Power + Ingorance = Lots of fuck ups

I was listening to NPR on my way to work this morning. Since I sleep in until the last possible minute I have no time to read the paper or keep up with the happenings of the world in any type of visual medium, so I listen to the radio and feel better about myself. :)

NPR has been doing individual pieces all week about the middle east and the division between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. It is a well documented division and a history that is easily accessible for anyone that tries to find out about it. Today's story was about Iraq and the infighting that is happening there now. I caught the tail end of it, but the commentator was basically stating what I have been feeling all along.

Many of the Iraqi people are feeling that even though Saddam was not an ideal ruler, and did some horrific things, at least they had food, water, their children could go to school and they did not have to worry about them being shot or blown-up, etc. At least with Saddam, the people could be united in their hatred of him, and live in peace together. I see similarities between what has happened in Iraq and how the LA gangs (Bloods and Crips) came to be.

Denise and I watched a documentary on HBO called "Bastards of the Party." The film is directed by a current gang member who is trying to change things within the gangs, as opposed to leaving them. In a nut shell, the documentary showed that once organized groups stopped being against an entity (the US govt. as the Black Panthers and the US Group) they turned on each other. In the past, the fight for civil rights unified them despite their differences (being from different areas in the city). Once we took that away from them (by executing their leaders) all they had to fight was each other, and they formed the Bloods and the Crips. That pain and energy had to go somewhere.

Anyway, back to the report, the scholar's in the middle east were basically saying that if anyone had paid just a little bit of attention, it would have been obvious that this division was under the surface and any disruption of power would fuel it. This is exactly what happened. Now the Shiites and the Sunnis do not have a common enemy, so they are beginning to fight each other in the struggle for power.

I wonder what would have happened if we had not done what we did. I wonder if the people of Iraq overturned Saddam themselves, would this have happened? Would the satisfaction of gaining power as a people overcome their sense of division, or would a civil war have broken out anyway. No one can say, because we didn't allow anyone any option.

I get so frustrated with this country because it seems that we do this over and over and never learn. We didn't like the government in Iran, so we help Saddam Hussein fight by giving him money and weapons. Later, the government in Afghanistan was not to our liking, so we helped the Taliban gain power. We all know where this is leading...

The US has a long history of going into a region with no knowledge of the history, no consideration of the consequences of our actions, no analysis of what the ideologies are of the current govt vs the one we are helping put into power. I mean, I really don't see any other Western country making these continual fuck ups...ugh! So, now what do we do? Keep troops over there with people dying everyday for nothing, or bring them home and leave this country in the state of chaos we have created...I really don't have the answers, but it makes me angry.

Alright, I'll step down from my soap box now, I just get riled up sometimes with all the idiocy in the world.

On the life stuff, Denise and I did MEGA laundry last night (6 loads, one of which being a 2 load washer). It feels good to get it done though and have nice clean clothes for this Saturday (tomorrow) which is my BIRTHDAY!!! YIPEEEEEE! We plan to go to the LA Zoo because I have not bee there yet. I'll let you know how it goes. In light of the mega laundry, I had no time to watch any television, but we did start Jarhead (maybe another reason I'm all fired up) which I like so far.

Have a great weekend!!!

(PS: I know this is a somewhat unorganized argument and there is much more to say and conclude, but I'm at work people! :)