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roachboy · 09-09-2004, 09:23 AM

equating the iraq war with world war 2 is somehow ok, but there are cautions thrown about the board on comparisons with vietnam?
how does that work?
the analogy to world war 2 is so completely false, so thoroughly misguided as to hover on that line between obscene and funny.

the idea that being a pacifist--of all things--would lead one to have contempt for the people who are in the military is almost as bad. most of the actual pacifists that i know--not fictions generated in some far right fever dream of who their opposition might be--are religious people, particularly quakers--their whole position is rooted in compassion--for military personel who are killed in too-often absurd wars (like iraq) and for the casualties inflicted on civilians (you know, collateral damage)..
this kind of pacifism has nothing to do with the characterization floated above. nothing.
(i am not myself a pacifist, btw)

when i think of the number of troops killed in iraq, i am angered all over again at the bushlogic that put them to be there in the first place.
it was, is and will remain an unnecessary, illegal war.
over 1000 americans killed carrying out the neoconservative fantasies of american global hegemony--who knows how many iraqis killed for the sake of the same fantasy scenario, combattants and (particularly) civilians.
it is good to think, and think hard, about these deaths and hold the administration responsible for them to account.

there was no security justification for this war.

there was no strategic justification for this war, outside the hellucinations of the wolfowitz crowd.

there was no human rights justification for this war--the american state has never cared about human rights abuse so long as the regime that carried out those abuses was politically convenient. the motives of the state are a far cry from the motive imputed to the state by the public.

this is theater, this war.

1000 americans dead.

uncounted iraqis dead.

yes, it is good to think about this.

it is good to think hard about this.

09-09-2004, 09:23 AM	#50 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	equating the iraq war with world war 2 is somehow ok, but there are cautions thrown about the board on comparisons with vietnam? how does that work? the analogy to world war 2 is so completely false, so thoroughly misguided as to hover on that line between obscene and funny. the idea that being a pacifist--of all things--would lead one to have contempt for the people who are in the military is almost as bad. most of the actual pacifists that i know--not fictions generated in some far right fever dream of who their opposition might be--are religious people, particularly quakers--their whole position is rooted in compassion--for military personel who are killed in too-often absurd wars (like iraq) and for the casualties inflicted on civilians (you know, collateral damage).. this kind of pacifism has nothing to do with the characterization floated above. nothing. (i am not myself a pacifist, btw) when i think of the number of troops killed in iraq, i am angered all over again at the bushlogic that put them to be there in the first place. it was, is and will remain an unnecessary, illegal war. over 1000 americans killed carrying out the neoconservative fantasies of american global hegemony--who knows how many iraqis killed for the sake of the same fantasy scenario, combattants and (particularly) civilians. it is good to think, and think hard, about these deaths and hold the administration responsible for them to account. there was no security justification for this war. there was no strategic justification for this war, outside the hellucinations of the wolfowitz crowd. there was no human rights justification for this war--the american state has never cared about human rights abuse so long as the regime that carried out those abuses was politically convenient. the motives of the state are a far cry from the motive imputed to the state by the public. this is theater, this war. 1000 americans dead. uncounted iraqis dead. yes, it is good to think about this. it is good to think hard about this. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite