The capture of Saddam Hussein today
Permalink +Sun, Dec 14, 2003, 2:17 pm // John Servais
is the end of one chapter and the beginning of another for Iraq and also for the United States.If your reaction to reading those words is "dahhh" then pause a moment and consider what you think should or might change with these new chapters - one for the US and one for Iraq. In human affairs we have many opportunities to start anew - to adjust our goals - to learn from our past experience. Most important is how our leaders react. My concern is how George W spoke today.
George W did not congratulate coalition forces - he pointedly praised the US military repeatedly and only made one passing reference to coalition allies. So he is not thinking of working with others but using them for our own ends and glory.
He says that now Saddam will have to answer to justice for his atrocities of the past. Well, so should we, the United States, for our conservative political forces - the Reagan administration - supported Saddam, sold him weapons and winked at his atrocities for many years. We wanted him to attack Iran and we did not care what he did to his own people. We share in the guilt for Saddam's atrocities. We created this tyrant in the first place - a fact our news media do not deny but do ignore.
He said those Iraqis opposing us are a "direct threat to the American people". Tilt. We are in their country. Many who oppose our actions want a free and democratic Iraq. Again we have the chance to allow the Iraqis to take charge of their own country. We again can act to help a conquered country or to establish our own domination of Iraq for American mega corporations. But - those Iraqis who disagree with our policies are not thugs, terrorists or bandits. This same attitude by Bush is shown to we citizens who oppose his policies.
Wolf Blitzer is crowing and being a generally arrogant ass on CNN. He keeps guessing how different groups are humbled - the French or the residents of Tikrit. It is this attitude that the US can do no wrong that will get us into more trouble than we can handle.
We should all be relieved and grateful that Saddam is captured. But we should also be informed of the brutal dictator we are right now supporting in a country just north of Afghanistan who is committing atrocities on his own people. After we no longer need him will we invade his country and capture him and display him to the world and crow about our ridding the world of evil tyrants? What sort of charade is this?
Comments
Commenting is disabled for this post
The dismantling of civil liberties
Sun, Dec 28, 2003, 2:07 pm // John Servais
I see the Bham Herald has taken to printing US war dead on the back pages. Maybe some directive came down from Gannett headquarters telling all 80-some Gannettoids…0 comments
Check the War and Peace links
Thu, Dec 18, 2003, 2:13 pm // John Servais
May I urge you, gentle reader and patriotic American, to check the War and Peace website links on the right. Look for articles that may give you more…0 comments
The capture of Saddam Hussein today
Sun, Dec 14, 2003, 2:17 pm // John Servais
is the end of one chapter and the beginning of another for Iraq and also for the United States.If your reaction to reading those words is "dahhh" then…0 comments
How much did George W know before 9/11
Wed, Dec 03, 2003, 2:21 pm // John Servais
about the impending attack? Enough to have stopped the attack? The widow of a fellow killed in the attack has refused the $1 million from the government and…0 comments
Obviously a no-win situation
Tue, Dec 02, 2003, 2:32 pm // John Servais
I urge you to visit the independent websites that report on events in Iraq. Independent being those not owned by US corporate media, such as CNN, Fox, MSNbc,…0 comments
New links
Colbert Super PacCurrent Interest
Bham Camera ScamColbert Super Pac
Local Blogs & News
Bellingham HeraldBham Politics & Economics
Bhm Herald Politics Blog
Bob Sanders
Cascadia Weekly
Citizen Ted
Ferndale Record
Foothills Gazette
Get Whatcom Planning
HamsterTalk
KGMI
Latte Republic
Lynden Tribune
MikeatthePort
Northern Light
Northwest Review
Sweeney Politics
Twilight Zoning
Wally Wonders
Western Front - WWU
Whatcom Watch
Local causes
Bham Camera ScamBham CofC political blog
Chuckanut Mountains
Citizens of Bellingham
City Club of Bham
Community Wise Bellingham
Conservation NW
Cordata & Meridian
Futurewise - Whatcom
Jail - local mega plans
Lake Whatcom
N. Cascades Audubon
N. Sound Conservancy
Neighborhood Schools Coalition
No Leaky Buckets
NW Holocaust Center
RE Sources
Transition Whatcom
WA Conservation Voters
Publisher recommended
Americans Elect 2012Bham Politics & Economics
Community Wise Bellingham
Guardian Unlimited
Paul Krugman - economics
Redistricting WA state
Sweeney Politics
Watts Up With That? - climate
WikiLeaks.ch
NwCitizen 1995 to 2008
Early Northwest CitizenWeather & Climate
Cliff Mass Weather BlogClimate Audit
NW Radar
Two day forecast
Watts Up With That? - climate
Cascadia
Crosscut SeattleJoel Connelly
Orcinus
Portland Indy Media
Seattle Indy Media
Washington Votes
Leisure
Adventures NWEdge of Sports
Entertainment NNW
Famous Internet Skiers
Sailing Anarchy
Worth checking out
Al-Jazeera onlineAlaska Dispatch
AlterNet.org
Americans Elect 2012
Antiwar.com
Arab News
Asia Times
Atlantic, The
Buzz Flash
Common Dreams
counterpunch
Daily Beast, The
Daily Kos
Daily Mirror
Drudge Report
FiveThirtyEight
Foreign Policy in Focus
Guardian Unlimited
Gulf News
Haaretz
Huffington Post
Innocence Project, The
Intrnational Herald Tribune
James Fallows
Jerusalem Post
Juan Cole
Le Diplo
Media Matters
Middle East Times
MoveOn.org
Nation, The
New American Century
News Trust
NMFA
numbers
Online Journal
Palestine Daily
Palestine News
Paul Krugman - economics
Personal bio info
Politico
Progressive Review
Project Vote Smart
Reuters
Sea Shepherd
Slate
Talking Points Memo
The Onion
Tom Paine.com
truthout
War and Piece
WikiLeaks.ch
ynetnews.com
Governments
Auditor election pageBellingham
Bham - PFD
Candidate Filings
Election Results
Redistricting WA state
Skagit County
The White House
WA State Access
WA State Elections
WA State Legislature
Whatcom Auditor
Whatcom County
Other - for whatever
Ban Red Light CamsBushFlash.com
Chickehhawks
Coal quandary
Doonesbury
George Bush
Info Clearing House
Mainstreampolitics
Michael Moore
Nat Geo on Coal Trains
Reality News
The Crisis Papers
Third World Traveler
Unity08
Washington Outsiders
Less active
Bellingham RegisterCarl Weimer
Eye on Whatcom
John Watts
Post-Oklahoman Confessions
The American Telegraph
Quiet, offline or dead
David HackworthGitmo prisoner 345
Mega Awesome
Not in my county
Parkenfarker
Pro-Whatcom