More fruits of gunpoint imposed freedom

Another day, another tale of human carnage coming out of Iraq, in this case, the gruesome discovery of 49 bodies of graduates of Iraqi army military training, shot at close range, discovered east of Baghdad. Insurgents have targeted men in the new Iraqi army in an attempt to deter others from joining. Of course, in many cases (by no means not all), as in the United States, it is a weak economy and non-existent prospects that lead many to take the risks associated with military service and sign up. Adding to the tragedy, of course, as these men were often just trying for a means to support their families, more than helping out the occupation (which is, of course, what they ard doing).
This snippet from the comparatively unbiased journalists at People’s Daily in Beijing gives us more highlights of the day in Iraq; while U.S. forces captured a “senior Al-Zarqawi aide” (his personal valet, perhaps; or maybe his chauffeur or gardener), an Iraqi man was beheaded on video, and a suicide bomber killed at least 20, among other highlights. (Meta moment: in 2004, we now live in a world where I often trust media sources from the former Soviet state in Moscow and the still Communist state in Beijing as much or more than American sources. I urge the rest of you to do the same.)
Let me keep saying this: I have seen, on occasion, “Bush right or wrong regardless of how big a war criminal and mass murderer he is and by implication we all are” people showing the audacity to say that we are murdering people at a slower rate than Saddam is. Why don’t we take another meta-moment, and consider the slogans that presents: “Bush– Less Bad than Saddam.” We (meaning the people that stole our government) are too dense to understand the bitter and unfunny irony of the situation. We moved into Saddam’s seat of power, and proceeded to impose a result that is even more brutal than his regime: not only are WE arbitrarily torturing and murdering Iraqis, but we have unleashed chaos and backlash that has put large swathes of Iraq beyond control.
And in a rare hat-tip to the American media, the American people fully understand exactly what’s happening in Iraq, at least in terms of the “raw data” of the events, albeit without meaningful context. Of course, the American media are also accessories to war crimes, by giving credence to the politically-driven smoke and mirrors game called the sovereignty transfer fraud. The fact that a single journalist has never even asked the simple question: “Mr. President, how can we consider the occupation to be over while over a hundred thousand plus Americans remain pinned down in Iraq?” is telling. When Bush’s nonsense nursery school response about “hard work”, “freedom” and “democracy” comes out, other journalists should calmly, simply repeat the question, until Bush gets testy first (and he will), and ends the interview (which he will). But nothing of this kind ever seems to happen. (And its not disrespecting the President, a la Ms. Coleman of Irish t.v., who interrupted him; all that’s required is someone willing to be the same kind of “on message” robot that Bush is– and whose organization will back them, instead of firing and blacklisting them.) Yes, I know it’s just a dream.
Obviously, I’d also like to see someone– anyone– asking the President, point blank, how many times he has been arrested.
Until those questions will be asked by our so-called free press, we must consider American sources hopelessly compromised, and seek our news from behind the iron and bamboo curtains.
In the meantime, we’re looking at a long, cold Ramadan.