February 11, 2005 6:47 PM
Naomi Klein has been writing some great stuff on Iraq lately. Challenging the left and the right.
It turns out that on American TV, the entire occupation has been one long episode of Fear Factor, in which Iraqis overcome ever-more-challenging obstacles to demonstrate the depths of their desire to win their country back. Having their cities leveled, being tortured in Abu Ghraib, getting shot at checkpoints, having their journalists censored and their water and electricity cut off all of it was just a prelude to the ultimate endurance test: dodging bombs and bullets to get to the polling station. At last, Americans were persuaded that Iraqis really, really want to be free.
Naomi Klein on Iraq (02.11.2005)
Next Entry: Bill Maher on Fox News (02.18.2005)
Previous Entry: Wal-Mart and Kraft celebrate Black History Month (02.07.2005)
Aaron:
His point that America is watching the spectical of war as a TV show is dead on.
As Limbaugh says, there is a reason that there has never been a decisive military victory since television became mainstream...
Fri Feb 11 2005 7:37 PM
qweezy:
your 15 minutes are up...
Fri Feb 11 2005 10:06 PM
Tom from Madison:
"A flock of sheep lead by a lion can win a battle but a pack of lions led by a sheep is likely to loose it."
Anon
Sun Feb 13 2005 11:20 AM
evil conservative666:
Good thing it's not a sheep *coughkerrycough* leading us then, eh?
Sun Feb 13 2005 1:26 PM
Tom from Madison:
No Bush is not a sheep. He's certainly no lion.
He's a WEASEL.
Sun Feb 13 2005 2:10 PM
Mike P:
good observation, but it's like i'm reading the New York Times which basically slams every bad thing that happened during the Bush Administration...
I too admit I was glued to CNN when the war began, but only because my cousin and good friend were over there. They have both since re-enlisted. I listen to what they say about the Iraqis over there, and they are ecstatic about the elections. Holding out for a little while longer before they come home for good.
Fri Feb 18 2005 3:29 AM
Tom from Madison:
Iraqi Christians are one group who are not ecstatic about the elections. Iraq is now a very dangerous place to be a Christian. Many of them have left the country.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Salim_Mansur/2004/12/22/794128.html
This story is not widely reported in the U.S. 40,000+ Christians find it too unsafe to live in Iraq and decided they needed to escape through Syria or Turkey.
It would seem to be a very tough challenge for the US to build a democracy in Iraq that will protect the rights of its Christian minority.
Sat Feb 19 2005 9:14 AM
Tom from Madison:
Here's another story not widely reported in the U.S.:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1417222,00.html
Hassan Juma'a Awad, the head of the Southern Oil Company Union is asking for an end to the U.S. occupation.
Below is a quote:
"Our union has already shown it is able to stand its ground against one of the most powerful US companies, Dick Cheney's KBR, which tried to take over our workplaces with the protection of occupation forces.We forced them out and compelled their Kuwaiti subcontractor, Al Khourafi, to replace 1,000 of the 1,200 employees it brought with it with Iraqi workers, 70% of whom are unemployed today. We also fought US viceroy Paul Bremer's wage schedule, which dictated that Iraqi public sector workers must earn ID 69,000 ($35) per month, while paying up to $1,000 a day to thousands of foreign mercenaries. In August 2003 we took strike action and shut down all oil production for three days. As a result, the occupation authorities had to raise wages to a minimum of ID 150,000.
We see it as our duty to defend the country's resources. We reject and will oppose all moves to privatise our oil industry and national resources. We regard this privatisation as a form of neo-colonialism, an attempt to impose a permanent economic occupation to follow the military occupation."
This is a real example of how U.S. tax dollars are being spent in the name of liberation.
Mon Feb 21 2005 9:47 AM
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