Iraq is providing some painful realities which are about to kick us in the conscience
The events of 9/11 had a traumatic effect on the American people. It was the type of shock that could drive a society blind with rage or in our case, send us on a non-stop drinking binge. We were hurt, angry and determined to get revenge. We were vulnerable and in that moment we could be easily led to do many a rash thing. There is so much damage that can be done when a person is under the influence. Consider what we have inflicted on others as a nation drunk on power. During our wild swinging haze a group of men pointed through the fog and claimed to see our enemies. At the time we were ready to believe anything. We were ready to fight anyone and so we followed.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - bliffle
Are we working fast enough at complicating the Financial Industry to assure full employment therein for 300 million USA citizens?
If not, what are the plans for supernumeraries? Servants? Slaves? Soldiers?
27 - MAOZ
Ruvy, I'm curious -- are you among those who see a particular significance between a possible variant pronunciation of the gimels and a present-day office-holder?
[Dang! That's way too many p's in one sentence! Perhaps I should preview this post prior to pressing "Publish"....]
28 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
MAOZ,
P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-.....
That's too many p's in one sentence, boychick.
Heh. As for the pronunciation of the "gimels" and a present day office holder, I'm not so sure anymore. In order for this to remain so past January, certain events would have to occur. Either this office holder (or his father) would have to die on the hills of Israel before January 2009, or the elections would have to be canceled so that this office holder could stay in office. Canceling American elections would take an extra-ordinary event.
Have you noticed how many times I hedge that elections may not occur in my comments on the candidates for office?
For those of you having trouble with this, you'll just have to dig out what I'm talking about on your own....
29 - Silver Surfer
"American English laid out by Noah Webster"
American what???
30 - Dr Dreadful
American 'English'.
Cf. 'Pennsylvania Dutch'.
American, like the sadly defunct Scots, is a language that is very similar to, but not actually, English. Speakers of the two languages are able to understand each other (much of the time) but most authorities classify them as distinct tongues.
Cf. Danish and Norwegian.
...
(This is the bit where you say something about flags, Stan.)
:-D
31 - Dave Nalle
The U.S. doesn't "make" much any longer. As Ruvy suggests, (this agreeing with you has just got to stop!) we are now a nation of paper shufflers, of electronic money moving, a nation of investors. Our industrial infastructure has been in the wane for at least the last 30 to 40 years.
This whole idea of 'making things' is entirely passe. As someone who has been in business in several different industries, I can assure you that the bane of business is the need to make and sell actual physical objects of value. I spent years just dreaming of having a business without a physical inventory.
What is really frightening is that all our "digital" wealth could disappear at the errant or intended stroke of a computer key.
Well, since we're the ones who are now in the business of managing and tracking all that wealth, we'd better damned well be able to do it well enough not to lose track of it.
Most newer manufacturing in the U.S. is in some area of electronics, communications, etc. That, I suppose, is a good thing. But you'll play hell finding a maker of widgets anywhere within our borders. All our widgets are now being made in China and/or third world countries.
Actuallly, the movement of most of our large-scale industry overseas has opened up a market for craftsman-style, lower-level industry in the US. Small businesses that manufacture things on a small scale often for custom requirements are flourishing. Your society of managers and investors goes hand in hand with a society of entrepreneurs. IMO this is the leading-edge economic structure for the future.
We are faced with a serious conundrum. Many relatively high paying union jobs in manufacturing have disappeared over the last several years. Folks who had been earning, say $15 to $25 per hour are now faced with taking service oriented jobs which may pay no more than $8 to $10 per hour. Many pay less. Many such people are forced to work multiple jobs to have any hope of maintaining their homes purchased in better times, (I'm not referring to sub-prime mortgagors.) and their life styles.
I hope they were earning more than $15 an hour at their union jobs. The $10 an hour job for a minimally skilled worker is an absolute myth in most of the country. Those union workers can come to the southwest and work in a machine shop or a metal shop with minimal retraining and earn at least $20 an hour.
Even many of the poorest Americans are unwilling to perform what are viewed as menial labor - agricultural work, low end janitorial and maintenance work, roofing & other construction work, fast food, etc. Enter Mexican immigrants.
Those who would expel these people and prevent their entry into the country in the future have no answer to the question who is going to pick our fruits and vegetables? Who is going to perform other menial labor which is now largely done by Hispanics?
Dead on. Add to that a projected insufficiency of workers to even fill the non-menial jobs within less than a decade because our population isn't growing, and you have a new kind of economic crisis. If we closed the borders and kicked out all of the illegals now the repercussions would be felt almost immediately and the inflation and decline in the quality and availability of services would be substantial.
This may be going off on a tangent, but I believe that it's all of a piece. The American economy is fragile at best. Our bubble can burst from any number of sources - from terrorism to keystrokes.
I see it differently. I think our economy is evolving and the biggest threat is crazy policy like you get from the nativists who want to expell all the Mexicans.
Dave
32 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
No, DD;
This is the bit where I say "good bread and good cheese is good English and good Friese".
So long as Australians, Canadians and Brits watch movies that end with "Colour by Technicolor", then we are still all speaking English.
Just because you gits can't get half the vocabulary right doesn't make Americans wrong. And a reminder for the rest of you: for the time being, American English is the imperial language of the planet - you "Achaeans" will just have to keep up with American English till the American Empire falls - which shouldn't be too long from now.
Then you'll have to deal with Hebrew.
Your first lesson - free!
Alef A - a letter that doesn't carry a vowel sound, a glottal stop. Numeric value - 1
Bet - B, V. Numeric value - 2
Gimel - G - in modern Hebrew, this is always a hard "G". Numeric value - 3
Dalet - D - sometimes pronounced like a T at the end of a word. Numeric value - 4
Heh - H - silent at the end of a word. Numeric value - 5
Vav - V, U, O (originally W). Numeric value - 6
Zayin - Z. Numeric value - 7
Het - no equivalent in English, but developed into the English H. A deep gutteral H from the throat. Numeric value - 8
Tet - T. Numeric value - 9
Yod - Y. Numeric value - 10
Kaf - K, Kh - the Kh is pronounced like the Scots ch, as in "loch" - a very different sound from Het. Numeric value - 20
Lamed - L. Numeric value - 30
Mem - M. Numeric value - 40
Nun - N. Numeric value - 50
Samekh - S. Numeric value - 60
'Ayin - a sound from the throat that usually carries the vowel ah. Numeric value - 70
Pe - P, F. Numeric value - 80
Tzade - Tz. Numeric value - 90
Kuf - K - This letter evolved into the letter Q in Latin. Numeric value - 100
Resh - R. Numeric value - 200
Shin - Sh, S Numeric value - 300
Tav - T (Originally th, as in Bethlehem). Numeric value - 400
33 - Dr Dreadful
I'm kidding, Ruvy. You of all people I shouldn't have to tell that.
As you are evidently aware, but for the edification of others who might be interested, the living language most closely related to English is not 'American' but Frisian, spoken on a handful of small islands off the north German coast*. I have no trouble reading it but that may be because I speak German anyway.
I love languages and find it amusing that Danish and Norwegian, which are practically the same, are regarded as separate languages whereas Mandarin and Cantonese, which are mutually unintelligible, are usually both counted as dialects of Chinese.
I reckon I'll be speaking one or other of those before I'm speaking Hebrew, BTW, beautiful language though it is.
* An oxymoron. Thanks to the efforts of a Mr Churchill, a Mr Roosevelt and a Mr Stalin, Germany doesn't have any other coasts.
34 - Baronius
Dread - Not an oxymoron. I believe it's an unnecessary qualifier.
35 - Dr Dreadful
Baronius - I stand rectifiably corrected by your amendment.
;-)
36 - STM
Flags, Doc???
What, did you expect me to say something silly like, the only truly civilised countries are those that a) have a Union Jack as a flag, or b) have a Union Jack in the corner (which is why Hawaii is the most civilised state of the US :).
Nah, I wouldn't say anything like that. I'm not that kind of a bloke.
Americans, however, really should look at new flag options. 13 red stripes on a white background and a whole shit-load of stars stuck in one corner - my 13-year-old could have designed that!
The movement to reinstate the Dominion of British West Florida has a very tasteful design - a nice red one, whith a big white star and the civilising Union Jack in the corner.
They believe that to have West Florida made a Dominion and brought back into the Commonwealth would not require it to secede from the US.
Other, smarter states, would obviously then follow suit once they realised the benefits on offer.
The main one of course is the opportunity to get invited over to the capital of the world to have tea, and watercress and cucumber sandwiches at Buck House with Her Maj, or even better, learn the rules of cricket or become a Knight of the realm.
Seriously, how can Seppos match that??
This is also a surefire way for the Seppos to make sure they never get another G.W.Bush, or someone else they don't like in the White House (which in truth, is really just a poor copy and a parody of Buck House that never quite matches the pomp it hoped to emulate).
37 - STM
And Doc, what about Swedish ... I know it's similar to the other two, but could a swede be understood by a Dane or a Norwegian, and vice versa.
I am off to look up Frisian on the internet.
Cheers, Doc, and a thunmbs up to you knowledge of some interesting tid-bits.
Same to Ruvy and Clav ... the odd interesting thing from these two has me chasing around the internet on occasions.
38 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
...what about Swedish? ... I know it's similar to the other two, but could a Swede be understood by a Dane or a Norwegian, and vice versa?
They all understand each other pretty well. The question is, do they really want to?
There are two large Germanic groups that inhabit Minnesota/Wisconsin - the Germans, from Germany and Austria, and the Scandehoovians, who are all the Scandinavian peoples who came to Minnesota/Sweden because of its similarities to Sweden, Norway and North Germany/Denmark. There are also a pack of Finns who swam over from Finland...
That's why there are so few blondes out of a bottle there.
From the Scandehoovians you get the jokes about the sober faced Norskies who never crack a smile (along with the sober faced Norskies who barely ever crack a smile), and "oofta!" I'll let a native Minnesotan translate that for you. From the Finns, you get "sisu" which is the Finnish version of Hutzpá. They all drink a lot, with the Finns preferring vodka and the Scandehoovians preferring beer or whiskey, and the Germans preferring beer...
The Democrats prefer "whine and jeez."
39 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Closing italics here.
40 - Christopher Rose
That doesn't work, Ruvy. I'd recommend ALWAYS using the preview button.
41 - steve
it appears that another american has fallen victim to the media... hook, line, and sinker.
42 - Al Barger
Brother Hutchinson is a writer of fiction, which is fair enough, but it would have been a little more clear with readers if this article had been identified as the utter fiction that it certainly is.
Just a couple of short points from the first couple of paragraphs to illustrate the creative imagination spilled onto the page. For starters, we did not go into Iraq in a blind rage after 9/11. It was nearly a year and a half later. We spent pretty much of 2002 jawboning this. It may or may not have been a good idea in retrospect, but it was not rushed through in a blind rage.
Also, it's a totally non-credible fiction to claim that the US has killed a half million Iraqis. The author just made that up, or picked it up from someone else who has made the number up out of thin air. That's just not true, not even vaguely having a whiff of truth about it. You could pick out demonstrably fictional statements in nearly every sentence of this nonsense.
In short, this is not a very good "sober plea," cause you'd have to be drunk either on heavy liquor or leftwing kool aid to believe anything about this made up little story.
43 - Dave Nalle
Apparently the media has been handing us a bunch of fiction or pure bull about recent events in Iraq as well. Check out this fascinating report on what has really been going on in southern Iraq from a well known and reliable Iraqi blogger who has direct sources on the ground where the media is too lazy to send anyone competent.
Dave
44 - Baronius
Al - Good points about the beginning of the article. Alex enumerates all the arguments that someone on his side would agree with, whether they're factually correct or not. He provides nothing that would persuade a supporter of the war.
My biggest problems with the article were near the end. Unless I read him wrong, Alex wants to see Iraqi Founding Fathers unite to drive the US out of their country. And if they turn on each other after we leave, so much the better. It's just wacky Muslims killing wacky Muslims. For someone who complains about the current death toll, he's pretty cavalier about future lives.
Antiwar people complain about the jingoism of the administration. But they're very comfortable with a future civil war in Iraq. Likewise, they complain about American greed motivating the use of the military, but they're the ones who detest our charity in restoring Iraq. If we discontinued, say, our efforts to fight AIDS in Africa, they'd be protesting. But they want to end our contributions to Iraq in favor of more spending on our public schools, our health care, us.
45 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Dave,
This guy was fascinating enough for me to bookmark his blogspot.
But that doesn't change the very basic fact that your country can no longer afford its involvement in the Middle East, particularly Iraq.
So, either Bush folds his cards (or rather his handlers tell him to fold his cards) or he (his handlers, sorry) will go for broke.
The whispers out of my neck of the woods are betting on the latter.
Big ships from the coast of Kittim will afflict Assyria and the afflict the other bank - but it too, will be forever destroyed. [Bamidbár/Numbers 24:24]
46 - Dave Nalle
Could we ever afford our involvement in the middle east, Ruvy? It's never been a profitable enterprise.
The blog I linked to is interesting because as it presents the situation, the possibility of us leaving Iraq and having it be relatively stable seems pretty believable in the fairly short term.
As for future policy, as I've suggested before, our primary focus should be on the containment and neutralization of Islam through an all-out cultural and economic assault. Corrupt them out of their faith.
Dave
47 - bliffle
Ah well, the Usual Suspects, Barger, Nalle, Erroneos, even Ruvy, flock to the defense of theindefensible Bush Vanity War in the usual way: by attacking the messenger instead of the arguments.
They deserve no better than what they give.
48 - Baronius
Bliffle, it's the same arguments we've been hearing - and refuting - for years. Seriously, read the article, and tell me that there's a single new idea in the first 80% of it. That's why I wrote about the ending.
49 - Clavos
Ahem.
We Americans should cease once and for all referring to the language we speak as English.
It is NOT "English," it is American, and like most things American, is vastly superior to that creaky old middle aged tongue spoken by the Queen and her subjects.
50 - Dr Dreadful
So what is it that's especially superior about it, Clavos (meaning 'nails' in some language or other... not sure what... not American, at any rate... hmmm...)?
Is it the inconsistent pronunciation and spelling, the cumbersome use of the letter Z at every opportunity, the constant nasal drone, the tendency to insert 'yee-haw!', Howard Dean-like, into every second sentence, or the putting of perfectly good English words ('pavement', 'football', 'trunk') to uses for which they were never intended?
51 - Clavos
It's OK, Doc, a certain amount of bitterness is to be expected; first, you lost the Empire, and with it, world hegemony.
Then, you lost control of the language; but you can take comfort in knowing that we Americans, in our magnanimity, are understanding of our still stiff-upper-lipped (if somewhat embittered and envious) royalist cousins.
52 - Dr Dreadful
Envious? What are we to be envious of, Clav? America's rich culture?
Why, I must admit that every evening I sit in awe of the scintillating current affairs analysis provided by such high-end programming as Inside Edition and Entertainment Tonight. I'm spoiled for choice with a smorgasbord of documentaries on the arts, the sciences, current affairs, natural history and philosophy. (No? Really? I must have missed them sandwiched in between Two and a Half Men and yet another Seinfeld re-run...)
And let's not forget America's long and fascinating history. Why, some of the buildings in the city where I live are as much as forty years old!
53 - Dave Nalle
I done speaked me some Amurrican!
Dave
54 - Clavos
"I done speaked me some Amurrican!"
You've been living in the Republic of Texas too long, Dave, you need to move back to the USA before it's too late...
55 - Maurice
Dr. D
maybe you should get rid of your TV. I got rid of mine in 1997 and haven't missed it.
57 channels and nothing on
56 - STM
Right, Clav
That's it old boy. Time to play for keeps.
I am going to sign you up as a citizen of the Dominion of British West Florida.
Then I'm going to pass all that info on to the Feds, who will no doubt suspect you of being a traitorous, treasonous cur who is flirting with royalist sentiment!
The good guys will love you though.
Plus, you get a proper flag.
57 - STM
Dave: "I done speaked me some Amurrican".
Lol.
And for that, you gits yoself an extra slice of granny's possum pie.
58 - Clavos
Yer a foin one ta talk, mate, speakin' that weird tongue of Oz...
59 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
the Usual Suspects,...even Ruvy, flock to the defense of the indefensible Bush Vanity War in the usual way: by attacking the messenger instead of the arguments.
Bliffle, I won't talk for the other "Usual Suspects" but I have neither defended this war nor attacked the author of this article.
Having over 100,000 Yankee soldiers in my neighborhood, a mere seventeen hour (or less) drive away, leaves me extremely uncomfortable. Knowing the usual American taste for betraying "allies" as I do, and seeing the actions of the spike-heeled Condi-bitch from the oil industry doing so constantly makes me very wary of her goons in the neighborhood.
I have stated the obvious. The U.S. of A. cannot afford to stay in the neighborhood - it's going broke. So, my own instincts tell me that the leaders of the U.S. of A. will go for broke - bomb Iran - and fulfill the prophecy of Bila'am in the process.
I'd hardly call that defending the "Bush Vanity War". If you must call this war anything, call it by its proper name - the War of Gog and Magog.
As for future policy, as I've suggested before, our primary focus should be on the containment and neutralization of Islam through an all-out cultural and economic assault. Corrupt them out of their faith.
It's a reasonable policy you put forth, Dave. Except that there are other factors involved. This whole exercise, the slow bringing down of the United States into the dust, something you do not want to see, is not something that is happening by accident; it is occurring by design. Intelligent Design, if you will. Hence the allusions to the prophecy of Bila'am in my comment to you.
I have a bit more to say, but I have to catch a bus for Jerusalem.
Later!
60 - STM
Clav: "that weird tongue of Oz..."
If I can just step lightly on the outside of gog and magog and Ruve's apocalyptic vision, can I just say ... git a croc up yer!
61 - Dr Dreadful
Right, Clav
That's it old boy. Time to play for keeps.
I am going to sign you up as a citizen of the Dominion of British West Florida.
But Stan, Clavos doesn't live in British West Florida.
And I don't think he wants to move to Mobile.
Even though we both know that, in his heart of hearts, he'd really love to have little old silver-haired Mrs Windsor as his head of state.
62 - Clavos
I'll bet I'm one up on ya, Doc...
Due to my advanced age, I actually remember seeing (but only on film) a lovely young English Lady being crowned.
They made a beautiful film of the coronation, which was shown around the world, even in Mexico. At the time, I was in the Fourth Form at Mrs. O'Gorman's Greengates School (which still exists, though I fear Mrs. O'Gorman has long since departed to that Great Classroom In The Sky).
Greengates being a Brit school, we had a field trip to a theater for the whole school to view the film.
So there...
:>)
63 - STM
DD: "But Stan, Clavos doesn't live in British West Florida".
No, and until he signs the paper, they won't let the bastard in.
In all seriousness :) though, I am signing him up as an agent of Her Majesty, where he'll work in South Florida to undermine the rebel colonial government there and try to make them all see sense - finally.
So Clavos, the Irish Viking who took a wrong turn at Iceland and ended up in Guadalajara, may well be the unlikely first hero of the Dominion of British SOUTH Florida once he's rewarded for his work on Her Majesty's (Secret) Service.
Fair payment and an ample example of Her Maj's gratitude would be a knighthood, a plate of watercress sandwiches, a lifetime's suppy of liptons, a copy of the Oxford dictionary, a barony and possibly a very large estate (oh, and a flag), don't ya reckon??
By the way, what's happening up in Central California, Doc??
Are YOU making any headway up there with the rebels?
64 - Dave Nalle
As I recall the last time the British tried to take over Florida Andrew Jackson had their agents hanged.
Dave
65 - STM
Then Clav and Doc are in deep sh.t
66 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
The other thing I wanted to mention before some unfortunate business called me away to the not so wholly Holy City.
I found the site on the "Dominion of West Florida" extremely amusing. I read through the constitution of this "entity" with great interest, looking for some hint of a parliamentary regime, and found none. The Governor-General of this bunch or crackers with the Union Jack and Queen Lizzy on the brain would have all the powers of a Louisiana tyrant from Baton Rouge (which would be on the border of this little shteitl (pun intended).
Fascism rolled in bread crumbs fried up in chicken fat and served up with grits and ham hocks!
Yup! Definitely an improvement on the good old U.S. of A.
Have fun, guys! Remember the Alamo!
67 - Clavos
"Remember the Alamo!"
Funny how you gringos keep saying that.
You lost...
¡Viva Santa Anna!
¡Viva México!
68 - Dr Dreadful
Come now, Clavos. As everyone knows, 'Remember the Alamo' is simply a memory strategy to help you figure out where you parked your rental car in downtown San Antonio.
69 - Dr Dreadful
By the way, what's happening up in Central California, Doc??
Are YOU making any headway up there with the rebels?
Piece of cake, mate. They're a bunch of airheads over here. All I have to do is utter a few syllables of the Queen's English and they're putty in my hands (especially the women).
After that, it's a simple matter to press a few propaganda pamphlets into their hands and they can't wait to salute the Union Jack.
70 - RJR
The Dominion's Constitution gives the G-G approximately the same powers as the US Constitution gives the President.
(After all the US Constitution is basically just a codification of the British Constitution of the time with the President replacing the Monarch, the Senate the House of Lords, and the House of 'Representative' the House of Commons)
71 - wildnfree
While I believe that we shouldn't have gotten into this war. I don't think that we could get out very easily now. Turkey would attack the Kurds, Iran would lead a Shia uprising and take half the country. Then lets not forget the Sunni sects whom would probably align with the Gulf Arab states. Of course they would all massacre the Iraqi Christians as they were mostly left alone before we invaded and stirred up a fresh batch of mad mullahs and killed the common enemy that kept them from attacking each other.
Continued support of this war will eventually drain our economy and leave us vulnerable to attacks on the actual home land (unless we fully restore the 2nd amendment and legitimize our militia movement). We are stuck now.
There is only one way to get out of this without turning the entire middle east into a giant battleground. A scorched earth withdrawal.
Destroy every building, all infrastructure, confiscate every weapon and kill as many people as possible on the way out. Then go home and figure out how to run your car without gas (need to do that anyway).
Given the reality of the situation even those of us who oppose this war need to realize that there is no way to just march out of Iraq with our heads up and let the chips fall where they may. At the same time our leaders need to stop planning for a permanent presence there, and focus on a way to exit safely, even if it means breaking Iraq into smaller nations. Or some other reasonable solution.
72 - RJR
Actually, there is the 'appoint a strong man', arm him to the teeth, and then leave option.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan might serve as an example (they have a functional parliamentary system, with an Executive (not figure-head) King.
The former Crown-Prince of Jordan, Prince Hassan bin Talal, (who has a distant claim to the Throne of the old Kingdom of Iraq), might be a 'good man' for the Job, He isn't a US Puppet, but he's also not a blood thirsty Imman....
73 - Dave Nalle
Imman is a retired model married to David Bowie. The word you're looking for is Imam.
As for the Jordanian monarchy, they're actually supposed to be ruling Saudi Arabia, which might be more productive than putting them in charge of Iraq.
Dave
74 - RJR
Well, the Uncle of the present King of Jordan in charge in Iraq for now would be a good start.
The Saudis Kings aren't the worlds nicest rulers, (no need for a parliamentarian in their Government :) ...) but they are at present staying pretty much in their own sand-box....
75 - wildnfree
I agree that a strongman running a semi brutal dictatorship is probably what will end up ruling Iraq... and may be the best solution. You just can't force democracy, it has to come from an uprising from within.