Violence Begetting Violence


If anyone needs more proof that the cycle of violence in Iraq has descended to a more or less perpetual out-of-control condition, congratulations--you got it:

Militant Islamic Web sites have posted video that purportedly shows the bodies of two U.S. soldiers kidnapped and killed last month in Yusufiya, Iraq.

The video was accompanied by a statement that linked the killings with the alleged rape of a young Iraqi woman in March.

I'm not a betting person--and the circumstances certainly aren't what I'd wager on anyway, but to use an easily understandable metaphor, about as close as you could get to a "sure thing" will be that Iraq--and, by extension, the rest of the region--will be mired in an ugly chaos for the forseeable future. And that's your Team Bush foreign policy "success."

This sort of chaos unfortunately is a perfect cover for their type of governance (On a related note, last night Countdown featured John Dean plugging his book about authoritarian mindsets. If you didn't get to watch it, take a look for the transcript when it becomes available). It guarantees a climate of fear and all-but-guarantees a downward spiral of retaliation, revenge, blood-feud, and so on. I guess Team Bush thinks of terrorism--and the increased possibility of an attack in the west--as good politics. Hell, maybe it is--if you're cynical enough to turn torture and death into a tactic and strategy for votes.

On the other hand, maybe it's time to take a Karl Rove tactic--attacking an opponent's perceived strength--and use it against them. The public is sick and tired of the failed war in Iraq--and the twin failure in Afghanistan--even if professional morons like David Brooks can't get enough blood to keep their supersized goblets full of corpuscles.

And there's still the matter of New Orleans (Schroeder links to this superb post from Michael Homan chronicling the day-to-day struggle of a survivor--major and minor things that add up. Makes you wonder how the Iraqis feel: they're in their THIRD YEAR of it). What kind of ignorance does it take to IGNORE a massive, festering wound here at home while spraying firehose quantities of money overseas on a cause that now looks like the worst elements of the Israeli occupation of West Bank/Gaza...and the Algerian civil war? (aside: I guess we'll soon be finding out just what set Zidane off...at least some are saying racial slurs). But I digress.

They AREN'T strong on terrorism. They've lost two wars, have allowed thousands of soldiers to be killed or maimed, they've allowed thousands of Iraqis to suffer likewise (sadly, I doubt many Americans, particularly twitnuts, really care about Iraqis, but...)...and, at home, they've allowed the destruction of an entire region...not from a terrorist attack, but from an easily anticipated storm, followed by a flood that occurred due to negligence. That's NOT success, even by the twisted definitions of modern punditry.

Hell, I think it's high time they got called on their 9/11 negligence, too. For some reason, everyone thinks they deserve a mulligan or something on that one. I think it's instructive that they were in office for over half a year and never bothered to worry about acts of terrorism. Five years after the fact, we find out Shrub's reaction to the August 6th, 2001 PDB was "OK, you've covered your ass," followed by a trip to the fishing hole. That's leadership??

Time to pull out the old Gret Stet dismissive (paraphrasing here)--they don't deserve to be elected dog-catcher.