We did not have Al-Qaeda in Iraq prior to the war. We didn’t know that sort of extremism. We didn’t have beheadings or the abduction of foreigners or religious intolerance. We actually pitied America and Americans when the Twin Towers went down and when news began leaking out about it being Muslim fundamentalists- possibly Arabs- we were outraged.
Now 9/11 is getting old. Now, 100,000+ Iraqi lives and 1700+ American lives later, it’s becoming difficult to summon up the same sort of sympathy as before. How does the death of 3,000 Americans and the fall of two towers somehow justify the horrors in Iraq when not one of the people involved with the attack was Iraqi?
…
He kept babbling about a “free Iraq” but he mentioned nothing about when the American forces might actually depart and the occupation would end, leaving a “free Iraq”.
Why aren’t the Americans setting a timetable for withdrawal? Iraqis are constantly wondering why nothing is being done to accelerate the end of the occupation.
Do the Americans continue to believe such speeches? I couldn’t help but wonder.
“They’ll believe anything.” E. sighed. “No matter what sort of absurdity they are fed, they’ll believe it. Think up the most outrageous lie… They have people who’ll believe it.”
The cousin sat up at this, his interest piqued. “The most outrageous lie? How about that Iraq was amassing aliens from Mareekh [Mars] and training them in the battle art of kung-fu to attack America in 2010!”
“They’d believe it.” E. nodded in the affirmative. “Or that Iraq was developing a mutant breed of rabid, man-eating bunnies to unleash upon the Western world. They’d believe that too.”
3 comments on “Via Riverbend”
I can definitely see that. I find it interesting, though, that Iraqis can see through all the bullshit with more clarity and they were supposedly the oppressed people.
Not all Americans at that stupid to believe all of the lies, but I know at the beginning, it was very easy to be suckered in. Even I was. I felt pressured more so than anything. Like I wasn’t really and American or a Christian if I didn’t support our “Christian” president. Later I said, “Screw it.” and I started thinking for myself.
I’m glad you were able to recognize the lies. I’ve always found it hard to understand why people believed in Bush because from the outside it’s always been apparent he’s not trustworthy. I do understand it must be very different there, especially being surrounded by people inclined to support fasco-capitalist policy. I remember talking with my friends when he was running for office and saying something like, “If he’s elected, he’ll take America into a war within his first term.” Lo and behold, I was right. I’m very sad that I was right, honestly, but I know I can trust my intuition to spot evil.