The End of the Iraq War

THE DEATH OF A TERRORIST
The US declared a measure of victory after killing al-Zarqawi. That al-Zarqawi was made a terrorist by the War in Iraq tempered the victory celebrations somewhat. But the series of deadly explosions and attacks that followed his death through a bucket full of cold water on the celebrations.
THE BRIGHT SIDE OF QUAGMIRE
As one political scientists put it, the silver lining on our failure in Iraq is that the Bush administration hasn't invaded Syria, Iran or North Korea. Had the war in Iraq gone well, our taxes would be supporting wars all over the globe.

World Cup and the LA

Hope everyone is enjoying the World Cup.

And here is a special hello to the members (official and otherwise) of the LA. May they live long and prosper.

Kenny's Response to Brown and the Catholics

Kenny responds to the Da Vinci Code by paraphrasing HL Mencken, no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

Da Vinci Code - It's only a movie

Why are the Christians panicking about The Da Vinci Code? There have been non-fictional responses written to the book, to remind the faithful that the book is only fiction. Never mind that the book claims to be only fiction, and that it appears in the FICTION section of bookstores. American readers need reminding.

Why?

I can only speculate.

Perhaps it is because American audiences of books and movies have become so accustomed to consuming information through the entertainment medium, they can no longer distinguish fact and fiction. We have witnessed the news channels adopt more and more of the trappings of entertainment TV, in order to attract audiences. Perhaps this is the source of the blur between fact and fiction in the American mind.

Perhaps it is because our government plays so loose and free with "facts", and then uses staged events and photo opportunities to support their libertine use of misinformation, that the American audiences have come to trust (or distrust) anything that appears in print, TV or the movie screen.

Perhaps it is a sign of the end of Christianity. When a religion that claims to sustain a single truth for 2000 must reply to a silly little movie that sports the latest French tart with the All-American Hero running around Europe in an effort to sublimate their sexual desires, that is certainly the sign that the faithful have lost faith. As I innocently read The Da Vinci Code, I could only remember thinking, why didn't Dan Brown get our hero and heroine together at the end. They are the perfect couple. Where is the kiss? But the Christian audiences, whose faith is obviously gone, were still pondering the TRUTH of the tale, which never claimed to be true.

On the bright side, perhaps it is because literature still has a place in the making and shaping of our culture. Pity that it took this rather flimsy thriller to capture the cultural spirit, but lovers of literature should not balk at the form. If the American mind is captured by The Da Vinci Code instead of Daniel Dennett's DARWIN'S DANGEROUS IDEA (a fabulous book that truly challenges the Christian faith and claims to be true), we lovers of literature should just nod our heads and say, "Glad you liked the book enough to read another one."

Ethics Training for Troops after War Crimes

U.S. commanders have ordered new ethics training for all troops in Iraq. This comes after evidence that US troops have been busy shooting women and children in Iraq, because, as Army Brig. Gen Donald Campbell says. “They’re just upset.”

In fact, the General said,

"It doesn't excuse the acts that have occurred, and we're going to look into them. But I would say it's stress, fear, isolation and, in some cases, they're just upset. They see their buddies getting blown up on occasion, and they could snap.”

Well, I suppose they could just snap. The good general admits that this doesn’t excuse the behavior. Of course it doesn’t. But if generals know this kind of thing is likely to happen, then shouldn't this serve as a reminder that we shouldn’t go to war unless it is a last resort.

In war, soldiers are going to get stressed out and start shooting innocent people. IT just happenes. It happened in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and now in Iraq. It is the cost of war, and why the folks who need ethical training are those residing in the West Wing of the White House. You don't go to war unless the situation is bad enough to justify the killing of lots of innocent people.

Of course, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would remind us that, "We know that 99.9 percent of our forces conduct themselves in an exemplary manner.” This is like defense attorney in court saying that his client, though convicted of murder, spent 99.9 percent of his life not murdering people, but instead living his life in an exemplary way.

It only takes a few moments to turn an exemplary life into a criminal one, and it only takes a few civilian killings to turn a military action into terrorism.

Prosecuting a war in Iraq on false intelligence reports and fear mongering created the perfect environment for war crimes. President Bush knew it, which is why he pushed legislation that would give US soldiers immunity to international war crimes.

Welcome to the Iraq nightmare. We go to Iraq to free the people from Saddam and bring them democracy, even if that means we have to kill them all to do it.

I would love to hear this ethics training the military is threatening to employ.

Ethics Trainer: “Don’t shoot the women.”

Soldier: “But we were told that the terrorist look like civilians. And some women have been shooting at us and setting bombs. How do we know the women aren’t terrorists?”

Ethics Trainer: “Fair enough. OK, shoot the women, but don’t shoot the babies?”
Soldier: “How old counts as a baby? After all, sometimes the kids have guns too.”

Ethics Trainer: “Hmmm. Good point. Let’s go with this. If the baby is sucking on his mother’s tit, just shoot the mom.”