YOU KNOW, I am an idiot. I must be. I am a journalist in a region where journalism doesn't pay. I am working in a country where journalists are like publication relations agents for and against Government, and I must be an idiot because I just don't get the United States, especially as it relates to this ongoing war in Iraq.
Just to show you how big an idiot I am, after this is published and when my U.S. visa expires in a little over two years, they're never going to give me another. In addition, I will probably be branded a terrorist, but I am going to say what I want to say anyway.
Since the U.S. invaded Iraq almost three years ago, as many innocent Iraqis have probably died as those Saddam is supposed to have killed in any three years during his reign, perhaps more. The only difference now is that they're not being killed by Saddam anymore; they're being killed by their own countrymen.
Half way across the world, George Bush's approval rating is perhaps at its lowest because Americans are finally beginning to see the light. Only, you can't really say any of this out loud because if you do, you'll probably be branded a terrorist, or worse, if you're an American, you'll be branded a traitor.
The thing is, isn't this what Saddam used to do; prohibit free speech and jail non-sympathisers? Aren't the Americans now torturing people just like they were alleging that Saddam used to do? The only difference is that Saddam used to have his sons run the torture business and the Americans sub-contract that work out to 'experts'.
MAKING THINGS WORSE
What I'm trying to say here is, is it only me or is Bush and his crowd becoming more like Saddam and his generals used to be, the very regime that Bush proclaimed he wanted to free Iraqis from, but only managed to make matters worse?
As time passes, it is becoming increasingly clear that nobody thought this invasion through properly and the reason why is that the war had no premise, and the whole thing was sold to a fearful American public based on a lie.
You see, had they thought this thing through, they would have realised that inside Iraq there are many tribal groupings that will never be able to get on with each other. They have been at odds with each other since before Jesus was born and it's not about to change. Had they realised that, they would have also realised that it is virtually impossible to have a democracy in such a scenario.
Now Iraq is on the brink of a civil war and there is not a damn thing anybody can do except pray.
The thing is, I thought this whole exercise was supposed to make the world a safer place, or so George Bush and his buddies thought. Now, the world is far less safe than it was three years ago, there are perhaps more terrorist cells than there were three years ago, and every American now has a bull's-eye painted on his back and everywhere Americans visit has become a potential battlefield.
In addition, because of the ongoing conflict and Iraq having the third largest supply of oil in the world, fuel prices are continuing to rise, putting pressure on everyone who does not produce oil, and making life intolerable for most of us. All because of a fool and his henchmen, who took American arrogance one step too far.
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