I remember reading a Time magazine once when I was a kid. In this issue, there was a picture of President Jimmy Carter, with his hand massaging his forehead. He had a wrinkled, confused look on his face. In the picture, he was peering over an overstuffed binder that said Iran on the side.
Being all of 9 years of age at the time, and having no idea where Iran was, I went to the World Book encyclopedia to find out. It was an old book from the mid seventies, all it had was a little map. I remember it being pink and blue. There was nothing about political alliances, or terrorists, or really much of anything for that matter. All I really learned from it was that it was originally called Persia, and that Persian rugs were of unsurpassable quality. Other than that, the entry was pretty vague.
Shortly after that, (like days later...) I remember watching the news footage of the Islamic revolution in Iran. The streets of Tehran were jam packed with people. There was a frenetic pace to it. These people seemed excited, angry, confused, and happy. There was a news film of American flags burning in the streets, while crowds cheered. They were dancing and singing, but it just seemed to mask their collective rage. I remember feeling sick to my stomach. For some reason, this footage made me feel nervous. Somehow, even as a child, I knew this would have lasting effects on North America. How could it not. Seeing a swirling mass of hatred that was fixated on America. Ayatollah Khomeini called America "The Great Satan" This society was so incensed with US interference, that it totally boiled over.
I remember asking my parents what all this meant. They said it was difficult to explain, and I would understand better as an adult. They seemed rather concerned. My Dad had that same look on his face whenever he looked at my report cards. Clearly, no good could come from this.
President Reagan and George Bush Sr.(the other white meat...) arranged a way to prevent efforts made by Carter to free the hostages that got caught in the maelstrom. That poor old peanut farmer never knew what hit him. He never could have expected that the great communicator would use treason as a weapon. Carter's biggest problem was that he played by the rules. His opponet didn't, Infact he just made up his own.
Reagan’s envoy managed to “free” the hostages only after they took office. In addition to castrating Carter’s political career, this event would set the stage for Conservative chicanery in Washington,(Well, the chicanery of the last 30 years...) and was the catalyst for a lot of current day events in the middle east. I remember when Saddam was an ally, I seem to recall seeing pictures of Donald Rumsfeld with his arm around Saddam, like they were old college buddies. They seemed to genuinely like each other. Then again, I get the impression they are a lot a like.
Flash forward to today. Most of the same players are involved in Bush JR’s world. None of these old bloodhounds have learned any new tricks, they just got better at the old ones. They managed to kick the shit outta their old buddy Saddam and raze most of Iraq. (with friends like this...)There are still burning effigies in the streets of Muslim countries and America still hasn’t learned that it sucks at playing this game.
How hard can it be to figure out that it’s impossible to win the hearts and minds of these people, because dammit, they just know better. If you keep on getting fucked, over and over again, by the same people, chances are good that even the stupidest person knows to be mistrustful. Kick a dog once too many times, and you’ll get an ass full of canine teeth. Imagine what a human could do. Wait, we've seen that! (First time, shame on you...50th time, a Jihad on your ass...)
On the eve of the American election, I find myself asking "Is this really the best they could come up with?" There are nearly 300 million people in the United States. Surely, they could scrape together a couple of candidates with a lick of common sense between them.
This election has had much had the same affect on me as the Iranian Islamic revolution. It has made me sick to my stomach. I'm feeling nervous and I think that no matter what happens tomorrow, the world book entry will be vague.
For the record mom and dad, I still don't understand.
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