Big News

[davidklecha]

Pretty incredible stuff.

US Troops Capture Saddam

As a guy who has been pretty frustrated over media coverage of the occupation, and the general nay-saying to be found in some quarters, I'm pretty curious to see how this will be received. Personally, I'm expecting a lot of "yeah, but"'s. We'll see.

Comments

[daveamongus.livejournal.com]

Probably, but I'm not really thinking about the people who were against the war, on principle. In fact, I'm rather befuddled that France and Germany have come out with congratulations.

Rather, I'm interested in those who, whatever their initial attitude toward the war (granted, generally against), have been crying doom and gloom since it began. The offensive bogged down, all of Iraq's cultural treasures are lost, the power's out, there's looting, we're doing a horrible, horrible job all around, this is another Vietnam, etc. Those folks, I've noticed, have had a tendency to downplay whatever progress has been made, or respond with a "Yeah, but..." Many of those sort were making much of the fact that we had yet to be able to track down and capture Saddam, indicative of an overall intelligence failure in the country that we supposedly controlled, further indicative of a lack of support among the populace which, oh woe is us, means our efforts are doomed, this is another Vietnam, all this blood for nothing, blah blah blah.

At a certain point, it gets to be ridiculous. You'll never get these folks to acknowledge that the power is back on and staying on, or that the hospitals and clinics are all operating well above pre-war levels, or Iraqi kids are all going to school again, or any of that. They'll just point to every car bomb like it's a division of Saddam loyalists sprung full-formed from the ground.

Granted, I'm a normally optimistic guy, so the cynicism can wear on my pretty easily. But still. Who doesn't see this as a positive step forward for Iraq? Who says so, and who does not, I think, is indicative of, not a sober appraisal of the situation, but the subjugation of such judgments to broader political aims. To wit, Bush and his administration and his effort in Iraq can do no right, do no good, and whatever good fortune befalls the occupiers is just that: good fortune.