I've been reviewing my notes of the Erol Morris documentary of Robert McNamara, The Fog of War. There are two comments of McNamara's that seem fitting with today's news. 1) The human race needs to think more about killing, about conflict. Is this what we want in the twenty-first century? And 2) We must try to place ourselves in thier shoes and think how they think.
With over 1,025 soldier's dead and Iraq spiraling further out of control, with a likelihood of civil war, one has to ask themself if the hard questions are being asked by those who took us to war. After a year and a half, have we heard a strategy for winning the peace? It is commonplace these days that the media is hounding Kerry to state his plan for Iraq. How would you do this differently? I was asked this question myself today by a friend. My reply was simply: This is a tall order. I don't even know if the President of the United States has even told us his solutions.
Today on NPR, they discussed how Bush was catering his compassionate conservatism to women, in hopes of winning their vote. The ideal of compassion means, in a matter of speaking, that you can place yourself in someone else's shoes and understand where they have walked and where they are walking to. IN light of the current state of Iraq, and the beheading of Eugene Armstrong, do you think Bush fits the definition? I think if he were compassionate, there would be more substance to his policies, less bravado, less fear-mongering, less reactionary behavior, and sincere dialogue. I don't think we would be at this point.
INstead, I fear, we have a man-boy for president who hasn't ever learned how to cope with not getting everything he wants, who has never had to go out and find a job, who has never had to go without a meal or two, who has never had to live from paycheck to paycheck, who does not know what it feels like having a son or daughter off to war, who has never had to rely on the goodness of others in order to give his kids a decent Christmas. He has a disconnect with the common American. He has a disconnect with anything he has no interest in. He is part to blame for the disconnect with the world and its peace.
Bush is not one to put on other people's shoes.
The other night, my wife and I drove by a used car dealership. Advertised all over its building and lot was the phrase "No Lemons Here." We laughed and commented that the reality must be that they do in fact sell lemons. Bush trying to sell us over on his compassion looks and feels the same way.
Here is the AP report about the beheading of Eugene Armstrong. One of these days, do you think someone will say enough is enough?
By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The militant group lead by al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi posted a gruesome video on a Web site Monday showing the decapitation of a man identified as American civil engineer Eugene Armstrong and said a second hostage — either an American or a Briton — would be killed in 24 hours.
The grisly beheading was the latest killing in a particularly violent month in Iraq, with more than 300 people dead in insurgent attacks and U.S. military strikes over the past seven days. Earlier Monday, gunmen in Baghdad assassinated two clerics from a powerful Sunni Muslim group that has served as a mediator to release hostages.
The video of the beheading of the man said to be Armstrong, whose age was not known, surfaced soon after the expiration of a 48-hour deadline set earlier by al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group for the beheading of the three civil engineers. The men — Armstrong, American Jack Hensley and Briton Kenneth Bigley — were abducted Thursday from their home in a wealthy Baghdad neighborhood.
A militant whose voice resembled al-Zarqawi read a statement in the video saying the next hostage would be killed in 24 hours unless all Muslim women prisoners are released from U.S. military jails.
"You, sister, rejoice. God's soldiers are coming to get you out of your chains and restore your purity by returning you to your mother and father," he said before grabbing the hostage, seated at his feet, and cutting his throat.
In Washington, a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Armstrong's body had been recovered, but the official would provide no information about where or when.
The taped beheading appears to be of Armstrong, but the CIA is still studying it to be sure, the official said.
The 9-minute tape, posted on a Web site used by Islamic militants, showed a man seated on the floor, blindfolded and wearing an orange jumpsuit — similar to the orange uniform worn by prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — with his hands bound behind his back. Five militants dressed in black stood behind him, four of them armed with assault rifles, with a black Tawhid and Jihad banner on the wall.
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