Early one morning four years ago, my friend Joe McGeary and I hauled ourselves over to a march in Ann Arbor protesting the then-coming Iraq War even though it was seventeen degrees Fahrenheit (about minus eight degrees Celsius) and we knew we'd do more freezing than effective protesting against the Bush Administration.
It was clear to everybody the U.S. was on a collision course with Iraq. It was equally clear to us that G.W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Saddam Hussein were all three liars -- making up the same kinds of fairy stories about Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and exaggerating Iraq's conventional military capabilities (Hussein was in reality effectively contained, the Iraqi Air Force and Navy wrecked, the Army decimated from the Iran-Iraq War and the Persian Gulf War and from further degradation in the subsequent decade).
The P and VP had developed phony excuses for their long premeditated invasion, while Hussein hoped his bellicosity would keep him in power. Every single member of my large extended family and most of my friends -- including Joe and the ones serving in the military -- knew that the whole thing was a setup, total BS from the get-go. Not that it made one whit of difference.
I loved some of the other participants in Ann Arbor on that particular day four years ago, though -- especially the older ones, like the very happy woman pictured on the far right. She was outright joyful to be alive and active and speaking up. One of her even cheerier friends snapped the picture and sent it along. Their excitement and enthusiasm rubbed off on me and Joe, for sure.
Since then, I've had the pleasure of singing "Hail to the Thief" to the presidential motorcade as it went the wrong way up Jefferson Avenue in Detroit. The Prez was scheduled to give a speech to the National Urban League downtown. Walking away afterwards, I noticed some black-clad Federal snipers in an umarked black van, scoped assault rifles at the ready. There just in case things had gotten out of hand, I suppose.
The Times They Are A'Changing, indeed. My friend Joe teaches English at a Friends (Quaker) School in Philadelphia, these days. Non-violence and all.
Today's Rune: Possessions.
10 comments:
It was like watching some twisted dadaist theater, wasn't it? Or more like a greek tragedy, where the ended was fated, and we were doomed to watch it play out, no matter how we try to intervene.
I wonder if there'll ever be a time in this country when people can dissent against a war that is an obvious fiasco-about-to-happen and not be called unpatriotic?
I'm going to try to post later about an article from The Atlantic Monthly, November of 2002, five months before the invasion. The author, James Fallows, pretty much predicted, with nearly 100% accuracy, how the invasion would play out. You can read the article online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200211/fallows
From the Associated Press. Baghdad, Iraq--"The decapitation[of Saddam's half-brother] appeared inadvertant, and Iraqi officials seemed anxious to prove they hadn't mutilated Ibrahim's remains." Hey, Bandar, where did you put that Crazy Glue?
I wonder why more people don't forget themselves for a minute and flex their political muscle for bigger causes like you did. Maybe fear of the black vans - but if change occurs, some confrontation is inevitable. We perhaps have become too apathetic to care, sadly. But I still think people might wake up and see the lies that have smeared their nations identities.
But more probably - they have become numbed and will acccept anything. Yet those who feel the pain must speak up or become part of the masses with eyes proudly wide shut
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Me and cold weather don't mix.... it's nice to see that people still go out and march. I wish I were strong like that.
Joan Baez doesn't like cold weather either.
Great Dylan quote.
I went to a demonstration around the same time, where I was knocked to the pavement by riot police and shot with some sort of paint ball things filled with a pepper-spray type substance.
I was later ridiculed at my very Republican high school and, though I knew my actions weren't going to change much, it felt really good.
I don't know why our government would think that they could ever change things in the middle east. There has been friction in that region for over 2000 years and it's not going to change because we go over there and try to force the issue. I think our government needs to forget about the problems of other nations for a while and focus on the problems we have right here in the states.
You know, I suppose we could forgive people for electing Bush once. They weren't sure exactly what he'd be like. But twice? Come on. And so now we send 20,000 more over. You knew it had to happen
Nice read. And good blog all around (as if you needed me to tell you that).
We might as well be talking to a shrub ... oh wait a minute ... we are. Now only if my dog were still alive, I'd take him for a walk next to it.
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