Like the groundhog, the blogger resurfaces, sees shadows, and predicts more bad news before hiding in her burrow
Weren't things in Iraq supposed to be great by now? I turned away from the daily news for a few weeks, only to resurface to news of terrible attacks and mass casualties of civilians.
I suspect this means that some wings of the anti-war movement, which were criticized for demanding the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops, were right: the occupation is not providing the safety, stability, and order that were supposed to justify its presence.
No one wants to be proven right in such an ugly way. But there it is. The headlines I've been skimming contain a litany of complaints: the steady erosion of women's rights, the increasing power of fundamentalists who survived Hussein's tyrannical, partly-US-sponsored rule, and the widespread non-local conviction that the country (created by the British who forced together various groups between somewhat arbitrary borders) must be forced to remain unified, even if a somewhat oppressive majority group may oppress regional and ethnic minorities just as this majority was previously oppressed, all while under a US-influenced system that seeks to dilute the majority's power in hopes of patching together a government which won't kick the US out.
Meanwhile, the US government is letting contracts for a massive expansion of its leased Cuban terrorism prison facilities, including contracts for courthouses (kangaroo logos optional) and execution chambers.
Not good. Not good. Not good.
I'll write in more detail once I've digested some more of the changes, some of which are obscured by US political news...
