so, sunnis are to iraq election as us disgruntled gen x nonvoters are to the us election...
or something. monday again and i don't know quite what point i want to make today
iraq had its election, some 8 million people voted, apparently, and the big noshows were "insurgent" sunnis, doing just we wanted. as one iraqi (48 year old history teacher qais youssif) was quoted by the ap, "the so called elections were held in the way that america and the occupation forces wanted. they want to marginalize the role of the sunnis. they and the media talk about the sunnis as a minority. I do not think they are a minority." minority or not, though, they didn't bother to participate in the new system which they didn't approve anyway. and, so, they'll keep fighting, and we'll keep fighting back and this election won't mean much cause there will still be a war going on, and no seems to actually want to stop that except by killing every member of the opposition. the american way of war, the american way of life: kill them all and you don't have to solve the problem
to get some perespective on election day, you should know there were nine suicide attacks, most near polling sites, 44 killed. and two us servicemen were also killed... fighting the sunni... which brings up an interesting question: how does a country have a democratically fair election while one segment of its population is busy being killed? wouldn't it have made more sense for our soldiers to honor the day with a ceasefire?
well, the answer is yes, it would have made more sense, except it would be entirely unamerican. where our authority can influence the election, it would do so, just like in our own election, with the eligibility challengers and whatnot. we can't have the "enemy" taking part in his country's election, now, can we?
in other news, a local detention facility has set aside a wing for military veterans. that bears some sort of repeating. a local detention facility (ie, part of our prison system) has already several prisoners who are (or expects to have a lot who are) military veterans, enough that they want to house them together, albeit because they believe the camaraderie will help them turn their lives around. nice goal aside, does no one care that our military veterans tend so much toward crime that we would have to do this sort of thing? and, anyway, don't we have military barracks in which to train these folks between times we set them loose on the enemy?
anyway, in personal news, had a good weekend. already got taxes done. and my birthday was on saturday. aside from the requisite cake, there was the viewing of all three lord of the rings films (my gift from my wife) in their extended versions inside a day, some nice gifts, the cake bible (already tried a cooked sugar cage thing from this), a couple lego sets, an architecture book, and with some birthday cash some wine glasses, wine and some kitchen supplies, and a good night of television last night with american dreams, carnivale and the finale of huff. and, today i get started on reediting the novel and screenplay versions of beginning
and, only a few days to the state of the union. everyone jump for joy