Trauma Central

It's been many years now, this Iraq thing. It is no secret that I am disappointed in my country, more specifically our NeoCon Republicans. I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat, although I probably lean away from Republicans the most.

I'm not against war, per se. If some country was to attack ours, or if terrorists are attacking us, I see no problem in fighting back with everything we got. But that is not what has happened. We started a preemptive war with Iraq, based on sheer greed and typical boorish dystopia, partially from revenge by the idiot son of a prior one term president.

Wikipedia - A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος, alternatively, cacotopia,[1] kakotopia or anti-utopia) is a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia. It is usually characterized by an oppressive social control, such as an authoritarian or totalitarian government.

I am getting on in years, so when I see this is as one of our most grievous mistakes, I am taking in consideration many wars and battles in our history. Vietnam is probably worse in sheer numbers of deaths, so far, but Iraq is worse for trying to extricate ourselves. We depend too much on the oil in that region, and to just drop Iraq and gather our broken marbles in a hasty retreat is not possible. As much as I would hate to spend another day there, or kill another young person over it, we have ourselves in a monkey trap.

I have very little hope in a friendly relationship with most of the factions in Iraq and most of southern Asia. Only a kind of economic balance with India and China has any hope of success. One cannot reason with religious fanatics or revenge-seeking barbarians, and that includes the ones in our own country.

My granddaughter may grow up with these problems still festering, just like the horrid slaughter that has gone on in Israel and Palestine for the last 60 years. And as technical measures and countermeasures continue to escalate, the festering becomes ever more destructive. I don't think any place on Earth will be safe, except where the most draconian security measures are in place -- and living in such a way is pretty much the dystopia I already mentioned.

Iran is probably next. If there is money at stake, if the World economy is at stake, then no other mechanism of politics will be able to prevent a war with Iran. Not unless the people in Iran come to their senses, or the big capital countries decide to abandon the oil and isolate that region in some other way. Islam may or may not be the only issue in some of their thinking, but power definitely is one issue.

For some people, the bean in the monkey trap is more important than anything, more than their children's lives, more than the lives of all creatures on the Earth. They will sacrifice anything and everything to keep the bean. The bean is power.