La C asked me over memorial day
why so many more businesses were closed this memorial day
then in previous years she'd recalled..
and after thinking about it for a bit
i thought..
maybe its because this memorial day, we've got dead soldiers
and we really hadn't had wartime death in quite awhile..
When young men and women start to die
Memorial day takes on it's true meaning
MEMORIAL
i watched the Showtime documentary that aired this past week on Iraq..
it was quite a bit different then I'd expected..and really did manage to show all sides of the conflict
the camera crew followed a young man returning to Iraq to find the family he'd left 13 years ago when Saddam Hussein's army had tortured him and left him for dead after he took part in a failed uprising against Hussein
he'd been rescued by american soldiers and taken to america
where hed married and lived for 13 years and stayed away from his family
so as not to risk their lives
saddam was famous for murdering the families of his uprisers and then sending the photos of their dead bodies to the rebellious one
certainly this young man was pro-american
the documentary also showed religious islamists who were devoutly anti-American and even chanted that America was the enemy and one man who wanted to slaughter americans like sheep
it showed children digging through uranium laden metal in search of salvage
a doctor verifying that cancer was eminant
soldiers who wanted to go home
soldiers who seemed hardened
soldiers who seemed softened
all in all
i think
the general impression i got was that
while many if not most of the people of Iraq
interviewed had been anti-Saddam Hussein
many if not most of the people interviewed were also
anti being occupied by America
they felt humiliated
and shamed by the occupation
i guess its a funny thing
but a lot of people here
think that just because we liberated them
just because they hated Hussein
that they would also want us there
not true
when a group of men were asked
how many would choose american style liberty
and how many would choose an Islamic run country
all hands rose for the latter..
the female journalist interviewed had perhaps the most
important message
which was that if Iraq was our friend
we must know our friend
and if they were our enemy
we must also know our enemy
clearly we do not understand these people
and trying to stream roll them into our way of thinking is useless
the only way to truly liberate Iraq is
to find a way to do it their way
which ultimately means
to butt out
as much as humanly possible
not an easy task when the war has left the country in such a shambles
that any powerful military force could easily step in
and turn it into another dictatorship
what to do with this mess
what to do
one soldier compared it to vietnam
his reasoning
that you don't know your enemy
the same person who waves and smiles in the daytime
comes back to blow you up at night
feeling that way about every person who walks past you
its no wonder
we aren't getting any closer to healing wounds over there
nobody trusts anybody
nobody understands anybody
and the blood keeps spilling
