Thursday, March 22, 2007

Elusive Victory

Every time a Republican politician opens his mouth he affirms that we have to "win this war", or "be victorious" in the fight against terrorism, yet victory" seems always just over a horizon toward which we repeatedly send more troops.

I don't think we're going to see those troops riding into the sunset any time soon,because our historical memory is short: victory generally goes to those who have been attacked.

Calling the war in Iraq and Afghanistan a response to the attack of September 11th violates the standard understanding of war:  we are not fighting troops representing a government that attacked us, but civilians who had nothing to do with the small group; that did attack us. As occupiers invariably do, we have installed puppet regimes to do our bidding and which, consequently, are seen by the population as part of our aggression.

That is shy we will never win.  The occupied populations will win, as they always have, we we leave.  Then they will be left with the task of remedying the situation that produced both American and Middle Eastern civilian casualties: their failure to achieve some measure of control over those who govern them.

But Americans shouldn't even throw stones:  though the scale is different, we are faced with the same problem. Who thinks the Mayor of Salt Lake City acted on his own when he called for the impeachment of George W. Bush?  Seeing the media suddenly unleashed against the administration, it's hard to believe the order didn't come from the Republican powers-that-be-  or that Democrats have not decided to go by way of Salt Lake City to reverse Nancy Pelosi's edict against impeachment.

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