[*BCM*] Be the change you want to see in the world.

[Anarchist Judaism]

Ok, I was a little harsh, but Turtle's comment really upset me.
I was in Iraq for the first year of the war, so I've seen the situation 
regress from relatively stable (or as stable as it can be after Bush the 
elder's war, Clinton's bombing, and over a decade of economic sanctions) to 
a complete and utter hellhole. The situation in Iraq, from my (purely 
subjective) perspective, is that most of the people just want to live their 
lives without fear, hunger, deprivation, etc. A number of paramilitary 
groups, running the gamut from reactionary Islamist to authoritarian 
communist to anti-authoritarian autonomist, are waging guerilla warfare 
against the occupation forces and against each other. The U.S. military - 
assisted by the Iraqi police forces, independent "security" and "defense" 
contractors, and the puppet government's army - is conducting a program of 
systematic repression and genocide against the local populace. And of 
course, corporations such as Halliburton and Bechtel have personnel out 
there trying to make as much profit as they can.
The situation is not, as Turtle suggests, one of all-out violence. It is not 
a free-for-all where anything goes. There does exist, unfortunately, law and 
order and other such fascist nonsense.
The solution, in my opinion, is so fucking simple and common-sensical that 
it boggles the mind as to why others have not thought of it. All it takes is 
for everyone to shut the fuck up and go home. The people doing the fighting 
are always going to end up on the losing end, the only ones who stand to 
gain from the senseless violence are the so-called "leaders" of the various 
factions. I'm not anti-war, I just think that war is the stupidest idea that 
anyone has ever come up with.

With best wishes for PL&A,
-Sholom

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