Baghdad is under house arrest.
That's what it is. Reading the wires Sunday morning, we came across jazzy little terms like "curfew" and "no pedistrian traffic." As we read further down, we'd usually see that do to the weekly Friday ban on vehicle traffic (part of that jaw droppingly bad 'crackdown'), that many couldn't get to the store to get bread. So they couldn't on Friday and, come Saturday morning, they weren't even allowed to leave their homes.
Baghdad is under house arrest.
That's what we're seeing. But in a world where prisoners are kept from contact with their families, where prisoners just disappear, where they're called "detainees" as though they tried to sneak a bit of fresh produce through customs, what do you expect? In a world where Bully Boy wants to say "We don't torture" and that's only true if you ignore the legal definition of the word, the definition that our own government applies to actions taken by other government. And here's the kicker, the press accepts his logic.
So it's no real surprise that they're using terms like "curfew."
Why the ban on foot traffic and car traffic?
Supposedly -- Supposedly because they've offered no proof. Evidence, apparently. is now as "quaint" as the Geneva Conventions. But supposedly, there were plans to bomb within the fortified Green Zone where the reporters live, the parliament meets, the embassies are. More or less safe in the Green Zone for the last three years. If there's an attack in the Green Zone, don't be surprised if a number of reporters start telling some of the tales they've been sitting on for some time.
One bad moment and the Bully Boy's carefully constructed illusion of 'progress,' will tumble faster than a house of cards.
So Baghdad got placed under house arrest -- over three months after the 'crackdown' began. We'll assume they're now, in the words of the Bully Boy, "Safer but not safe."
Nor will they be, nor will the troops be as long as the illegal war drags on.
From Cindy Sheehan's "Lift Your Head" (BuzzFlash):
I have a story to share. When I was in Jordan with the peace contingent, meeting with Iraqi parliamentarians, we heard the testimony of a Sheik who is also a respected mullah in Iraq. He told us that members of the US Army broke into his house, raped his wife, beat him severely, and took him to prison where he was further tortured in compliance with George‘s barbaric and cruel policies. All of this happened in front of his teenage son.
Listening to him describe his injuries and the awful treatment he received from my country, I apologized to him, weeping. No human being should treat another human being so inhumanely.
He listened, then he said this: "My son's dream is to get a rifle and climb up on to a roof top and assassinate Americans. I will tell him that there are Americans like you and encourage him not to do this thing."
Now, imagine that you are sitting at home with your family. Maybe you are all watching "Dancing with the Stars." A foreign invader breaks in rapes the mom and beats and hauls off the dad. How would your son feel? How would you feel? Would your family be justified in resisting the violence and repression? Or would you just bow your head and say: thank God for the freedom and democracy these fine people are bestowing on me?
Pair that with Kory Turnbow's "Soldier's Story" (AltWeeklies.com):
As a soldier, what gives me the most cause for concern in Iraq was the fact that I never knew who my enemy was. Even the people sniping at us from a distance, launching mortars and rockets, or putting bombs on the side of the road didn’t usually have an axe to grind with us, nor were they fighting as Jihadists for some perceived noble cause. In fact, most of the people doing these things were just ordinary citizens looking for a few extra dinar to pad their paychecks. As I found out the hard way after being struck by an IED shortly after my arrival in-country, Islamic hardliners from countries like Iran and Jordan would infiltrate Iraq and have the Imams announce after the Friday sermon that they were willing to pay $100-$300 for every IED accompanied by a photo or video of the explosion going off on a U.S. or Iraqi Security Forces convoy. Since the average Iraqi family took home about $150 a month, it didn't take very much to convince the average person to plant an IED or two each month for a little extra pocket money.
If those are new perspectives to you, either your media has failed you or you haven't been paying attention. To catch up, you can watch the trailer to Michelle Mason's Breaking Ranks where the tales are often more gruesome. Or you can check out Amit R. Paley's "Most Iraqis Favor Immediate U.S. Pullout, Polls Show" (Washington Post) which looks at recent polling that has one consistent message: Iraqis want US troops to leave.
Is it any wonder?
Bully Boy wants to "stay the course" -- with other people's lives, of course. He didn't do anything in Vietnam. He didn't protest, he didn't serve. His father got him into an elite National Guard unit (guaranteeing he'd never go to Vietnam) and his 'gratitude' was so much that he didn't bother to complete his agreed time. Not because he was 'morally opposed' to reading comic books and eating doughnuts, you understand. He just, like Dick Cheney, had better things to do.
Lives are being lost, lives are being destroyed. Many die, many will go through the rest of their lives with wounds (external and internal). But Bully Boy (who couldn't even stick to his pledge to give up sweets for the duration of the war) is okay with that. "Stay the course!" he sqawks.
The "course" is killing Iraqis, it's killing Americans. The reason Bully Boy wants to "stay the course" is because there has never been any planning (there's no Plan B waiting to be implemented) and he's more worried about his own image than he is about the lives of others.
It's time for the troops to come home. Instead, there are calls for more troops.
The war's not going to end as long as we 'cute up' the truth. Baghdad was under house arrest on Saturday. That's reality.