Friday, February 17, 2006

History and Bumper Stickers

Who said that those who don't read history are condemned to repeat it? Okay, so Bush and the gang don't read. But you'd think they could watch a movie and learn something.

Last week I watched "The Battle of Algiers". This week I rented the late Mustapha Akad's "Lion of the Desert", the story of Omar Mukhtar battling the Italians in Libya in the years between the wars. I first saw it in 1981 but today it's messages are even clearer. People don't like occupation. Colonialism is ugly. Asymmetrical warfare (guerilla warfare) is never pretty. And the occupier eventually loses (except in the case of the Americas and Australia, but that's yet to be proven -- history is long).

I guess if you don't read you take the word of folks like Richard Pearle, Douglas Feith and Daniel Pipes and their interpretations of biased "scholars" like Bernard Lewis and Raphael Patai, canonize them, and wind up with never-ending torture at Guantanamo and Abu Graib, insurgencies in the so-called Sunni Triangle, and some very unhappy Shi'a in and around Basra. And because you don't read and are unable to think for yourself, you stick to your slogans and never say "Ooops".

"When the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down" is not a strategy. It is a bumper sticker. My all time favorite is still "Semantics Matter", followed by "If all the world's a stage, I want better lighting", and "Friends don't let friends drive naked". But this week I think I'll design a new one: "Guns don't shoot people, Dicks do".

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