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Is it 2008 Yet?

29 March, 2006

By Ahmer Muzammil


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Here we go again. According to Sherlock-Bush & Watson-Cheney this time around, people of Iran are anxiously waiting with red carpets rolled out for their liberators on the borders. Hopefully for the sake of American Soldiers (more than anything else) this won't happen. But you can be forgiven for thinking otherwise if you hear the rhetoric from Washington recently. It's the same ol same ol again. 'Iran got WMD's, they got everything ready to go, and if we don't attack first then Iran will nuke Crawford Texas tomorrow, or they might have already done it, so giddy up, eeeehaaa'.

     The stark difference however this time around is that Americans by and large are not buying it. But that's not the only reason why Americans shouldn't dare venture in Iran. With Iraq, at least they were looking at a country in shambles, with a depleted army and with its population disgruntled with their leadership. Iran however is a vibrant country with a strong and united Armed Force under a popular democratic leadership. President Ahmedi-nijad is well liked amongst his country-folk; he was the Cinderella candidate in the elections and against all odds & predictions defeated the Giants of Iranian politics, merely because he has the reputation as an honest, hard working man. Call him a lunatic, anti-Semite or whatever else your little heart desire but the fact remains that  he didn't become president because his dad was a president (no pun intended, actually a lil won't kill) and he won fair and square his brother didn't have to bail him out in Florida. But that's beside the point, the point is that if we think Iraq was a tough nut to crack (well it hasn't cracked yet, has it?), then Iraq will seem like a walk in the park, heavens-forbid if we cow-boyed our way in Iran.

     Besides what do we have against Iran anyway? When will we stop fighting Israel's wars? When will the American public realize that there sons and daughters are being slaughtered in foreign lands not because American freedoms are at stake but because of cheney's oil-lust and Israel's paranoia. And even if it's not paranoia and Israel is genuinely threatened by a country, shouldn't their armed forces be the ones fighting the war on the streets of fallujah? Do we think that Israel will come to our aid if Americans needed them? In the past how many times have they landed us military support (or any kind of support for that matter)? It's almost a cliché that Jewish community in America is one of the richest and most influential community by far. There average salary surpasses any other community and their political weight is uncanny. We all know who controls the big media outlets in America. There successes and influence as a community is no secret.

     Given all this by America, I would like to know what is their contribution when it comes to laying down the lives in wars? Of all the armed forces fighting on the streets of Afghanistan and Iraq, how many of these boys and girls belong to the American-Jewish community? How many American-Jews died in Vietnam while serving the country that has blessed them with unmatched prosperity? And While we are sole-searching, lets also analyze the contribution of American-Hindus in armed forces, after all given that Dunkin-Donuts and Motels are noble contributions to the society but they should also pay their dues in defending the country that they are prospering in, shouldn't they? And just so I am not biased, let's find out how many Muslims are there in American armed forces. I assure you that the Muslim community does have a larger presence in the armed forces as compare to these other "PATRIOTIC COMMUNITIES", even though we are the so called 'ENEMY'. Where am I going with this? I submit to you that the fruits of our economical viability are being eaten by some; where as the vast majority of the poor are left for dying on foreign lands in the name of safeguarding American Freedoms.

     The bitter truth is that a huge majority of Americans who join the armed forces do it as a next to last resort for a career, superseded by none other than MacDonald's. Before you get too excited about the statement I just made, answer one simple question. What percentage of high-school grads would go in armed forces if they had the financial and educational capability to go party at a 4 year college? I don't have the statistical data but my common-sense says, very few. The reason American-Jews and American-Hindus are not joining the armed forces is because there parents can afford to send them to 4 year colleges and they have the grades to go to these colleges and become Engineers and bankers and film producers etc.

     If you don't believe me another interesting survey would be to find out how many kids who join the armed forces come from families where the income is 75K or more per year? (Mind you 75K is not even a rich-man salary now, it's probably middle class). Again I would argue, very very few! There will be exceptions, but a vast majority of them are forced in to armed forces because of the financial constraints and because the better paying and safer careers come with a price tag that they can't afford. So if you think about it, the administration has a stake in making sure that there must and should be a big chunk of society who should fail academically and financially because if they don't, who will go fight their wars on the street of Baghdad? Surely, the Bush's or the Kennedy's are too 'Royal' for that. A simple drive in poor neighborhoods in America would suffice as proof. Three establishments you find in abundance in these neighborhoods. 1) Liquor Stores 2)Payday Loans (High Interest money lenders) 3)Army Recruiting Centers. Chew on that! It's a conspiracy theory but if you take off your Hypocritical-patriotic and mindless-macho goggles, it just might make sense.

     Another popular sport in America these days is Islam bashing. When it comes to Islam and Muslims, everything is fair game. Nothing is too far-fetched, you can say whatever bigotry you want and get away with it. Radios talk show hosts are calling for all the masajids to be shut down, and all the muslims to be hauled in camps. Hopefully common sense will prevail as it eventually does in America. Islam-bashers are funny people though. I don't know if it's a coincidence or a divine intervention but most of these Islam bashers are usually humiliated in public eye for one reason or another. When you look at the personal lives of these Islam-Bashers, you find a lot of skeletons in the closet. For instance, Rush Limbaugh the self proclaimed 'Excellent Broadcaster' (I am not kidding, he didn't wait for anyone else to give him that title, he just gave it to himself), preached and preached and then preached some more about morals and how drug addicts are the scum of the earth, and then one fine day he was arrested for drug abuse. However the shocker is not that he got arrested for Drug addiction, the irony is that he came back and still rides the high horse of morality and American Conservatives are naïve enough to still buy that dung!

      One of the very first haters of Islam in America in recent times was the man by the name of Rev. Jimmy Swagat, 'THIS MAN OF GOD' was arrested for soliciting sex from a prostitute at a run-down motel. There are other stories but I digress, because my purpose is not to bring shame but to point out the contradiction amongst these preachers of morality & decency.

     Speaking of contradiction, Bush made a point that the girls in the time of Taliban were not allowed to go to school. I respectfully ask, are those same girls going to school now sir? Wouldn't it be kind of hard to go to school when you are actually in graves? If I was given an option either to refrain from school or be bombarded with 'DAISY CUTTERS', I would take the former 7 days a week, twice on Sundays, but that's just me! Please tell us for once, what was the exact reason that you went in Afghanistan for, was it for those girls going to school now? Because I was thinking all along it was for Osama. If schooling is really the dire issue here then I think President Bush should also consider bombing Louisiana and other poor neighborhoods of America as well, because those 'Terrorist' aren't doing to well in education department either. Give us a break, would ya, dubya! Go sell crazy somewhere else! Haven't we had enough of this guy already? Is it 2008 yet?

 

End.

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