It's In The News.

Right there for all to see. We are losing in Iraq because people are dying. I guess losing is happening all around the world then. Like in Naples, Darfur,China, Indonesia, you name the country, you can find a human tragedy or two or a thousand. Defining how we are doing in Iraq by how many Iraqis kill each other is about the most assinine calculus I could ever imagine. Do I have to research and publish death counts from Saddams tenure, or even the oligarch before him? If the American people are so stupid to fall for this ploy to unnerve our effort to succeed we will certainly drink the cup of woe to the dregs. If we had a united front I am certain Iraq would be solved and Iran would be worried about how we were going to deal with them. Playing politics has cost and will continue to cost many people their lives. The only comfort I can draw from this is that it has gone on since time immemorable and here we are, still alive. But I can't stop thinking about all those who are no longer alive, and what difference they might have made.

If we looked at anything through such a prism as Iraq's sectarian violence I believe we would be paralyzed to ever move again. When the pest control company comes to spray my house oh my God! Maybe some of the ladybugs, or a praying mantis might get killed. When I yield the right of way on the highway maybe the other motorist will then be on time for the head-on accident. When I pull all the weeds out of the flower bed. When it rains when you are replacing your roof. You give the outside cat some food but the rat's eat it, too. After you pay your employee he goes out partying and get's a D.U.I. You eat a salad but there's E. Coli on the spinach leaves. Even when it's a spare the air day we still have to breathe.

There is a clash of civilization going on right now in the middle-east. An all out idealogical war. It cannot be avoided by study groups or appeasement policies. One side would like to dominate the region and the other side seeks a semblance of stability. Democracy there obviously can't look like Democracy here. Even if we did not need any resources from there we still have friends to look after. When we are willing to let a friend be beleaguered our own humanity will be diminished.

Repulsion has been instilled in our psyches for a good reason. An early warning of potential danger. Poop stinks, violence unnerves, heat, the growl from a dangerous animal, it's all there to warn us to beware. The unrest in the middle-east is the same, spiritual warfare on the center stage.