My Crazy Thoughts
my thoughts on various topics.

Mindless blather
So does anyone know who Gideon Yago is? He's one of the news anchors on MTV news. It's probably not considered the most reputable source of news in the world, but they do actually report on news other than the latest Brittany drama. Anyway, I'm watching TV right now. MTV to be exact. Diary of Gideon in Iraq. Not only was Mr. Yago there in New York for 9/11--though I'm sure that is not where he wanted to be, he has also gone to Iraq. He interviewed some soldiers and some Iraqi youth. If you ask me, if he's looking for a future career as a international news reporter he is well on his way.
In any case, if you haven't seen this episode you should really try to catch it.
Some of the soldiers he interviewed expressed that they didn't even think there were enough troops there to get the job they are there to do done. One even wondered how many others would die before our policies would change. It's one thing for those of us at home to feel this, we have nothing better to do than see the flaws in the system, but it makes me very mad that they can see if. Not only are the forced to be there, away from their families and friends, and facing constant attacks on their lives. They also can see that there are not enough people there to get their jobs done. This means it's not just in the big picture that there are shortages, like if there were only more troops in a certain area we could overthrow some of the resistance. There is also a shortage at every outpost, there aren't enough people there to cover their asses if they get hit right now.
It means that with every death they have to think about how they could be next. It's not getting any better, people are still dying every day.

It also let me see the strength of those living in Iraq. Those people who have no choice where they live, this is where they were born, they had to live with the violence of the regime, and now they have to live with the hopelessness they feel for their country. It was sad to hear time and time again from them that when the American's came they were happy, but they were disappointed by the American's lack of action. They were disappointed because the only thing they saw the American's protecting was the oil. They didn't protect the civilians against the looters. They just sat there. And because they were on the other side of the spectrum it is hard for them to understand that the soldiers were only following orders. The show told of Iraqi youth who were sure that the American's were no longer there to install a democratic government, they have lost hope that that will happen.
They live with machine gun fire just a hundred yards away, or even closer. They "get used to it." I could never be strong enough to thrive in these surroundings let alone simply live. These young people go about their lives surprisingly similarly to me. They still hang out with friends and listen to music. Popular music: Avril and Eminem. And they do it all in a way that I know I never could. Before this war started, I was very anti-war, and still am. I had many arguments for this. One of the more selfish reasons was that I knew I wouldn't deal well with war. I knew that the constant worry for those I love and those I don't even know would eat at me until I wasn't the same as I was before. I still feel this way. And I know that I am different now than I was before. But seeing that show I remembered that I'm still a hell of a lot better off than they are over there.
So far the person I am now isn't any worse off than the person I was before, but I know that if I had to live in Iraq as those Iraqi youths do that I would be a whole lot worse off. And the difference I'm talking about has nothing to do with Socio-economic status, or educational opportunities.

posted by Malissa at 11:28 PM