On the brink.

These are unnerving times. I feel as though, once again, we stand at the edge of catastrophe and yet we are unable to summon the will to stop it. I don't mean to depersonalize that observation - I include myself in that broad "we". Sometimes I wonder whether, years from now, I will look back on these days and curse myself for being so limp and impassive in the face of disaster. For the second time in just a few years, we seem to be sleepwalking into war. Our lame duck leaders, eager to demonstrate their relevance, are almost certain to bring about some kind of attack on Iran. Many in the Democrat-led congress are walking in lock-step with them (and sometimes a step or two ahead), particularly those with presidential ambitions. At the same time, Israel has struck a site in Syria, raising the question of what will come next (and from where) and Turkey is poised to invade northern Iraq.

With all of this (and quite a bit more) seemingly going septic at once, our ever-trusty mainstream news media is playing the same role it did in the run up to the Iraq invasion. I took a few moments to watch PBS's Washington Week this Friday and was treated to the kind of superficial news analysis I've come to expect from a program sponsored by Boeing and the mining industry. It closely resembles sports coverage, actually - how the players are positioned and what their next move will be. We hear all about our leaders' assessments of whether or not a given strategy - e.g. additional sanctions on Iran - will work, but little to nothing about why we're doing it in the first place. Sure, they'll regurgitate the administration's rationales, most of which would fit on a bumper sticker - Iran is killing U.S. soldiers, Iran is building nuclear weapons, Iran is responsible for all known diseases, etc. Clearly, no one besides us has any business either contemplating a nuclear deterrent or maintaining a presence in Iraq... not even when they share a long border with Iraq, have suffered a particularly brutal invasion by Iraq in the past, and now see their neighbor occupied by an openly belligerent superpower.

The Hitler/Germany/1938 analogies continue to fly. Don't wait for the New York Times to deconstruct them - best to do it yourself. It's easy. Just ask yourself, is Iran occupying another country? No. Are they the most technologically advanced industrial and military power in the region, let alone the world? I think not. Are they issuing ultimatums? No, though Bush and others have tried to characterize some of Ahmadinejad's comments as such (without accuracy). So... why are the nominal leaders of both political parties apparently pushing for an escalation, perhaps a military attack? Is there anything in this situation that could justify such an aggressive action? Don't we already have two hands full with pointless war? What, we're going to carry one in our teeth now? I hate to sound like Bob Dole, but ... where's the outrage? Sure, most of us will not be forced to fight any of these wars, but if we keep starting them willy-nilly like this, we will ultimately get bit on the ass, even way back here at home.

Bush suggests that he wants to avoid a general war in the middle east. If so, he's going about it exactly wrong. I think we all need to tell our representatives that, and make clear that we're not going to sit on our hands while they pour gas on the fire they started.

luv u,

jp