Anyway, cartfanhef whatever, I too rejoice in the liberation of the Iraqi people from Saddam and believe that, IN THE LONG RUN, this present nastiness will be looked back on as an aberration in the long, slow process of Iraq rejoining the nations of the world.
However…
I don’t think we were ready for what would happen. Although it’s hard to thwart people who will steal from orphans (one of the first images that really shocked me post-war was seeing an actual orphanage that had had its food looted, for Allah’s sake!) without wholesale shooting, there could and should have been much more detailed planning for what would happen after the war. Like I said, I am cautiously optimistic for the long run and still thrilled that Saddam is out of power, and I do remember those happy folks on April 9th and have read plenty of stories where people mention that they’re happy he’s gone, but…
Oh yeah. If Barbra Streisand’s here, she hasn’t revealed herself. So if you’re after her, don’t start by going after us, hokay?
Cartman, I realize you’re young. But you MUST realize that oversimplifying a world event and calling everyone who doesn’t think like you a “commie” is making your argument look idiotic. Everyone has a DUTY to examine and criticize the government. Not just a right…a DUTY. Silly kid. Start paying attention.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
~Theodore Roosevelt
I am proudly and fiercely American, but I will criticize the government any time I feel they’re committing a wrongdoing, and that is MY RIGHT AS AN AMERICAN. If I didn’t care so much about this country and want it to be the kind of place that we all think it is, I wouldn’t bother putting forth the effort.
And Sam Stone demonstrates his point through practical example.
The odd news snippet of jubilant Iraqi’s gives us no more insight into how the plurality of Iraqi’s are actually feeling than those oft repeated clips of Palestinians cheering 9/11 showed how the majority of Palestinians were feeling at the time.
At the moment it seems like for every happy Iraqi there’s a militant waiting to blow some unsuspecting soldiers head off. To assume CNN footage is in any way a reliable indicator of the welfare of Iraq’s civilian population is naive in the extreme.