Actions Speak Louder than Hidden Images

[flwyd]

Tom Tomorrow's blog has the priceless picture to the right. Alert readers might recall a year ago when the nation's top puritan John Ashcroft and his department covered up justice because her breast was exposed. The message? The administration wants war without suffering and justice without justice.

This provides a convenient opportunity to explain in part my opposition to the impending war. I readily admit that Saddam Hussein is not the leader the Iraqi people deserve. Similarly, George W. isn't the leader the American people deserve, Suharto was not the leader the Indonesians deserved, Pinochet was not the leader the Chileans deserved, Stalin was not the leader the Russians deserved, etc.

However, what the Iraqi people really don't need are 800 cruise missles in two days. This is why Guernica is so powerful. It's not concerned with political ideology. It's concerned with the pain, fear, suffering, panic, and death of ordinary men, women, and farm animals.

The stated goal is regime change. How well can a regime take over if there's no water or power in the capital city? It may not be possible to unseat the Baath Party without violence, though the Soviet-ending coup gives me hope. However, the victems in a violent revolution should be the oppressors, not those already oppressed. Further, the violence must at least have support from an organized opposition group of citizens. The people of Iraq don't need a puppet U.S. dictator either.

Incidentally, Iraq is considerably more western in ideology and culture than, say, Saudi Arabia. Women don't get stoned for showing skin in Iraq, and Al Qaeda has leveled many of the same criticisms at Saddam Hussein as at America.

Second, why is a party so beholden to the NRA so adamant that Hussein not have weapons of mass destruction. I thought the Republicans were the party in favor of violent self-defense.

Third, The Onion is right on the mark as usual. The U.S. is far and away the largest stockpiler and peddler of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and biological. (Just as we've heard nothing regarding Osama Bin Laden lately, the anthrax creep is still at large, and almost certainly associated with the U.S. military.)

Update: For the slogan minded, how's the following sign: "Iraqi Regime Change. Supported my major world players." And it's got George W's picture on one side and Osama's on the other. Also, after perusing two links from uproar, I'm reminded of the anti-avortion poster "child." Someone should take pictures from the second site there and create a gruesome sign with the tag "War Stops A Beating Heart." I'm convinced that more Americans would oppose the war if footage from the ground in Iraq was shown.