Home > The Reality-Challenged Challengers to Cindy Sheehan
The Reality-Challenged Challengers to Cindy Sheehan
by Open-Publishing - Monday 29 August 20052 comments
Edito Movement Wars and conflicts USA
"Americans should get a grip on reality. If we were invaded, we would fight till the invaders left. That is what Iraqis are doing and will continue to do until they drive us out. Then, after a period of healing, we can become friends once again. Our enemies in Iraq are enemies of our own making. Let us never forget this reality."
by Stan Moore
It is probably the fault of the media. Or maybe the failure of the public education system. Whosoever fault it is, the American citizens who have flocked to Crawford, Texas to say that Cindy Sheehan does not speak for them, and to demand that Cindy stop giving aid and comfort to "the enemy", know little about Iraq.
A couple of years ago, virtually no Iraqis would describe themselves as enemies of the U.S. Iraqis welcomed Americans as tourists and as guests. Iraqis came to America to study as university students and maintained close ties with Americans and with their relatives in America. There was no enmity between Iraqis and Americans.
What changed?
America invaded Iraq, illegally and brutally — that’s what changed. America’s military bombed Iraq and shattered the infrastructure. America’s military took away fresh water and electricity and air conditioning and basic comforts and necessities of life. America’s military occupied Iraq and began jailing Iraq’s citizens, breaking in doors at night in search of resisters to the invasion, and putting thousands of "suspects" in Abu Graib and other prisons. Americans began shooting suspicious vehicles, "lighting them up" with machine gun fire with Iraqi women and children inside. American soldiers began taking photos of themselves with nude Iraqi prisoners stacked like firewood or pyramids or smiling while military dogs barked and bit frightened Iraqi detainees.
The American military came to Iraq and brutalized, sodomized and humiliated the Iraqi people. That is what happened. And some Iraqis started fighting back against the illegal, brutal occupation, thus becoming "the enemy".
Cindy Sheehan wants to reverse the situation. There is no intrinsic reason Iraqis should be the enemies of Americans. If America withdrew the troops, the fighting would cease. Iraqis would not attempt to follow the American army back to America to battle us here. Iraqis would like to heal and restore their nation and live in peace and prosperity, but they cannot do so under the barrel of American guns and tanks and with warplanes and attack helicopters threatening their every move.
If not for oil, the U.S. Army would not be in Iraq, and the spectacular gamble to take over and control Iraq’s oil is not working, because Iraqis know that American success in controlling their oil is tantamount to colonial subjugation. Iraqis have been there and done that with colonial Britain and many would rather die than be subjugated. And so they fight on.
Cindy Sheehan has the right answer. The Anti-Sheehan’s are reality-challenged. Iraqis do not hate us for our freedoms, and would not be our enemies if we did not deny them their own freedoms. The American military is the problem, not the solution. The deaths of American soldiers are the American side of the pain caused by our occupation of Iraq. The deaths of Iraqis are the Iraqi share of the pain of occupation. When the occupation ends, the pain begins to subside and the healing can begin — not before.
Americans should get a grip on reality. If we were invaded, we would fight till the invaders left. That is what Iraqis are doing and will continue to do until they drive us out. Then, after a period of healing, we can become friends once again. Our enemies in Iraq are enemies of our own making. Let us never forget this reality.
Forum posts
30 August 2005, 19:35
Stan:
You are right about the fact that Bush lied to his country, and to the world, about his aims, strategy and tactics in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. It was all a ball of lies, made by neocons like Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and Wolfowitz, thinking that they are chosen by God to rule the World. These cowardly warhawks brought death and destruction to Iraq, but called it Freedom and Democracy. Why millions of Americans bought that story is for psychiatrists to figure out.
Bush sent troops to Iraq to steal its oil, expropriate large tracts of land to build permanent U.S. military bases, install a huge 1,800 person embassy from which Bush will send arrogant loonies like Morton to bully the entire Middle East. In the process he will use extreme violence and all of the brutal weapons at his disposal. He has made Iraq a hell for the people there, much worse than Saddam Hussein in his prime. You cannot move without getting blasted by a bullet or missile or grenade, or do anything for fear your home will be destroyed. Bush respects no woman or child and it is his direct responsibility for any of the thousands of deaths … he caused them.
The main problem with him leaving Iraq is that he doesn’t want to do it. He wants the land, the bases and the embassy and will bully the Iraqis until they agree to give him everything he wants. You see, that’s sovereignty!
Peter
31 August 2005, 21:56
The lady’s sign says "Kick their ass and take their gas". But she’s not thinking clearly. We are fighting (kicking ass), but if she hasn’t noticed, there is no gas flowing out of Iraq. Past behavior by the American government (e.g. Torrios of Panama and many more) would indicate that when we have a disagreement with a foreign leader who has some natural resource that we need, we assassinate the leader and put in our own puppet dictator (e.g. Manuel Noriega). But we didn’t do that in Iraq, and I have been struggling to make sense of the Iraq situation for years. Recently, however, it came to me when I looked at the ever escalating price of gasoline. Here’s the deal: Scientists and oil companies realize that we’ve already used half of the world’s oil, and they want to make the best of what’s left. So to make that happen we invaded Iraq (where scientists think there may be more oil than is under Saudi Arabia), but we don’t stabilize it immediately, and we don’t leave it either, hence the warnings that we may be in Iraq for 4 more years. By not leaving, we keep it under our control and prevent invasions by other countries. Meanwhile we slowly let the price of gasoline rise, sort of like a frog in a pot of water where the burner is turned on HIGH. At first the frog doesn’t notice, and then it feels sort of good, and the temperature rises so slowly that the frog doesn’t get alarmed enough to revolt and jump out of the pot. This is what will happen to the price of gas. In 4 years when we pull out of Iraq, we will leave a puppet dictator behind (one different from Saddam only in one way: that he obeys our wishes) who will get the oil flowing. However, the price of gas will be $10 or more per gallon and the oil companies will be making some serious money. This was and is their objective. I must say that it is the religious right and people like the lady in the picture who have made me completely lose respect the majority of the American public. These people have the belief that everything they hear in American media and in their churches is the absolute truth whether it makes any sense or not. They have completely lost the ability to be analytical and open-minded. This brings me to my second and final revelation: I have finally realized that if given the opportunity to work for the Illuminati in any way to further take advantage of these people through propaganda or any other form of mass manipulation, I would because I respect the Illuminati much more than the average American. I have to go where thinking minds are, and they are not in mainstream America. American religion and television have programmed a nation of robots who are not worthy of respect.