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September 18, 2002
War is Heck
In 1986 Bruce Springsteen released a live version of the song War, a cover of the 1970 Edwin Starr song. The lyrics are pretty simple:
War (grunt)
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
War (vocal wail)
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
A pretty popular statement to make that wasn’t going cause divisiveness in the country in an era when we weren’t officially engaged in active combat, as was the case when Starr’s version appeared. Sure, a few years earlier our troops went on a little field trip to Grenada, but in ‘86 an anti-war song was not irrelevant, but perhaps not urgently needed. It’s a little like doing a rain dance during a hurricane.
President Bush and many White House hawks seem to be itching to invade Iraq and take out Saddam Hussein. It’s ironic that from what you read in the newspapers that Secretary of State (and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Colin Powell, and pentagon officials, in other words, people who know what it’s like to be shot at, were purportedly against invading Iraq.
World opinion seems to be against Bush, particularly from such allied countries as Germany and France. Well, I guess France should be no surprise since the only thing you can count on France for, is not being counted on. However, even the Germans have been vociferous in their opposition to invading Iraq, and when you can’t get Germans to want to invade a country...
Things seem to be stirring with Gen. Tommy Franks moving his U.S. Central Command headquarters from Tampa to Qatar, perhaps figuring that it might be best to finally be in roughly the same time zone as the war that your overseeing.
What made Tampa the ideal place to fight a war in Afghanistan is beyond me. That would be like Ike directing the Normandy invasion form Cleveland. I can only surmise that he is a Tampa Bay Devil Rays fan who wants to be close to his team. He has appeared at least a few games there that I’ve seen, as if the team doesn’t have enough problems.
That the team is in last place, some 45 games behind the Yankees is no doubt the main reason that their attendance has been lagging. Nor it is an incentive for fans to come to games, knowing that one of Al Qaeda’s top targets is going to be in the building.
The president who campaigned decrying nation-building, is involved in one war in which he’s nation-building and is eager to start another war which will require nation-building. Even if we win the war quickly, how long will we have to remain there?
Much of the Muslim world already hates our guts and invading a Muslim country is not exactly going to get them to want to start a softball team together.
The president claims Saddam has “weapons of mass destruction” yet never produces evidence. If he does possess such materials and we attack, he’ll have nothing to lose, so what’s to prevent him from using them? If he knows he’s a marked man, why wouldn’t he?
Saddam is a bad guy, as are most leaders who plaster giant pictures of themselves in public places.
The administration is awfully eager to go into battle, and it seems that they can’t wait to force congress to vote so that they can use the war as an issue in the upcoming elections.
So, what’s a little bloodshed if you can re-take the Senate?
Posted by dmargarita at September 18, 2002 6:55 PM