This Independence Day, let us remember, we can't give to others what we are losing for ourselves

in the summer, early mornings in the high desert are a thing of beauty - cool to almost chilly, birds singing everywhere, the pungent smell of sage in the air, wispy clouds catching the sun's first rays, tiny droplets of dew on the grass (yeah, i know, GRASS in the high desert, but, hey, it's a suburb, ok!)... i'm enjoying the scene and then i open up the newspaper lying in the driveway... here's what i see...



Fighting for Iraq independence

i'm struck by the photo of someone who is probably a very decent young man, a local, small town boy, doing something he takes pride in, and i'm also struck by the headline, which is a lie... i seriously wish it wasn't a lie... it certainly isn't a lie from the newspaper's point of view and neither is it a lie from the young man's point of view, but, lie it is... the united states went to iraq on a lie and we're staying there on a lie... we are told we are there to give freedom and democracy to the iraqi people but that's not the truth...

riverbend, the young woman behind the weblog, baghdad burning, helps us take a look at the reality in iraq, the reality that the local newspaper and most of my fellow citizens, even those disapproving of the war, don't want to believe... her perspective on the capture and killing of zarqawi sums it all up...

So 'Zarqawi' is finally dead. [...] I didn't bother with the pictures and film they showed of him because I, personally, have been saturated with images of broken, bleeding bodies.

The reactions have been different. There's a general consensus amongst family and friends that he won't be missed, whoever he is. There is also doubt- who was he really? Did he even exist? Was he truly the huge terror the Americans made him out to be? When did he actually die? People swear he was dead back in 2003… The timing is extremely suspicious: just when people were getting really fed up with the useless Iraqi government, Zarqawi is killed and Maliki is hailed the victorious leader of the occupied world! (And no- Iraqis aren't celebrating in the streets- worries over electricity, water, death squads, tests, corpses and extremists in high places prevail right now.)

I've been listening to reactions- mostly from pro-war politicians and the naïveté they reveal is astounding. Maliki (the current Iraqi PM) was almost giddy as he made the news public (he had even gone the extra mile and shaved!). Do they really believe it will end the resistance against occupation? As long as foreign troops are in Iraq, resistance or 'insurgency' will continue- why is that SO difficult to understand? How is that concept a foreign one?

"A new day for Iraqis" is the current theme of the Iraqi puppet government and the Americans. Like it was "A New Day for Iraqis" on April 9, 2003 . And it was "A New Day for Iraqis" when they killed Oday and Qusay. Another "New Day for Iraqis" when they caught Saddam. More "New Day" when they drafted the constitution… I'm beginning to think it's like one of those questions they give you on IQ tests: If 'New' is equal to 'More' and 'Day' is equal to 'Suffering', what does "New Day for Iraqis" mean?

How do I feel? To hell with Zarqawi (or Zayrkawi as Bush calls him). He was an American creation- he came along with them- they don't need him anymore, apparently. His influence was greatly exaggerated but he was the justification for every single family they killed through military strikes and troops. It was WMD at first, then it was Saddam, then it was Zarqawi. Who will it be now? Who will be the new excuse for killing and detaining Iraqis? Or is it that an excuse is no longer needed- they have freedom to do what they want. The slaughter in Haditha months ago proved that. "They don't need him anymore," our elderly neighbor waved the news away like he was shooing flies, "They have fifty Zarqawis in government."

So now that Zarqawi is dead, and because according to Bush and our Iraqi puppets he was behind so much of Iraq's misery- things should get better, right? The car bombs should lessen, the ethnic cleansing will come to a halt, military strikes and sieges will die down… That's what we were promised, wasn't it? That sounds good to me. Now- who do they have to kill to stop the Ministry of Interior death squads, and trigger-happy foreign troops?

from the bottom of my heart, i want things to turn out well for the iraqis but, i think it's clear, it will not happen under u.s. occupation...

for now, let's all work to see if we can rescue our own democracy before it's too late...

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY...!

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