Can you believe what has happened in Iraq
in the last few days? It's as if the
administration's entire war strategy was
based on the assumption that no one
would dare resist. I can't believe some
of the crap I heard on television over
the weekend. I can't believe how ignorant
some of the military planners are.
Iraqi soldiers pretending to surrender then
attacking? This isn't meant to fool
the Americans, it is meant to make it impossible
for any Iraqi's to surrender.
Now, American soldiers won't honor a flag
of truce. Iraqi soldiers dressing
in civilian clothes? This isn't meant to
fool the Americans, it is meant to make
all Iraqi civilians a target, thus forcing
them to defend themselves from us.
Now no Iraqi, not a surrendering soldier
and not an innocent civilian is safe.
And yet no one on TV can figure this out.
On several occasions, TV people referred
to attacks behind our lines as
terrorist attacks. The grenade attack in
Kuwait, for example, before we
found out what really happened. Are we
not at war? Haven't we said we
are at war? Combatants in a war aren't
terrorists. Combatants engaged in
sabotage and ambush behind enemey lines
have a name - special forces.
We don't call our Navy Seals and Green
Berets terrorists, now do we?
And if, God forbid, something should happen
here, it won't be an act of
terrorism, because we are at war and thus
we are all legitimate targets,
according to the Bush administration's
Shock and Awe idea of legitimate
targets in Bagdad.
Then there were the videos of dead and captured
American soldiers.
According to Bush, this is a violation
of the Geneva Convention. It's about
damn time he learned about the Geneva Convention,
because he has
certainly made a point of ignoring it when
it comes to the prisoners in Cuba.
Iraq showed video of captured soldiers
being questioned. Didn't we show
video and photos of Guantanamo prisoners
on their knees? Wasn't there a
photo of John Walker Lindh naked and wrapped
in duct tape?
And when the Northern Alliance swept through
Afganistan, didn't we see
videos of dead Taliban soldiers lying in
ditches? Didn't we see videos of
foreign nationals fighting on the Taliban's
side being beaten and chased by
mobs of Northern Alliance soldiers? I distinctly
remember two instances
- one of what I believe was a Pakistani
being beaten, and another begging
for his life with blood streaming down
his face.
Weren't these also violations of the Geneva Convention?
Or is it only a violation when it is American
soldiers?
Bush isn't angry about any violation of
the Geneva Convention. He is angry
because this can no longer be seen by the
American public as a bloodless,
sanitary war, the only kind we can tolerate.
The administration and its apologists said
that it was too late to back out before
the war, that we had to go to war or lose
face. How much harder is it now?
This is Bush's Crusade. Previous Crusades
failed because they were largely
led by arrogant and incompetent leaders.
Jeff Crook