Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Let's, for a moment, pretend that I'm an Iraqi national. I'm not. And, for the record, I'm happy with that, too. But, for the sake of argument, let's say I'm not happy. Let's say I'm an Iraqi and I'm angry with the U.S. Not terribly difficult to imagine an Iraqi national angry with the U.S., is it? Good.

Recent world events have stifled my ability to express my discontent in my usual manner. The very people that anger me have invaded my homeland. Their presence not only furthers my ill-temper, but it complicates my day to day living. My ability to work is inhibited, which makes it difficult for me to provide for my family. My inability to feed or clothe or shelter my family makes me feel more desperate, and certainly it's not difficult for me to direct those feelings at someone with whom I am already angry. The solace I once sought at my local place of worship is now impinged due to restrictions levied by the invading armies.

So, we've got one hot Iraqi. (In a completely asexual way, of course.) Actually, I think it would be relatively easy to factor in the applicable multipliers and have many, many more than one. In fact, I think our reality is exactly that. For now, though, we've just got the one.

If he'd only wear a big scarlet "A" (for angry), we could isolate him and be done with it. But that hardly seems realistic. Does it? It makes more sense that he'd, given his cultural mores, keep his feelings to himself and take action appropriate in his eyes, when the opportunity presented itself.

Sure, sure, we all think we're smarter than the Iraqi's, but we are giving them SOME credit, aren't we?

So, bear all that in mind, and then listen to OUR plan. We send our sons and fathers and brothers to Iraq. We demoralize and humiliate the Iraqi's. We cripple their government. We descecrate things holy to them. We regulate them until their very existence is barren and desperate.

And then, we pick out a few dozen of them, train them to fight and arm them with American weapons. So they can control other Iraqi's, of course.

"Who wants to patrol with newly indoctrinated soldiers Kahlil and Ahmed tonight? No raised hands, huh? Any nominations? Well, I guess it's you Jones. You're single, right?"

Our military commanders, in their ever infinite wisdom, send these armed nationals (and I don't care how much screening they think they've done, these people have some history being crafty) out on patrol with unlucky American soldiers. Shockingly, American soldiers are getting shot and killed.

Gee, it seems like someone should have seen that coming. Bad enough to piss them off. Is it really necessary to give them loaded guns and American 'targets', too? This crosses lines WAY into 'stupid' territory. Don't you think?

Every day I wonder what will be the thing that stops this madness. And every day, I'm shown that we'll move the boundaries when and where we need them, and we'll be just as whimsical with human lives as we wanna be. Perhaps I am the stupid one, clinging to the hope that our leaders might wake up and actually start working towards saving human lives, instead of continuing to lead the sacrificial lambs to those whose dream it is to be butchers. I'm like that, though. I want to believe in people, that they will do "the right thing". No matter how many times I'm proven wrong.