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September 24, 2004
Juan Cole
For those of you not familiar with Juan Cole, he's a Professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History at Michigan, and he has a blog at which he frequently posts well-informed comments on Iraq and the Middle East. If you saw the creepy, yet hilarious, press conference yesterday with Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister/puppet/former terrorist/CIA-asset, yesterday, you probably heard them both talking about how the situation in Iraq was a rose garden. Bush inexplicably referenced a poll that showed more Iraqis thought Iraq was on the right track than Americans thought America was on the right track. The Kerry campaign has already turned that into an ad.
Anyway, Juan Cole has a great post about just how rosy it is in Iraq if compared to the U.S.
What would America look like if it were in Iraq's current situation? The population of the US is over 11 times that of Iraq, so a lot of statistics would have to be multiplied by that number.
Thus, violence killed 300 Iraqis last week, the equivalent proportionately of 3,300 Americans. What if 3,300 Americans had died in car bombings, grenade and rocket attacks, machine gun spray, and aerial bombardment in the last week? That is a number greater than the deaths on September 11, and if America were Iraq, it would be an ongoing, weekly or monthly toll.
....
What if the grounds of the White House and the government buildings near the Mall were constantly taking mortar fire? What if almost nobody in the State Department at Foggy Bottom, the White House, or the Pentagon dared venture out of their buildings, and considered it dangerous to go over to Crystal City or Alexandria?
...
What if, from time to time, the US Army besieged Virginia Beach, killing hundreds of armed members of the Christian Soldiers? What if entire platoons of the Christian Soldiers militia holed up in Arlington National Cemetery, and were bombarded by US Air Force warplanes daily, destroying thousands of graves and even pulverizing the Vietnam Memorial over on the Mall? What if the National Council of Churches had to call for a popular march of thousands of believers to converge on the National Cathedral to stop the US Army from demolishing it to get at a rogue band of the Timothy McVeigh Memorial Brigades?
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What if veterans of militia actions at Ruby Ridge and the Oklahoma City bombing were brought in to run the government on the theory that you need a tough guy in these times of crisis?
Lots more where that came from and don't forget to scroll up to the map that shows just how off-target Allawi's statement about how there are only problems in 3 out of 16 provinces actually is.
Posted by Half-Cocked at September 24, 2004 09:02 PM