Number of Americans killed on April 16: 33
Number of Iraqis killed on April 18: 172
Number of Facebook profile pictures changed to memorialize dead Americans: 4*
Number of Facebook profile pictures changed to memorialize dead Iraqis: 0*
Number of WSU campus memorials for dead Americans: 1
Number of WSU campus memorials for dead Iraqis: 0
172/33: 5.2121…
What does this say about us as a people?
*Out of 64 Facebook friends
Many people, myself included, believed that the intelligence indicating that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaeda was simply made up, that there was no actual evidence and Bush lied us into war for whatever reason. It seems that we were wrong. Our Administration wasn’t lying, they were duped by Iran, according to the Guardian.
This is old news, but important news, because the US media hasn’t quite picked it up yet. In any case, for those of you unwilling to RTFA, a lot of the intelligence about Iraq that the Administration was acting upon came from the Iraqi National Congress, a group of expatriate Iraqis based in the UK.
It is increasingly becoming clear that the INC got the intelligence from none other than Iranian intelligence in a misinformation plot that managed to bring the United States at war with Iraq to satisfy Iranian foreign policy goals. Not only would Saddam Hussein, Iran’s old enemy, be out of power, but Iraq would be in a perfect situation for Shi’ite clerics to take over Iraq and establish a theocratic Shi’ite state. Being a theocratic Shi’ite state itself, Iran would undoubtedly view this as a positive outcome. In the meantime, American forces are stuck in Iraq, leading to an increasing discrediting of the United States in the Middle East.
Say what you will about Clinton, but he was never the dupe of foreign spies.
Today, I think, was one of the greatest days in history. I was very happy, as I imagine most of us were, seeing Iraqis cheering in the streets of Baghdad. Whatever you may think of the war, the fact that millions of people who were once suffering under one of the most brutal regimes on earth will soon live free will be welcomed by almost everyone. Everyone, of course, except for Saddam and his family (if they are alive), Ba’ath party loyalists, and the Iraqi information minister. I will miss the Iraqi information minister. Anyone with the ability to insist, with a straight face, that the US military is trapped when they are delivering one of the greatest routs in history, is someone who will be sorely missed. He is like the man who builds a house, carpets the area outside the four walls and keeps the area inside grassy, and declares he has the rest of the world trapped inside his house.
In response to the comments some of you have posted, I like to keep my blog on a two-tiered level. If I start posting comments to comments, people will eventually post comments to comments to comments, and it would be an annoying message board, instead of a blog with comments. So, I’ll respond to your comments here in the main blog.
To unanymous: Okay, you were a bit harsh the first time, but with your second post, I’m starting to see what you were trying to say. I certainly agree people can change. I’ve changed quite a bit. I’m a high school senior right now. If you can’t stand me now, you wouldn’t want to meet the person I was freshman year, or even sophmore year. I wouldn’t want to meet those people either. I’m going to change my life. And you know what? When I go to college next year, I think that will be my best opportunity to do that.
And I totally know what you mean when you say, “The only ones I don’t accept are the ones that resemble whom I once was. I hated myself!”. I’ve been in the same situation, meeting people who resembled who I once was.
I’ve never posted this on here, but I was actually once treated and medicated for depression. I took Zoloft for a number of years. What happened? It destroyed my ability to concentrate. I could block out the entire world for hours and concentrate on one thing once. I can still do it, but it’s a lot harder now. And I was still depressed! Drugs, legal or not, do not help you.
Now I go back and forth between depression and happiness. I think I’m overall more emotional than normal, because I think all my emotions–happiness, anger, depression, even fear–are rather strong. However, oddly enough, I’m also a very logical person, and my emotions don’t cloud my judgment (usually).
And by the way, I love Star Trek too, even though Enterprise is a disaster. Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway all had an air of firm authority about them. Archer? Archer is who we’d end up with if we put a French diplomat as the first starship captain. And I’m not even going into continuity issues. But I still like the rest of Trek. You know you’re a Trekkie when you genuinely enjoy William Shatner’s acting :)
Thanks for the comments. Even if you can’t stand me, it’s good to know that my blog has some regular readers.
