Oliphant Parts

Once again I am reminded that I should write things down and think about them. And once again, I tell myself that I do not have the time and just regurgitate things into my computer with far less thought than they deserve. So world, here is today’s regurgitation, in serious need of focus and structure:

Kindergarten graduation ceremonies. Sixth-month dating anniversaries. A glorified fifth-year anniversary commemoration for September 11, 2001. There are certain things these days that just do not feel appropriate.

Today’s paper is filled with images from five years ago, interviews with “the children of 9/11″ (swell, now I know what a group of 12 year olds were doing five years ago), bittersweet looks back at the attacks and angry words from the President and Secretary of Defense. The main headline on the local paper reads “Where were you when the world changed?” The graphic in the background is of the towers burning, so I assume the writer and editors are referring to September 11, 2001, despite the fact that the world is constantly changing. A more appropriate headline would have been “Where were you during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001?”, to which I could have answered “On my couch, asleep.” It wasn’t until later in the day that I learned about it. Why is the fifth anniversary of the attacks more important than the first? Or the second? Or the third? If we are going to commemorate the attacks on American soil which led to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the relative ignoring of Osama Bin Missing, we could find much better ways to do so than having the President lay some wreathes and having blow-hard warmongers like the Vice President make false statements about the war in Iraq.

Where are we today? Iraq is still, inexplicably, being promoted as the frontline in our war on terror. Never mind that we should be combatting terrorism, not emotions. The man behind the attacks on America is still on the loose. Terrorism incidents have risen rather than decreased worldwide. Air travel, while considerably less convenient, is supposedly no less dangerous. At this point, perhaps Iraq might be a good front for a war on terrorism, but only because we chose to make it so by destabilizing the country and doing our best to promote terrorism in Iraq.

I sincerely hope that the exaggerated importance of this year’s commemoration is is not an election-year ploy, but it is hard not to be cynical. The President needs something to build support for his party, and anniversary specials are much easier for news agencies to put together than real news. This is not to belittle what happened five years ago. Far from it, actually. Today’s rehash in the news has so far felt quite belittling, actually.

The Vice President was quoted in a news brief in my local paper as saying “But the fact is, the world is better off today with Saddam Hussein out of power. Think where we’d be if he was still there” How is the world better off today with Saddam Hussein out of power? He was a brutal dictator, yes. So are some of our allies and enemies, all of which we have so far left in power. What made Saddam Hussein so special? Was it that he looked easy to overthrow, his people particularly welcoming? Did they inspire military wet dreams of being welcomed with flowers and chocolates? Of are our leaders so out of touch with reality that they think one country is as good for invading as any other, so we might as well invade the one that embarrassed dad? In trying to think of where we’d be if Saddam Hussein was still in power, all I can think is that we’d have a hell of a lot more troops to focus on the hunt for actual terrorists. And maybe a few (thousand?) more American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians still alive. Sure, that ridiculous beret-wearing Saddam would still be out there puffing his chest and acting like a loony, but what is more important in the long run?- fighting terrorism or removing beret-wielding nutjobs and promoting terrorism?