The United States and Iraq
I have been less than thrilled to talk about this subject, but in light of certain recent events I must insist on telling you what I think about this conflict. The middle east's religious law, must be shone for the sham that it is. it reminds me of early christianity, they need to convert or kill all who aren't worshiping their religion. It is about power and the religious leaders realize that they have the power, they have the oil, they hold all the chips...except for the fact that their followers see a free world, and they want some of that freedom. They see a world that they have been closed off to. The more repressed a society the more the backlash is when that society becomes free. The more "evil" things seem because of the repression. It's almost as if morality completely disappears because of the extreme difference between the values.
Well in Iraq you have this happening in a back and forth motion. Saddam had repressed certain religious leaders, so the backlash after he was gone has been a strong religious presence and a promise that religion will rule, well this is obviously not what the US wants, they want a more moderate, less religious rule. Yet the pendulum has swung all the way to the conservative side. The only way to save iraq is for the people to see this as oppression. This is very confusing for if Saddam was oppressing religion then when the oppression is lifted they must celebrate, but then the religious leaders become oppressive, yet they say the US is oppressive,even though they are the one that got Saddam out.
So how do you show a country that religion is oppressive, without forcing your morality on them. You sell them your culture. Thus a cultural war is born. The problem being you have to wait a generation for each cycle to play out. Does the US, or the world have the patience to be vigilant for 15 years. It all depends on how much death can be spread. The US has grown weak because of their culture, death is not in their vocabulary, death is feared...in the middle east death is embraced and sought after, since death is all around they would rather be in control of death than have death come take them.
Well in Iraq you have this happening in a back and forth motion. Saddam had repressed certain religious leaders, so the backlash after he was gone has been a strong religious presence and a promise that religion will rule, well this is obviously not what the US wants, they want a more moderate, less religious rule. Yet the pendulum has swung all the way to the conservative side. The only way to save iraq is for the people to see this as oppression. This is very confusing for if Saddam was oppressing religion then when the oppression is lifted they must celebrate, but then the religious leaders become oppressive, yet they say the US is oppressive,even though they are the one that got Saddam out.
So how do you show a country that religion is oppressive, without forcing your morality on them. You sell them your culture. Thus a cultural war is born. The problem being you have to wait a generation for each cycle to play out. Does the US, or the world have the patience to be vigilant for 15 years. It all depends on how much death can be spread. The US has grown weak because of their culture, death is not in their vocabulary, death is feared...in the middle east death is embraced and sought after, since death is all around they would rather be in control of death than have death come take them.
