WAR ON IRAK

Seattle Times: The Empire Falls Down

It wasn’t even a fair fight. I don’t know why they don’t just surrender.

—Col. Marc Hildenbrand, commander, 937th Engineer Group (Combat), near Najaf, Iraq, talking about resistance on the drive toward Baghdad.

You’d think people who come from the land built on slogans such as “Live Free or Die” or “Don’t Tread on Me” would understand something about grassroots resistance to invasion. Whatever you think about Saddam Hussein and his brutal regime, it is also true that the United States and its so-called “coalition” is an invading force. And it shouldn’t surprise us that the Iraqis are fighting back. Think of the boys who fought to the death to save Hitler.

How would we feel if America were invaded by “liberators?” Remember Red Dawn? I can safely say that if the Germans, Russians, French, or Canadians—or even the French Canadians—stormed into America to liberate us from George W. Bush, I would take up arms and fight them in the streets. Not because I love Bush and “freedom fries,” but damn it, this is our country, and he’s our problem.

The propaganda machine has convinced the troops and the American public that ours is an army of liberation. We expected to be welcomed like the Allies during WWII: with flowers, kisses, and flags. Our soldiers have even been supplied with pocketfuls of candy to hand out to the kids. Candy from a country that has helped starve thousands of Iraqi children to death with sanctions. Candy from a country that denies any interest in Iraqi oil, yet whose troops name their camps after oil companies like Shell. Candy from a country demanding “democracy” at the point of a gun. Candy from an ignorant pit-bull puppy loose in the world. There are 30 nations—generously interpreted—in our “coalition of the willing.” The other 170 countries are thinking, “Crikey, who’s next?”