Thoughts on the Middle East

BBC NEWS - Iraqi father seeks Blackwater apology

This broke my heart.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraqi father seeks Blackwater apology

Mr Abdul-Razzaq had been driving home with his sister, her three children and Ali. He said that "everything was quiet, nothing was happening" when the security guards began to open fire on civilian vehicles, including his own.

"They just kept shooting, although no-one was moving, they were just combing the whole road, tat tat tat, like that, there was nothing in the road."

He said that he and his sister huddled together, each trying to protect the other, while the four children tried to find protection under cushions in the back of the car.

He said the shooting lasted "10, perhaps 15 minutes" and that when he climbed out of the bullet-ridden car, shaken but unharmed, one of his nephews called out to him from the back seat: "Uncle, Ali's dead."

Sobbing, he described opening the car door to a scene of horror. His son had been shot in the head. "I pushed him back inside and I began to shout down the road, 'They've killed my son, they've killed my son'."

This is horrible. Children are not terrorists. We need to end this war so they can go to school and play with their friends without the fear of being struck by the crossfire of
misguided war that has only served to increase hate and intolerance in the Middle East.

HRC: Enough Already!

I am so over Hillary Clinton. Seriously. SO over her. Why? Just a few reasons:

1. Her promise to "totally obliterate" Iran in the case of an airstrike against Israel. Just what we need - more belligerent rhetoric about our policy in the Middle East! The unfoundedness of this statement is well-explained here in The New York Observer.

2. The undeserved claim that she represents "progress" for women in politics. Feminist progress in politics, to me, means the election of female politicians who promote values traditionally deemed "feminine." These values include compassion, understanding, greater attention to social welfare, and the use of comprehensive diplomacy in lieu of military force. That's not to say the are inherently feminine values, but the hyper-masculine political culture that has prevailed for centuries has labeled them as such to emasculate men less inclined towards war-mongering and oligarchical American values. More on this over at The Phoenix.

3. The incredible poorly-chosen and racially-fueled remarks she made Wednesday, in which she essentially equated "working, hard-working Americans" to "white Americans." No really... she did! A great response/analysis to these remarks can be found over at Salon. For me, this comment is absolutely the last straw.
Clinton is arrogant, belligerent, and her obstinent refusal to drop out of the campaign is killing her party's chances of winning the general election. Two weeks ago, I still contended that I was open-minded in this campaign, and therefore would vote for whoever got the Democratic nomination, but since then, I've changed my mind. It seems inevitable at this point that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee, and I'm thrilled.

I'm sorry, Hillary Clinton, but we are no longer friends.