SADDAM HUSSEIN NOW ELEVATED TO 'MARTYR" STATUS.

[Higans]

So, I guess tonight, the secret service agents stationed outside the presidential bedroom will have to listen to the cute chitterings of George's g-rated sexual antics with Laura in celebration of his ability to kill yet another member of the human race.

In the last few minutes, the right wing echo chamber has gone into overdrive, lauding the execution of Saddam Hussein with the same intensity that they perviously exerted on downplaying and denying the deaths of thousands of american servicepeople, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

Saddam Hussein, in the eyes of the muslim world, is now a martyr- a symbol that will rally generations to come to distrust and hate this country. It doesn't matter if Hussein is worthy of such an iconic status- the United States of America just thrust it upon him.

So- almost four years after our invasion- 40 thousand americans have been maimed- another three thousand americans have died. 650,000 Iraqis have died....

In sight of this, how can any sane person look upon the death of Saddam Hussein, and suddenly feel as if this was all worth it? How can we take comfort? How can we feel any relief, or closure?

Tomorrow, more american kids and inncoent Iraqis will die- so, in the end, this changes nothing.

more comentary, and movie at www.bushflash.com

[FightingIrish]

1. The real irony is that when Bush joins him in hell

Saddam will have seniority.

[Mark E. Smith]

2. Not a lot of "dancing in the streets" in Riyadh this morning.

Or in Damascus, or Istanbul, or Islamabad or Cairo.

Only in the one country with religious ties to Tehran.

[Beelzebud]

3. Mission Accomplished

[Higans]

4. .

[Peace Patriot]

5. Please see my post "Bush = Death" for a discussion of positive imaging.

We need to crowd out this Hangman image with our own life-giving and loving imagery. Truly. These Dark Lords are playing mind-games. And there are ways to resist. THEY want a year of more Death and Darkness. What do YOU want? What have YOU seen, what do YOU know, of human goodness and hope, and of the rebirth of American democracy? Form it in your mind. Hold that image fast. Push back!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3034424

I think this hanging was more for our edification than anyone else's. It is meant to re-orient us toward Death and Despair, after the Democratic election victories, and other events, that gave us hope for the New Year. And I think we need to fight it as such--as a deliberate attempt at brainwashing--by forming positive images to counter it.

It has been clear for some time that the Bush Junta intended to destroy Iraq, by pitting Sunnis against Shias. This was evident in the first weeks of the war, when Rumsfeld dismissed the looting with a comment that equated looting with freedom. It has been downhill ever since, with no serious effort at civil order or reconstruction, and massive looting of the reconstruction funds by Bush-friendly contractors. The hanging of Saddam will intensify the conflict, and justify more troops, the battleships in the Persian Gulf--all at bankrupting expense--and possibly an assault on Iran. Whatever the Bush Junta's intentions--and I tend to think it's mostly thievery--the rightwing "think tanks" and the war profiteering corporate news monopolies have had a more pointed and long term agenda of reversing the "lessons of Vietnam" and turning us into a militarized fascist state. They have failed miserably. The American people are not having it. But this Death Mode can be very depressing and disempowering, and it is this that we must fight. We know that we are a better people than this, and that the Bush Junta is not representative, and holds power solely by stolen elections. But it is difficult to throw off the psychic cloud that they throw over us. We see its impacts this morning. What was a hopeful year for the great progressive American majority has been stamped with the Hangman's Noose. How to cast this away? That is the subject of my post, "Bush = Death."

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. Life and Hope

is what we need. We've seen it in the actions of Dennis Kucinich, who will be introducing legislation to end funding for the war. We see it in the inspiring speeches of John Edwards, who says we must start NOW to rebuild our country. We feel it in the actions of those who are working for peace by finding peace within themselves, which is the only place peace can truly begin to be manifest.