I wondered about that
airport they renamed. If
al Sahaf is correct and some devastating attack against our soldiers holding it comes to fruition, will
they change the name back? Is that what it's all about, renaming the airport? It seems so silly to me.
I wondered about the broken and dissipating Republican Guard many members of which are reportedly lying dead around the airport. I worry that the Republican Guard represents a good 80 - 90% of the evil that
Bush perceives in
Saddam Hussein (and the man himself, perhaps like Bush, represents a mere 10 or 20 percent of what his regime represents), a bad man, yes, but perhaps not a
kingpin of the regime.
I wondered what tactics aside from pretending to surrender might be employed by such warriors. We know that they have used fear to make their own less faithful soldiers stay in line (the front one
and the one of fire). What if they've done the same thing now with regular Iraqi citizens? What if those dead Iraqis lying around the airport in Republican Guard uniforms are men and boys from the city, forced at
gunpoint to don the uniforms and go defend the airport?
I wondered for many years if maybe the end could justify the means, but now I see that there is no
end. We can have all the success imaginable, and let us therefore imagine years of rebuilding, years of inspiring other non-democratic countries to come around. And after these years, the young sons of top, well-paid and well-loved aides of Saddam have grown with a vengeance they believe to be righteous against the hubris of America. How are we then to steer our planes around our pillars of democracy and capitalism when they are hi-jacked? We need to start repairing the damage we're doing. We need to start it now. Violence begets violence. I have children too.