A few thoughts on the London terrorist bombing
this entry brought to you by le tigre, "deceptacon"
It seems like so long ago, but yes, there was a time when we knew exactly who the enemy was. The enemy took credit for it, and we went across the pond to get them. And we spat and we threw rocks and bombed and killed a whole bunch of people, and, like roaches in a nest aware they're all being flushed out, they ran. Well, good. We got the nest bombed, so those fleeing roaches will just run off and die, right?
Except those roaches that flee will just lay eggs in different places all around your house. In your neighbor's house. In your backyard. Until they're so spread out there's no way you could possibly squash them all.
I don't understand how this idiot government could get away with it. But they did. They let Public Enemy Number 1 get away, said they didn't know where he was, didn't care where he was, let Al Qaeda split up and turn into a series of splinter cells, better trained and more pissed-off than their predecessors, while we were busy puffing our chests and murdering thousands and thousands of people in a country where there was no traces of our actual enemy. I don't understand how we can have the enemy in our sights and then knowingly let them run off. Our President blathered on and on about Iraq in his myriad public addresses, trumpetting our supposed success, cocking his eyebrows and saying "Let's roll" like he was Clint Eastwood in a new action movie, and, in a footnote during his address, would mention something about how Al Qaeda was now on the run, Al Qaeda was broken and let's get back to the matter at hand, more bullshit lies about Iraq.
I don't understand how the American people could somehow be comforted in the fact that Al Qaeda, the people who actually aided and abetted terrorists, was "broken" and on the run, and that this somehow meant that they could never strike again. I don't understand how we were supposed to feel that they were "scared" because we blew up their palaces and put numbers on their heads without actually bringing them to justice. And you know what? I don't think any of us-- the smart ones, anyway, the ones who knew this government was going to lead us into the pits of hell from day one-- were comforted by this. I think all of us stared at our televisions with wide, disbelieving eyes, saying, what the fuck, wondering what kind of Bizzaro Twighlight Zone we were living in, where we could know who to target, kick 'em in the butt, and as they ran off shake our fists at them and tell them never to return like on The A-Team. I think we all knew we hadn't seen the last of Al Qaeda, I think we all knew that Iraq wasn't going to have anything to do with the next terrorist attack outside of Iraqi soil, and we knew when the next terrorist attack would happen they would use Iraq as an elaborate series of smoke and mirrors, but what were we supposed to do?
Oh, and how these London attacks will feed the lies. Look! they'll say, pointing, laughing, giggling, patting each other on the backs, jerking each other off. Look! We told you there'd be more terrorist attacks! We told you the war on terror was priority number one!
And they're going to tell us the War on Iraq is an important tool in this war on terror. And we're going to let them continue to attack the world all over. Our military is already spread too thin, how the hell are we honestly supposed to destroy every single splinter cell? Why, by getting the whole world scared, by getting the whole world to see our single-minded view, to get them to line up behind us one by one, to get them to ignore that we've been giving them the middle finger this whole time.
Makes it all seem part of their plan to begin with, doesn't it?
To the people of London, my heart goes out to your loss on Thursday, July 7, 2005. I'm not so pompous as to know whether God exists or not. But if he does exist, may he help us all.
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with love from CRS @ 5:58 PM
Friday, July 08, 2005
It seems like so long ago, but yes, there was a time when we knew exactly who the enemy was. The enemy took credit for it, and we went across the pond to get them. And we spat and we threw rocks and bombed and killed a whole bunch of people, and, like roaches in a nest aware they're all being flushed out, they ran. Well, good. We got the nest bombed, so those fleeing roaches will just run off and die, right?
Except those roaches that flee will just lay eggs in different places all around your house. In your neighbor's house. In your backyard. Until they're so spread out there's no way you could possibly squash them all.
I don't understand how this idiot government could get away with it. But they did. They let Public Enemy Number 1 get away, said they didn't know where he was, didn't care where he was, let Al Qaeda split up and turn into a series of splinter cells, better trained and more pissed-off than their predecessors, while we were busy puffing our chests and murdering thousands and thousands of people in a country where there was no traces of our actual enemy. I don't understand how we can have the enemy in our sights and then knowingly let them run off. Our President blathered on and on about Iraq in his myriad public addresses, trumpetting our supposed success, cocking his eyebrows and saying "Let's roll" like he was Clint Eastwood in a new action movie, and, in a footnote during his address, would mention something about how Al Qaeda was now on the run, Al Qaeda was broken and let's get back to the matter at hand, more bullshit lies about Iraq.
I don't understand how the American people could somehow be comforted in the fact that Al Qaeda, the people who actually aided and abetted terrorists, was "broken" and on the run, and that this somehow meant that they could never strike again. I don't understand how we were supposed to feel that they were "scared" because we blew up their palaces and put numbers on their heads without actually bringing them to justice. And you know what? I don't think any of us-- the smart ones, anyway, the ones who knew this government was going to lead us into the pits of hell from day one-- were comforted by this. I think all of us stared at our televisions with wide, disbelieving eyes, saying, what the fuck, wondering what kind of Bizzaro Twighlight Zone we were living in, where we could know who to target, kick 'em in the butt, and as they ran off shake our fists at them and tell them never to return like on The A-Team. I think we all knew we hadn't seen the last of Al Qaeda, I think we all knew that Iraq wasn't going to have anything to do with the next terrorist attack outside of Iraqi soil, and we knew when the next terrorist attack would happen they would use Iraq as an elaborate series of smoke and mirrors, but what were we supposed to do?
Oh, and how these London attacks will feed the lies. Look! they'll say, pointing, laughing, giggling, patting each other on the backs, jerking each other off. Look! We told you there'd be more terrorist attacks! We told you the war on terror was priority number one!
And they're going to tell us the War on Iraq is an important tool in this war on terror. And we're going to let them continue to attack the world all over. Our military is already spread too thin, how the hell are we honestly supposed to destroy every single splinter cell? Why, by getting the whole world scared, by getting the whole world to see our single-minded view, to get them to line up behind us one by one, to get them to ignore that we've been giving them the middle finger this whole time.
Makes it all seem part of their plan to begin with, doesn't it?
To the people of London, my heart goes out to your loss on Thursday, July 7, 2005. I'm not so pompous as to know whether God exists or not. But if he does exist, may he help us all.
-----
