Monday, June 13, 2005
Rome before the fall. posted by Richard Seymour
Administrations in the US rarely feel they've matured until they're bloodied by at least one good war. Sure, they look fresh and innocent at first, but eventually the testes must descend, and the new President finds himself becoming curiously interested in other countries. It's a birds and bees thing, one that ma and pa may well try and prepare him for with awkward lectures and curious demonstrations using a banana and a hoover nozzle. But he has to figure it out for himself. He flatters, courts, cajoles and eventually, if he is lucky, conquers. But now Bush is "in blood/Stepp’d in so far that, should [he] wade no more,/Returning were as tedious as go o’er".So, when 59% of Americans say US troops should be withdrawn from Iraq , the administration will be tempted to say silly things like 'it was "vital" for U.S. peace and security that "we complete the mission by training Iraqis to provide for their own security, and then our troops can return home with the honor they have earned."' No matter that miniature cataclysms strike Iraq almost daily now creating scenes that cause the gorge to rise; that the lies with which Bush wooed his first love are falling around his ears; that the torture rack fair creaks with overuse in Guantanamo ...
The occupiers will not give up their foolish, murderous crusade, will not close Guantanamo , and will not drop their stupid lies . They know, despite their disavowals, that the Iraqi resistance is not for turning. They know it is a legitimate national liberation struggle which doesn't target civilians . But, the goofy project for world domination speaks with a louder and finer voice in the ears of US policymakers than humility or good sense. Actually, if either of the latter were to take hold, Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney may well commit seppuku live on Fox television.
And to think, some American liberals wistfully dream that Kerry might be in the Whitehouse doing all the same things much more efficiently if only gays and abortionists hadn't crippled their campaign...