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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The end of the war on terror was today

By charging Tsarnaev today with using Weapons of Mass Destruction, we got the signal of the war's end. What happened in Boston was murder, which has always the most heinous crime in human society. Last time I checked we were still human. But to call three crockpot bombs WMD's trivializes the term (which was already made ridiculous when none were found in Iraq). It turns a crazy conspiracy and murders into a caricature and undermines a justice system well designed for the marathon bomb perpetrators.

Boston and the end of terrorism

Well that's it. Terrorism is over. And thankfully so. If what happened in Boston had been real terrorism there would have been more death. What we got was simulated terror: make-believe terrorists fighting for a cause that was either not their own and/or non-existent and, again thankfully, not really competent enough to do more harm. It was a simulation of terror, a farce of it. Usually farce comes at the end of a phase or text so it is possible to say the age of terror is over. But and this is important too, this does not mean that more botched actions will not happen in the future. And maybe too what counts as the end of that phase is the beginning of another: an age of foolish terror and maybe one that in some sense is more terrifying than folks fighting for a cause. It will be terror without cause and without reference; for terror's sake without even the self-serving comfort of being able to say that they did it because they hate our freedoms. Whether in Arizona, Connecticut, or Boston the perpetrators will not be society's losers nor traitors but ungrateful persons who got the most love that society could give them. I sure hope that I am wrong about this future...

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Was George W. Bush an Iranian agent? Who won Iraq?

Lots of folks are talking about who won the Iraq war. It is a legitimate question: victory, winners, losers are all terms connected with war and its end. The verdict of most commentators is that Iran won. Bush smashed the Sunnis from power and cleansed them from Baghdad with his surge. That left Shiites in charge in charge. And with leftover Sunnis blowing them up every week where else can they turn for help but Iran. The attack was no mistake. There are no errors in politics. The Americans must have planned this outcome. But why? Was Bush an Iranian sleeper agent? Or maybe the USA wanted a bigger enemy. What's the point of the giant military expense after all. But the Soviets are gone...Iraq was too easy...hey let's make Iran into even more of challenge in the ongoing fight over Near East energy reserves.