| DO ANY OF US GET IT?
BY KELLY THOMAS
|
(from the HBO Series Rome) | I have been watching the HBO series, Rome. Honestly, talk about TV mirroring history or vice versa. In the series, ROME, which is supposed to be historically accurate, the Rome of Caesar is a contest on who has the POWER.
The show is seen through the eyes of two soldiers, who according to Caesar, are protected by the gods. What makes this show so fascinating is that the handwriting is on the wall: self-interest trumps literally everything. Caesar, the senators, and the elite don't give a flip about the people or the country, but care only for those who have power and for maintaining the status quo. Does this sound familiar?
(Find out more about the HBO series Rome)
IRAQNAM IS THE PRIORITY
I want the President and the Congress to put everything aside and get this Iraqnam figured out and get the hell out of there or whatever we need to do. We can't do that because the generals keep painting these rosy pictures that don't give any sense of reality. The President, the press, and others are worried about the Supreme Court nominee; Harriet Miers; they lie or at best shade the truth. The generals say one thing, the President says another, and nobody takes them to task.
In Iraq, it is so weird to me that I see it so clearly. Saddam was a Sunni Muslim, He had the power and all the Sunnis shared it with him. They kicked the bejangles out of the Shiites for years. They all hated the Kurds. Now, the Shiites have the power or are setting it up and it is payback time for the Sunnis; the Kurds now have their own situation, better than they've ever had. The head Shiite, Cleric Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani will not even talk to the Americans. The Sunnis are the insurgents fighting; They are not going to vote or do anything because they know they don't have a chance. Once the Shiites get legitimate power, they are going to blow the Sunnis to hell. The possibility exists that the country will deteriorate into three factions which might not be a bad idea.
Despite the lack of reality(generals painting a rosy picture about Iraq) and what I often think is the only TV network most Americans watch, Fox; in my opinion, there is not a single bright spot in Iraq: Iraqis and civilian contractors are dying, soldiers are dying; we can't control the movement of the insurgents, we don't even know who they are. We take a town, the insurgents leave. We leave, they come back in. Does this sound like Vietnam or what? We have no plan for exiting.
A PLAN
What we should do is say we got rid of Saddam and gave them a constitution. Now let's declare victory and get the hell out. I get it, but I think I'm the only one in America who does.
|
|
In Memorium:
General Elvy Roberts passed from this life into the next on Tuesday, October 11 in Alameda, California.
During the bloodiest days of World War II, General Roberts made combat jumps into Normandy and was at the Battle of the Bulge. He was a paratrooper in the 501 parachute regiment and his comment has become part of airborne lore, "You get pretty much down to the basics of life when standing in the doorway of a plane preparing to jump."
| |
|
