On the ten year anniversary, the American media are currently discussing the outcome of American intervention into the domestic affairs of Iraq.
It cost 10 billion dollars of borrowed money.
There is no peace order or security in the land.
Seldom are young American lives lost mentioned. Or the plight of those who came home suffering physical and emotional trauma from what they witnessed. Or the lives of families of men ,little more than boys ,who paid the ultimate price.
At the time the U.S. was mustering other nations, France refused to join them.
As did Canada. Jean Chretien owed his back to back majority to that decision.
Messrs Rumsfeld and Cheney had some scathing things to say about the French. Removing the term "french fries" from menus was contemplated.
The French have memories. As do the Belgians. And the British.
Algiers, French Indo-China, Belgian Congo, Kenya, Kikuyu. Mau-Mau, all names that conjure history of atrocity.
The British exited Palestine at midnight, leaving tanks and weapons in the streets for whoever might wish to make use of them.
Palestinian refugees are still refugees.
Israel has little more security now than she did then.
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Sandra Day O'Connor, first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, was a guest on Charlie Rose again last night.
She referred once more to the appalling fact American children are not taught civics in school. How their government works is not considered of sufficient importance to teach.
The retired Chief Justice has taken it upon herself, using social media and a team of excellent teachers, to design computer games
to stimulate young people's interest in the nation's history.
Thousands of children are learning what schools are not teaching .
The numbers are growing.
The government can put them into uniform, teach them how to kill, send them to barren places to lay down their lives.
But the government chooses not to tell them why.
Dick Cheney is totally without regrets. In fact, he is now claiming what we always suspected. That he alone was pulling the strings during the Bush tenure. The fact that the American economy is currently a basket case can be linked to the dreadful human and financial waste of the Iraq fiasco.
ReplyDeleteHistory is minimal in public school & an option in high school in Canada. Geography ? Forget about it.
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ReplyDeleteIf you Google "cost of Iraq war" you will find some startling numbers on WIKIPEDIA.
These run from a low of almost $800 billion to over $1trillion when you factor in medical care and benefits to wounded veterans to the year 2050, care being for both ongoing physical and emotional trauma.
Sandra Day O'Connor was a truly superior Supreme Court Justice, but she was never Chief Justice.
Governments are never honest with the people. That's how they come to and stay in power. It would be nice for a change if they could act with a sense of responsibility.
$20,000 a year for driving back and forth across a bridge to and from Ottawa is not responsible.
Dont be silly , certainly they were all told what the noble battle was all about ,why it was none other than all those weapons of mass destruction that were aimed at their neighbors , you know, the ones that were never found
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