Iraq and a Hard Place

Hi, gang.

Look, I'm going to be blunt. I'm having a hard time putting together words. I'm just not into it right now. Just kind of lethargic, a writer's flu.

I was going to write an essay about the Hobson's Choice we anti-war protestors have to wrestle with. You see, even since the Feb. 15 protests and the international resistance to pull the White House away from the Super-Duper War Video Game controller, it looks like Saddam Hussein is using the aftermath of the protests to start road blocking U.N. inspectors (story here and here), something that's only going to make the anti-war folks look as if we are coddling a dictator.

It's been hard enough to carry a "No Iraq War" sign without getting comments from idiots in passing cars. We told ourselves we wanted the Iraqi people to be safe. Attacking Iraq to get rid of one despot and killing tens of thousands of civilians was (and still is) a horrible idea.

And don't get us started on the whole oil thing. Or the idea that Hussein has all these Weapons of Mass Destruction just sitting around.

Now, I'm conflicted, and I imagine I'm not the only one. I want to go to the weekly anti-war protest on Saturday, but to me this new maneuvering by Iraq has taken some of the wind out of the anti-war sails.

Here's the choice: Go out there and protest with this awful feeling that we kinda, sorta are helping Saddam, or do something less visible, something that looks like we are caving. The American press is dismissive to the anti-war folks to begin with (compare American and European coverage, and you'll see what I mean). Thanks to Hussein, I foresee the anti-war folks having a harder time getting the point across through the U.S. media that we aren't supporting Hussein, but worried about the Iraqi people, Middle East destabilization and Bush's pathetic Hamlet imitation.

But tell that to some average Joe spoon-fed some paranoid Tom Clancy-flavored line from War-a-Go-Go Fox News Channel.

Joe Conason over at Salon offers up a couple solutions, namely protesting the Iraqi side of the equation. His logic works like this: We put enough pressure on our own countries; it's time to put some of it on Iraq.

It's easy to say that, though. Slobodan Milosevic was brought down by his own people. Communist leaders fell under the weight of mass rallies, again by their own people. Gandhi and Martin Luther King led the way for nonviolent change with their own native populations. Yet, Saddam Hussein rules Iraq with an iron fist. Any attempt to rally an Iraqi-based uprising would be crushed violently. I get the feeling also that the pro-war tribes aren't ready to sit and wait for some coup or mass revolt to take place. No sexy ratings to be had there. Plus, you never know what'll happen to the oil fields, right?

And to think, there was some small buzz starting about the U.S. and its weapons of mass destruction stockpiles.

Afterthought

And if I'm thinking this glumly about holding up a sign, imagine what these people might be thinking?

On second thought, nevermind. I think if they have enough conviction to do what they are doing, then they're pretty sure of themselves to begin with. Hell of a way to spend spring break, though.

Afterthought, part two

The Guardian has an interesting article about how anti-war folks can push for a change in Iraq.

Today's Word: Circle

From One Word

A symbol of perfection, life, infinity. Yet, it's also a closed circuit. Round things are hard to pack. A circle is karma in all its glory. A reminder of what comes around goes around. It only depends on when it's coming back...on how big that circle really is.