Those who preach Armageddon are having their day, never mind the Islamists

As a further 3,200 U.S. troops arrive the Americans face the third largest casualty figure they have suffered in Iraq. (I haven’t even mentioned the Iraqi figure).When will this madness stop? What does it take to stop? The story comes from today’s Washington Post which publishes photographs of the most recent casualties.
It is now clear that justification for the war was made up. When the first story didn’t stand up then another replaced it. One of the far right’s arguments is that we are in a battle between civilisation and barbarism. Quite which side is supposed to be civilised and which barbaric? As someone at the London Conference suggested may be we are debating the wrong question. Which side conducts the more acts of terror, against which the U.S. and its allies are supposed to be conducting the war, is also left open.
While it was thought that the Democratic Party had won a victory on Capitol Hill, it appears their will does not count for much against those conservatives wielding the power. Rumsfeld came and went but his destructive ideological presence remains. The right wing Christian lobby can compete with the Islamists any time. They justify Armageddon as fervently as any jihadist supports suicide attacks. Some hypocricy! Of course those like Daniel Pipes say nothing of this, neither does he recognise what happens to ordinary Palestinians daily at the hands of the Israeli state, something that many Jewish people worldwide abhor.
As for the Democrats, the field is emerging for 2008 with Clinton declaring following Obama, both regarded as front runners. We could see either the first woman or the first black president of the United States. That’s if it can happen. One black neighbour of mine stated gloomily “look what happened to JFK and MLK”. Clinton is already getting flack for her original support for war, back peddle as she might.


Yesterday (21/1/2007) I learned that the son of a neighbour is to go to Afghanistan, another deep hole we keep digging. We are in two theatres of war I know about either one of which is stretching us to the limit. His mother was fearful that he would go to Iraq.
Tail piece. According to the Washington Post satisfaction in Bush’s leadership has reached an all time low.

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