Sorry--Carry On

From As'ad Abu Khalil, this link to a Los Angeles Times opinion piece by Abbas Khadim, an Iraqi-American working on his dissertation at UC Berkeley. The entire piece is well worth reading, but this line stuck out--according to Khadim, it's an old Arab saying: "He slapped me and cried."

I'm reminded both of Saddam's infamous 1979 press conference, when he wiped away tears after ordering the execution of "disloyal" Baathists, as well as the pious mea-not-so-culpas recently coming forth from the Bush administration. The main theme of the editorial is an explanation of why we're losing the war: for the pro-war crowd, it's all about the US. Iraqis are basically extras in the biggest, most expensive military campaign/action movie of all time. The wrongwingers munch down on popcorn and enjoy the special effects, but ordinary Iraqis are sick and tired of being the equivalent of extras-in-red-shirts on the old Star Trek TV show, i.e., fodder.

The people of the region have been living there for a LONG TIME. Our ignorance of how they've kept society organized and running--even through bad times like the Hussein regime--is making a mockery of any attempt to impose our version of a social order. The invasion of Iraq will end with a massive thud as our lead balloon hits the dirt hard and sinks into the ground.

I think it's time to ask the question John Kerry posed about Vietnam some thirty odd years ago: how do you tell someone they must be the last woman or man to die for a mistake?