Chuck0 wrote:
As with most things in American politics, this is about more than just the U.S. "getting their man." This is also about the war on the left, if you look closely at how the right wing spins this. The Free Republic this morning has more stuff bashing Democrats and leftists than it does stuff about a dictator being overthrown. It would be easy to dismiss Free Republic as just being the extreme of the right, but even my father asked me this morning "What's the Left's take on this?" This was not a friendly question.
The war on terrorism, the war in Iraq, and the American drive for Empire is just as much about defeating the left as it is about other stuff.
===
I think Chuck0 is right on the money here. My initial reaction to hearing this news, as ashamed I am to admit it, was "oh, shit, he's (bush) gonna get re-elected." It's a similar feeling I had on the day the statue came down- I'm glad it happened for the Iraqi people, but really worried on what effect it will have on domestic politics, the empire-building policies, the discrediting of the "anti-war movement." I mean, what's our argument now? And even though I'm no fan of the Dems or electoral politics for that matter, what's Dean's argument gonna be? I imagine it hasn't changed much, and as some have mentioned, we should point out the complicity of certain U.S. officials in the horrors commited by Hussein. But damn, I just feel like our whole take on the war and occupation has just been knocked flat on its ass-- maybe only temporarily-- and will become even more irrelevant in the face of "yea, we got him, we're the good guys, look at the Iraqis celebrating" triumphalism.
What does this mean for the UFPJ March 20th protests? I guess we'll have to wait and see. To make a long story short, why do I feel so shitty about something I should feel happy about?
p.s. i thought it was pretty interesting watching a small group of celebrating Iraqis on fox news waving red flags with hammer and sickles on them...
-- _______________________________________________ Graffiti.net free e-mail @ www.graffiti.net Check out our value-added Premium features, such as an extra 20MB for just US$9.95 per year!
Powered by Outblaze