The Long War ?

Zarqawi is dead. Most stories I've read about him state that his connection to Al Qaeda was something late in his career and may have as much to do with his being tagged that way by Westerners as by his own choice (Al Qaeda itself is a loose organization in that anyone might claim to belong. I doubt there's any trademark protection). Sort of if they want to think of me that way, why not? It seems he was a hateful man and a brutal killer; we cannot mourn his death. But his career and his demise are instructive. He certainly threw fuel on the flames of ethnic tensions but he didn't create them. The US forces didn't look to arrest him; they used 500-lb. bombs. That seems to be the way things go in Iraq and maybe Afghanistan: we don't look for soldiers to surrender; we identify targets for destruction. And it seems the lawyers for the Marines being investigated for the Haditha killings are saying that their clients followed accepted military practice. What would it mean if that were true?

Mr. Bush says we are in a "long war" and this war seems to have noone with whom to negotiate a ceasefire or conclude a peace. Most Iraqis want us gone. Most Americans want our forces to leave. But our voices are not heard, let alone heeded. Maybe the business community will have some sway. There's an old saying that Hitler made only one mistake, he lost the war. Since this long war isn't against an organized state and "we" don't seem to trust the rule of law, you know, that quaint idea which was once at the heart of the United States, it's hard to forsee an end. In fact, when the USSR dissolved and Russia was in criminal turmoil as people shot and killed their way to wealth many complained that Russia lacked that self-same rule of law. Now it appears we no longer need laws; now we have the Decider (He has no ear for language, does He?). This long war will have no end and it will create new enemies on a daily basis if we keep interfering in the lives of other peoples and their countries. For all who might welcome our landing on the "shores of Tripoli" there will be many who will disagree. We are creating these terrorists through our behavior and if our response is to kill them, well, there are a whole lot of people in the world. Good time to invest in weapons manufacturers?

The Decider is reorganizing our society to be in a permanent state of war. The Decider wants us in a permanent state of fear. The Decider wants to know everything about us, as though we harbored enemies. The Decider is the law. For more than a century some have claimed that our style of laws was only a means to ensure the dominance of power and that as conditions changed laws adapted or were dropped to maintain power in those new conditions. If they were right then we are in deep trouble now. If accepted military practice is to shoot and kill children after an attack on our soldiers --something right out of a WW II movie showing the enormity of the Nazis -- will the eventual toll be in the billions? This long war is about dominance and like all bullies we're unlikely to run out of potential enemies. After WW II some wanted to immediately go to war with the USSR. Today's Russia is weaker but with its energy reserves and its location it's not hard to understand why the Decider's string puller verbally challenges that nation. Forget Iran. Is an American attack on Russia somewhere on the agenda? Given the Decider's pursuit of dominance and capital's need for growth I'd assume it is. A couple of lines from a deceased American poet, Kenneth Patchen: "I don't want to startle you, but they are going to kill most of us."