A Quantum Diaries Survivor

Three months have passed since the first “democratic” elections in Iraq took place, and the country still does not have a government.

In the meantime, bombings and shootings are the bread and butter of Iraqi morning news. People die in dozens at checkpoints, queueing for an employment in the police force, at the market, in worship places. They do not even make the headlines any longer: come on, we have all scratched the bottom of the barrel of our compassion. We can’t take any more of it: they die, so what ? They have been doing it for the last three years…

Fundamentalists are taking over in islamic countries. Is that a reaction to an aggressive foreign policy, or am I looking at the wrong TV channel ?

And another question springs to mind. Did Bush win the war ? He declared so two and a half years ago, and since then more than four time as many american soldiers have died in Iraq (I do not have the correct number, but they are certainly more than a thousand) as those who lost their lives during the three months of war; and more than ten thousand Iraqi civilians have died in the daily string of acts of violence in a country that resembles more a shooting range than the birthplace of civilization - that was 5000 years ago…. Not to mention the many tens of thousands civilians who died under american bombs since 1991.

Rather expensive, huh ? Or should we maybe shrug our shoulders, comforted in our belief that “it had to be done”, fortified in our faith that “democracy is priceless”, and in our trust that “dictators have to be removed whatever the price” ?

The injection of democracy in Iraq failed. Let’s face it. What is worse, it was a no brainer, really: I feel no shame in asserting that I myself - from atop my long minutes of study of world history - had predicted with quite good accuracy the outcome of America’s effort to bring stability to the middle east . Darn. I could have gotten a hefty paycheck from the CIA, had they outsourced to me their intelligence about the outcome of an act of force against Saddam’s regime… Maybe next time ?

It was a no brainer, was it not ? To quote Groucho, “A child of five could understand this. Go fetch a child of five.” Yes. Maybe we should remove the top mushrooms in the american chain of command and replace them with five years old children. They would certainly do less damage.

But… Wait. Maybe that’s why George is in command. That does makes sense.