By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
There are so many topics that whisper my name these days, it’s difficult to select just one to write about. Things that would have grabbed my attention, animated my conversation just a decade ago slip away now, unnoticed except perhaps as an entry in my notes. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time — or emotional energy — to attend them all. Still, this week something happened that I need to address. The war that was, essentially, the flagship of the American empire’s final voyage has sailed into the sunset. Well, sort of.
American ground forces have left Iraq. Even if the press has little to add to that basic fact, I need to mark that juncture in some manner. In 2003, I joined Planet Waves as the moderator of an information list, sending news clips out to those interested. After my first couple of posts, Eric reminded me — quite pointedly, as I recall — that I wasn’t supposed to add commentary; well, you know how that worked out. In the next few years, I literally posted thousands of articles accompanied by what I came to think of as impassioned rants. The majority of them were about the war in Iraq, privateers that sought legitimacy as “contractors,” covert incidents of torture and brutality, the suspension of habeas corpus, the crippling financial burden of two unfunded wars, and the delusion of the party that led the merry chase called WOT: War on Terror.
Let’s quickly review the facts. Dubby’s vendetta against Saddam Hussein had all the trappings of an epic production. The pitch went on, month after month, after Bush climbed down from that pile of rubble where the Towers once stood. With zero understanding of the mid-eastern psyche, and even less respect for its religion and traditions, the majority of us nodded in solemn agreement as George the Lesser told us how jealous the attackers were of our freedoms.