Damned If You Don't

We've sauntered so far down the path of arrogant imperialism in Iraq that it almost seems ludicrous to start growing a conscience now. Or at least, to start thinking of ways to leave before cleaning up our mess.

It makes me think of late night frat parties, where the usual response to someone vomiting up their cold pizza and alcohol poisoning onto the floor is to cover it with a piece of newspaper.

I never thought I could agree with the Bush administration on their military policy, but for once I think they have the right idea. Not "right" in the sense of right and wrong, but right in the sense of you-fucked-it-up-so-now-you-clean-it-up.

But, as usual with the Bushies, they have the right idea and the wrongest possible plan for execution. No pun intended.

What I really think we should do is pull out and then foot the bill, or at least split it with Iraq and her immediate neighbors for the repatriation of refugees and rebuilding infrastructure. This would be a much more positive outcome for billions of US taxpayer dollars than sending our own children to be killed.

I've been reading about the utter incompetence of the US government in accomodating the massive movement of rural Southern blacks to urban areas, especially Chicago and the Northeast, after the collapse of the sharecropper system. What's so interesting to note about the inability of the enfranchised white people to even acknowledge the systemic nature of the social and economic barriers facing blacks (not just at that time, but throughout US history) is that the same self-righteous, isolationist psychological and collective tactics are still used today - with blacks, certainly, but with anyone else that has a different, less privileged life, and thereby threatens the self-indulgent stupor in which we blissfully float.