as it certainly will (it did) -- won't their blood be on all of us? Especially if we're gung ho? How can you support that action? Don't you remember Vietnam, the pointless killing for the sake of a handful of egos? And that at this point in America, Arab lives have zero value? Well, at that point he thought (maybe rightly) that I was calling him a murderer, and he got in my face, and I thought he was going to start swinging. Luckily it didn't come to blows. We have been arguing for 30 years, this is no different. It was never a question of the friendship.
But here is my question: It is now known that Bush lied about the war and the threat Iraq posed, and he's lying again about another Arab country, Iran, in order to launch another invasion. Thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands or more will certainly die. In my view, we are awash in this blood, which I regard as innocent, and this has been true about America for hundreds of years, but in my lifetime it started with Vietnam and civil rights and then broadened to much elsewhere, places we are never even told about. We are guilty of being murderers, right? And that's immoral, isn't it? This isn't about hawks and doves, it's about killing people who have done absolutely nothing to me. Why did my friend get in my face? My only point to him was that if we admit our guilt and complicity, maybe it won't happen the next time, maybe some people will be spared the useless cruelty and death. Or am I dreaming? His original justifications are proven false, yet he persists in his views. It's all about killing Arabs, isn't it? I hate to put it in those terms, but I can't see it otherwise. Why else is everyone getting so patriotic about organized slaughter and meaningless deaths?
Why can't old friends have a blunt discussion about mass murder without going at each other's throats? It seems we as a country do what we do without calling it
by its name, and when somebody does, they get attacked for it. I was wondering if indeed I was calling it by its name, or if I had somehow got it
wrong -- that we really should go and kill all those people, for some reason that was never quite explained to me truthfully. I'll take the
honest explanation and live with it. But if I'm wrong about my view, I need to know why. I asked another version of this question long ago, about why exactly we were going to invade Iraq, and I got a mixed bag of answers from my friends. A lot of people who didn't do anything to me are dead since that discussion, and it hangs over me, over
all of us. Is this the price of having my American life? I think it is. I just want to hear somebody say so. To stand up for once and say, yeah, that's exactly
what it is. Instead of lies. But I'm trying to have an open mind. A lot of places in the world are a whole lot more terrifying and meaner than we are,
we just happen to be the baddest asses on the block right now. What happens when we aren't, though? Look at history:
power never stays in one place, and the way things look to me right now, we are totally isolated, geopolitically. Why is this a good thing? NEED AN EXPLANATION.
- Michael 4:49 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
TCS Now offers a News Reader Feed
Subscribe to the TCS Feed
Having trouble with some of the poor English
on this site?
Imagine what it looks like when translated by a machine:
This is a "team" blog. We are a bunch of
Americans, whose rising distress
in our leader's decisions brought us together to make this site.
As Bush said, he's a "uniter." Many of us have never even met.
That's the internet for you.
Buy our cool stuff.
And tell everyone what you feel.
We have a little Store
you can visit.
Our store's selection of items is constantly growing. Come
see what we have.
We're also Amazon Associates, so if you want to buy something from Amazon, please search for it below, and we will get a few bucks from the sale.
Static Sky
Tin Foil Caps
The Free Speech Zone
The office of the independent blogger
Buzzflash
Tom The Dancing Bug
VerifiedVoting.org
Get Your War
On
This Modern World
Eschaton / Atrios
Daily Kos
meowpurrmeow
Contribute to America's Future
It is now more important then ever.
Donate to the Democractic Congressional Campaign Committee
Donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Some More Site Mottos
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the
president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American people."
- Teddy Roosevelt
"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of
its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work
for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering
hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the
Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make
fitting response."
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain
degree."
- James Madison
"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
more coming...
