Friday, November 19, 2004

Spiralling out of control

Further to my last post, I should point out that I am really not complaining about the individual soldier involved, but the US administration and it's failure to manage the invasion properly. I remember when the mission in question was to win the "hearts and minds of the Iraqi people". Then they launched a major offensive on the holiest day of the year. Can you imagine if a foreign government decided to bomb us on Christmas day? Would that win over "hearts and minds"?

If anyone was in any doubt that the situation in Iraq is now desperately out of control, that the US cannot effectively look after or control its own troops and doesn't have enough troops out there, try this article, which among other things mentions that the marine who shot the injured man "had been shot in the face the day before but had already returned to duty". When asked by his lieutenant if the man/men shot had been armed, the marine apparently shrugged. Draw your own conclusions.

2 comments:

Christopher said...

All too many Americans seem not to have been blessed with the imagination to see themselves as others might see them, to put themselves in the shoes of an ordinary Iraqi. People - and Iraqis are people after all - just don’t take kindly to foreigners dropping bombs on their towns, however noble the purported reason.

In the documentary “Control Room”, about the travails of Al Jazeera reporters in covering the Iraqi invasion, we, the viewers, get to see the American invaders through the eyes of ordinary Arabs. It is a film all Americans should get to see, but, unfortunately, only a handful will.

The media, and not just the American, has been screamingly silent about racism as an ingredient in this war. Would Saddam, when discovered in his hole in the ground, have been shown on TV having his beard, hair, and teeth examined, if he had been “white”? Would Americans be as cavalier about Iraqi civilian dead, if Iraqis were “white”?

I have yet to hear of a public discussion about this, or do I live on the dark side of the moon?

Unknown said...

Actually, it's typically American to do just that. (Washington crossing the Delaware, Revolutionary War)