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| Killing an Arab | |
The peace protesters have
been at it again, and most Australians feel that (apart
from demonstrating that there really are legitimate uses of Sarin gas) they
have achieved nothing. Taking the day off to throw a few chairs at police,
while knowing that your civil rights are still protected is good fun, and
calling yourself a victim
in the SBS sound-byte afterward
is an added bonus. In terms of changing the world though, the frontline troops
in Iraq are doing that, not
the whining protesters. But criticizing stupid people is a bit like screaming 'Sexist! Sexist!' at any man who
wins an argument with a feminist. It's too easy! In
fairness, maybe the protests have changed something? The protests have been widely publicized all over the world - particularly
in the Middle East, and
while most Australians have looked at the actions of the protesters and just
thought 'those morons are at it again', it would have been perceived
quite differently in Iraq. If anti-government demonstrations on this scale were held in Iraq, it would
be a pretty sure sign that the Iraqi government was about to
collapse. The inability of their own government to quash such demonstrations
would show that they had already lost control. The thought of Saddam sending
most of his active troops to the other side of the world while hundreds of
thousands of Iraqis protested in the streets is unthinkable. It is quite natural, and perhaps even logical, for an Iraqi, who has never
known democracy, to see
the protests as a sign that the will of the coalition is in a state of
collapse, their governments are about to fall, and the troops are about to give
up fighting and go home. The result? More resistance from the Saddam loyalists; more reluctance from
the rest of the population to fight Saddam; a longer war; more suffering; more
death. They saw what happened when Bush Sr and Bill (pants-down) Clinton
checked their popularity polls - they went home, and they think that history
will repeat. So for any psycho with a pathological hatred of Iraqi citizens: kill an
Iraqi today - join a peace
protest.
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