8/2/06 – MADDNESS AND EVIL

I sit in a darkened office (attempt to reduce the use of electricity here in NYC) and can't shake the feeling that we are slipping into madness. The Israelis are, after saying they wouldn’t bomb for 72 hours (or maybe not as much, the details are sketchy) are back to bombing and Hezbollah has responded by firing (by report) 190 rockets. Meantime the IDF is either slicing or slogging its way through southern Lebanon (again details are sketchy) with no real end in sight. What seems to be happening is that the IDF and the government are trying to come up with at least something that looks like a win before they stop.

The monkey in the White House is apparently okay with all this death – which is not that big a surprise really, he’s fond of killing by proxy and it keeps people’s attention from the chaos in Iraq. After the failure of Ms. Rice we seem to have decided to just let the killing go on until it peters out.

W has spoken of this as a chance for a beginning of something new. This is gibberish. This is death and chaos and won’t solve anything.

Israel has gone mad I think. Somehow they have decided (and I’ve seen this more than once) that if they bomb enough, Lebanon will turn on Hezbollah and blame them for the attacks. This boggles the mind. Basic human nature is going to blame the people dropping the bombs for the bombing. Not that Hezbollah are angels – the ratio of civilian deaths in Israel and Lebanon is so lopsided due to Hezbollah’s less destructive weapons, not from the lack of trying.

I’ve see some arguments to the effect that if Canada attacked us we would be doing pretty much the same thing Israel is doing – bombing included. We’re not the best example of restraint given our tendency to carpet bomb when we get irked but even so the point’s not relevant. Israel is bombing things like Lebanon army units and last time I looked Hezbollah was not running the Beirut airport. The way Israel is acting makes about as much sense as our invading Iraq because of 9/11. And I suspect will turn out just as badly for all concerned.

And the most sickening thing to come out of the last few days is the series of essays by bloodless evil people who suggest that we are having problems in Iraq because we are too soft, that we should just kill all the Sunni men and have done with it. That we need to be tougher. That we should get used to civilian deaths. It’s for a good cause; we did worse in World War 2. Etc. etc.

So we’ve gone from liberating the Iraqi people to shooting them. To quote Conrad “Exterminate the Brutes!” is the Right Wing’s new battle cry.

Another Conrad Quote: “the horror, the horror.”

And we continue to slouch our way to disaster.