JOKERS WILD
Whether Soon-Yi and Mia, or Sunni and Shia, civil war was inevitable. All it took was a catalyst. Enter two jokers: Woody and George.
The only good that could possibly come from George Bush's ruinous war in Iraq, is the civil war we are now hopelessly trying to forestall. After enduring Hussein's iron fist for over two decades, Iraqis have earned the right to fight for their future.
Why should a civil society come easily to Iraqis? After all, it took our own civil war and countless lives to force some measure of inclusiveness, if not equality, on our society. Even then, women had to wait decades more before they could even vote. People of color still have problems voting in the south.
In democracies, majorities will do what they want. Not even a plurality --but a minuscule 200 vote margin in Florida (and 5-4 Supreme Court decision), threw the electoral vote and the election to Bush, and led to the six years of horror we've witnessed since.
After losing the popular vote, our president then ran amok, ruling as if he had won a landslide victory.
Ultimately the Shia majority will need to determine how power and resources are to be shared with the Sunnis and Kurds. They, alone, must create the political landscape they want to inhabit. Even in established democracies, it takes time.
George W. Bush mistakenly invaded Iraq with predictable result. Unfortunately, that is history. Civil war is the reality now, and perhaps the one redeeming feature of the ensuing carnage will be the society that emerges when the will to fight is drown by the will to stop. One thing is certain. A new entity in Iraq will emerge, and it will be forged by civil war, not US occupation or escalation.
In his own blood feud, Woody Allen broke the father/daughter trust by allowing himself to fall romantically in love with Soon-Yi. The abhorrent notion that incest doesn't apply to adoptive daughters was lost on the self-absorbed, neurotic comedian. Mia Farrow was betrayed as well -- not only as a wife, but as a mother. Woody had made a huge moral blunder.
Both Woody and George had terrible complexes and neuroses that inevitably led them down their tragic paths. Woody, thankfully, stayed out of politics. In both cases, the jokers were wild, yet one joker's gut- feeling doubled Osama's American toll, and will likely kill more Iraqis than Saddam. According to the UN, 34,000 Iraqis were lost to the war in 2006 alone.
We can only pray that Bush's foolish intervention does not end up giving Shia-dominated Iran effective control over Iraq's oil, setting up a Doomsday conflict between the Shia oil of Iran and Iraq, the Sunni oil of the Saudis (in solidarity with the oil-less Sunnis in Iraq and Jordan) and the Kurdish oil of Iraq (in solidarity with restive Kurds in Turkey). The geo-political implications are sobering, especially considering Iran's emerging atomic threat, but delaying the inevitable is too.
To cut his losses, George needs to march out of Iraq. Our twirling, cheerleading Grand Marshall can lead the way. As Woody might well have said, "When you're being run out of town, get in front of the crowd and make it look like a parade."
Whether Soon-Yi and Mia, or Sunni and Shia, civil war was inevitable. All it took was a catalyst. Enter two jokers: Woody and George.
The only good that could possibly come from George Bush's ruinous war in Iraq, is the civil war we are now hopelessly trying to forestall. After enduring Hussein's iron fist for over two decades, Iraqis have earned the right to fight for their future.
Why should a civil society come easily to Iraqis? After all, it took our own civil war and countless lives to force some measure of inclusiveness, if not equality, on our society. Even then, women had to wait decades more before they could even vote. People of color still have problems voting in the south.
In democracies, majorities will do what they want. Not even a plurality --but a minuscule 200 vote margin in Florida (and 5-4 Supreme Court decision), threw the electoral vote and the election to Bush, and led to the six years of horror we've witnessed since.
After losing the popular vote, our president then ran amok, ruling as if he had won a landslide victory.
Ultimately the Shia majority will need to determine how power and resources are to be shared with the Sunnis and Kurds. They, alone, must create the political landscape they want to inhabit. Even in established democracies, it takes time.
George W. Bush mistakenly invaded Iraq with predictable result. Unfortunately, that is history. Civil war is the reality now, and perhaps the one redeeming feature of the ensuing carnage will be the society that emerges when the will to fight is drown by the will to stop. One thing is certain. A new entity in Iraq will emerge, and it will be forged by civil war, not US occupation or escalation.
In his own blood feud, Woody Allen broke the father/daughter trust by allowing himself to fall romantically in love with Soon-Yi. The abhorrent notion that incest doesn't apply to adoptive daughters was lost on the self-absorbed, neurotic comedian. Mia Farrow was betrayed as well -- not only as a wife, but as a mother. Woody had made a huge moral blunder.
Both Woody and George had terrible complexes and neuroses that inevitably led them down their tragic paths. Woody, thankfully, stayed out of politics. In both cases, the jokers were wild, yet one joker's gut- feeling doubled Osama's American toll, and will likely kill more Iraqis than Saddam. According to the UN, 34,000 Iraqis were lost to the war in 2006 alone.
We can only pray that Bush's foolish intervention does not end up giving Shia-dominated Iran effective control over Iraq's oil, setting up a Doomsday conflict between the Shia oil of Iran and Iraq, the Sunni oil of the Saudis (in solidarity with the oil-less Sunnis in Iraq and Jordan) and the Kurdish oil of Iraq (in solidarity with restive Kurds in Turkey). The geo-political implications are sobering, especially considering Iran's emerging atomic threat, but delaying the inevitable is too.
To cut his losses, George needs to march out of Iraq. Our twirling, cheerleading Grand Marshall can lead the way. As Woody might well have said, "When you're being run out of town, get in front of the crowd and make it look like a parade."
posted by R. Reynolds at 7:47 AM
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