Saturday, June 14, 2014

Iraq and Israel

Well Iraq is falling apart, but that's hardly a surprise. Not to be callous to the fact that our endless war destabilized the country (maybe the whole region), but I think it's surely time to admit that America can't fix it. No matter what we do, we are incapable of fixing it, and our continued presence is not going to make things better for the local people there. I'm not sure I'm okay with Obama doing airstrikes instead of sending ground troops, but there are no good choices now. I hope that Shep Smith is right, that the media won't pay attention to the war hawks that got us in there in the first place. When you've dug a hole, stop digging.

I'm rather encouraged to read that the Presbyterian Church is meeting to take actions against Israel. The article compares it to the movements to end South Africa's Apartheid. I hope more of the world can take such a stance. The diplomatic peace process seems to be going nowhere, and somehow we must end the madness.

As for the furor over Bowe Bergdahl, I can't stand that the controversy erupted into accusations of treason. And they acted like trading the Guantanomo detainees was a bad thing. If anything, I want more detainees released and the place shut down for good, but we have to settle for these half measures instead. This war has to end, and we need to leave. If we've left Syria to its own brutal civil war for this long, then Iraq too is not our business.

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