Iraq: If Only We Knew Now What We Knew Then
Well, it’s about time. Finally, here's a guide to Iraq, written for American military personnel. "A Short Guide To Iraq" contains basic words and phrases in Arabic, some local customs and it warns about cultural pitfalls for Americans to watch out for. “You aren’t going to Iraq to change the Iraqis. Just the opposite. We are fighting this war to preserve the principle of ‘live and let live.’”
The book is full of other common sense advice about trying to adapt and fit in when you're in a foreign country. Since we didn’t have this information five years ago when we were planning the Iraqi invasion — well, there's no sense wallowing in 20/20 hindsight. No harm, no foul. Oh, wait. This book was written in 1943! It was a guide for American servicemen stationed in Iraq during World War II. We already had this information!
We already knew! When Heartattackfuck was spewing out “we will be greeted as liberators,” this information was already 60 years old. “Democracy will flower in the Middle East” when we march in and topple their dictator?!?!?!? Did these Neocon masterminds have some sort of ulterior motive all along, or are they all dumber than a bag of hammers?
Here are some painful contrasts between our World War II leaders and the pitiful shitstains who hijacked our foreign policy five years ago: The author says, “the people who wrote the 1943 booklet—and by extension the government behind them—wanted two things: they wanted to win the war and they wanted to do it honorably. That is, they did not want to sacrifice or shortcut American values, and if we thought we were better than the Nazis, we had to prove it to our allies.”
How far we've plummeted. Our country has fallen and it can't get up.
Labels: A Short Guide To Iraq
posted by Tom Harper @ 1:14 AM
16 Comments:
Our country has fallen and it can't get up.
Must be the obesity. :)
Romunov: Yup, the obesity, the complacency, the hubris, or all of the above.
If only we had elected a president who could read...
Kip152: Yup, that would be a first step.
If only we had a President who could read, AND THINK.
I'm afraid it is so bad that people have basically accepted the status quo and will no longer fight.
Lord, even today it would have been better than nothing to hand out that dated advice.
What Bush and Cheney should have been reading, though, was the book called Churchill's Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq.
Lizzy: Yeah, you'd think reading and thinking would be prerequisites to be President of the United States. Apparently not.
Larry: Yup, and that's scary. We've sunk to a new low and it's being accepted as the status quo.
Mike: I should check out that book. I know that England (among others) created Iraq (and Kuwait and some other "countries") after World War One. But I should learn more details. England and America both have a long disgraceful history of treating the rest of the world like their own back yard.
This is just heartbreaking. How far we have fallen indeed.
Candace: Yup, I hope someday we'll be able to get up, dust ourselves off and start again.
Did these Neocon masterminds have some sort of ulterior motive all along, or are they all dumber than a bag of hammers?
This is the question I keep asking myself (and my conservative uncle). I have my theory but it has to be one or the other..
either they are incredibly evil or incredibly stupid.
Pick your poison neo-con supporters.
I just hope the next President has more intelligent to know history and place men and women around them that can make great decisions. We find ourselves in a cloud of mess, and it will take the next Presidents a long time to clean it up.
kip152 said...
If only we had elected a president who could read...
1:27 PM
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Kip152:
If only we had elected a President!
LOL
Prague Twin: Yeah, I've been puzzling over that question for years. Either they have some sinister master plan or they're so stupid they could get lost in a one-room apartment. I have no idea which one it is.
Let's Talk: You're right, I think the biggest task of the next president will be to undo 8 years of damage caused by GWB and his puppetmasters.
Suzie-Q(S-Q): LOL. Good one.
Amazing, simply amazing! The leaders during the 40's actually saw people in other countries as humans deserving of respect.
This time around our leaders have been guided by the values of Zionists and Christian Right who see Arabs as less than human.
Of course we should have listened to regional and cultural experts but the Bush neoconservatives plugged their ears. Juan Cole's services were available but not sought because the goal was never democracy or peace. It was to destroy Iraq and to dominate the region with a permanent American colony. To hell with the people.
What a shame Americans are so dumbed down.
Kitchen Window Woman: Yup, it's amazing. 60 years ago we saw other people as real people, with lives, a culture -- same as us. Now they're all just fodder to be used, or a nuisance to be gotten rid of. Are we making progress or what?
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