"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
My Boog Pages
Wednesday, May 5
Army of Darkness
There are numbers of people on the left, in the United States and abroad, who have declared that the Iraqis and other Arabs fighting against the American army in Iraq are a "legitimate resistance". Now, I don't want this to turn into a warblog, but I have to ask - resistance against what?
The stated aim of the United States is to turn over control of the country to the Iraqis by mid-summer, with elections following within six months, and possibly much sooner. If the people trying to kill Americans are so sure of the rightness of their cause, and so sure that they represent the majority of Iraqis, why don't they just wait a few months and win bloodlessly at the polls?
Answer: they don't want democracy, the fear it. Their acts of murder and brutality are meant to intimidate Iraqis as much as they are to drive away our soldiers. These "insurgents" (terrorists) hope to return to the glory days of Baathist rule - a small minority running the country for their own ends through fear and force.
The good news is that the rest of the country isn't having any. Many of the thugs employed by Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr have been killed by Iraqi citizens. Now, frankly, death in a dark alley isn't the best way to handle this, but these men are reaping what they've sown.
I don't know how things in Iraq will turn out. Possibly the country will end up partitioned into Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish states. More likely, democracy will slowly take root as it has in South Africa's black community and former Communist states like Nicaragua. There's always the shadow of Man With Gun, lurking and watching for an opportunity.
But whatever their fate, it's up to the Iraqis to settle it, and they will, one way or another.
An article in the San Francisco Chronicle confirms what I already believed: Pat Tillman was a complex character who doesn't easily fit anyone's stereotypes. Although he's been embraced by conservatives, he wasn't really conservative himself. While definitely a nonconformist, he was willing to conform when it suited his purposes. And he was a thoughtful and intelligent man.
Returning to Rene Gonzalez, I think the thing that really made me angry about his article was the general feeling of resentment. His attitude seemed to be, "Why should he be a hero? What's he really done?" Now, like most writers, I'm something of an amateur psychologist, so what does this tell me about Rene Gonzalez?
It tells me that Gonzalez has big dreams, plans, and ambitions, and that he hasn't done a damn thing to achieve them. He's the kind of person who wants things to happen but isn't willing to make the sacrifices necessary to make them happen. He probably puts the blame on others, when really all he needs to do is put down the bong, get his butt off the couch, and go do it. Sure, getting out of your comfort zone can be intimidating, but at least then you wouldn't need to tear down those with the confidence to go out and do what they really want to.
