The only bad part about this job -- aside from the fact that I haven't a clue what I'm doing -- is that I have to work from 5 pm to 9 pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so I miss the TV show "Rock Star Supernova". I miss watching Tommy Lee. I miss hearing the rock-star-wannabees play old songs by the Rolling Stones. And I love it when Brooke Burke tells one of the contestants, "You're safe from elimination".
"You're safe."
They are not saying "You're safe" in Lebanon right now. And they are not saying "You're safe" in Iraq.
But the American public has grown used to seeing these same grizzly scenes played out in Iraq night after night on our TV screens. Nobody even bats an eye any more when Iraqi three-year-olds are melted alive by white phosphorus or bunker busters take out whole towns.
But there IS good news in Iraq. In the competition to see who Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld can send to their graves first, women and children are now comparatively "safe".
"You're safe."
According to sworn statements obtained by the Associated Press, "Four U.S. soldiers accused of murdering suspected insurgents during a raid in Iraq said they were under orders to 'kill all military-age males.'"
There is a new game afoot in Iraq. It's called "Just kill the draft-age men". Under the influence of the U.S. occupation, every single man in Iraq between the ages of 16 and 45 now has a target on his back. U.S. troops and "insurgents" shoot them down. U.S. troops and "Insurgents" blow them up. U.S. troops and "insurgents" bury their bodies out in the desert and in the municipal dumps.
Can you imagine if we had a draft board like that in America?
This is not a game. This is not a reality show on TV every night. This is a war crime. If Bush and Cheney can commit these atrocities on the Iraqis and the Lebanese now, what is to stop them from doing the same thing to us later? "You're safe" does not apply to ANY of us as long as these men are allowed to be in charge of anything with sharp edges. Bush and Cheney should be in jail. Or in a psych ward.
PS: Even though I now work for a dot.com, it is only temporary. I am still available to embed in Iraq. Reuters? Associated Press? Call me! 510-843-0581. Hell, I'd even work for CNN. But I draw the line at Fox News.
