todd's naive politics, part i - iraq

By Todd Stadler · Monday, July 30, 2001 11:28pm

What is America's problem?

From CNN:

Washington (CNN) - The United States is planning a military response to Tuesday's attempted shootdown of a U-2 spy plane over Iraq's southern no-fly zone, Pentagon sources told CNN Thursday.

Let me get this straight. We get involved in a conflict on the other side of the world most likely to protect our oil interests. Mainly we just show off our fancy high-tech equipment and let everyone know that we're not even trying. We rule!

We set up these no-fly zones as part of the cease fire agreement, ostensibly to protect the Iraqi citizens from their own government, not that we ever did diddly-squat for them before we bombed their homeland.

Then for the next, oh, decade or so, we continue to fly over these zones, taunting Iraq and letting them know that we own them. Maybe we police the zones, maybe we're just being jerks. But we keep it up, over and over. We bomb their radars and other key military installations. Over and freaking over.

And, of course, Iraq plays along and does everything they can to shoot down our planes. Missiles, rockets, guns, rocks, whatever. None of it does anything, of course. While we routinely damage their country and kill their people, they never do anything to us.

But when the Iraqis fire a missile at one of our planes, not hitting it at all, but coming close enough for the pilot to feel the shock wave, we get all huffy and plan to do what? To bomb them some more! Of course!

Keep in mind that their coming anywhere near our plane with their missile is fairly impressive, given that they weren't using radar to aim the missile. Just ballistics. Why? Because when they use radar to fire their missiles, we bomb the crap out of their radar sites.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't want any American soldiers to die - I'd rather that nobody die. But what is the blessed point here? To employ more defense contractors worldwide?

Why must we keep up this routine? Did we continue to bomb any other country ten years after we defeated them in war? Couldn't we either come up with terms to end this agression or truly defeat Iraq, once and for all, and stop all this bullying?

Or, I don't know, couldn't we ignore all the atrocities committed in Iraq like we ignore all the atrocities committed everywhere else in the world?