Tragifarce Scene 12, Act Five

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“We are told that the surge is working in Iraq. (Until the next surge of suicide attacks and mass murder.) On behalf of the administration, Connecticut Fourth District Republican Congressman Christopher Shays says: “We are starting to establish credibility.” With whom?….”

Author: David L. Meth
Published the week of December 10-14, 2007

Read the full article:
Tragifarce Scene 12, Act Five
(357 words)
by David L. Meth
We are told that the surge is working in Iraq. (Until the next surge of suicide attacks and mass murder.) On behalf of the administration, Connecticut Fourth District Republican Congressman Christopher Shays says: “We are starting to establish credibility.”
With whom? With the warring tribes in Iraq? With the Iraqi government that we installed in the “election”? With the American citizens and the rest of the world?
Shays then goes on to say that the Iraqis “have decided we were not there for their oil.”
Really?
I guess they all agree that we were there to find weapons of mass destruction and to create—that is, to rout out—Al Qa’ida and, oh … to install a democratic government, as long as the people don’t vote for a theocracy.
This arrogance is symptomatic of the rest of the Bush administration and, in spite of the 19 trips Republican loyalist Shays has made to Iraq, which qualifies him, as he describes himself, as a foremost “expert” on Iraq, is simply stunning hubris.
It is not a matter now of whether the Iraqis “thought” we were there for their oil. It is a fact that we are there for the oil, and we will remain there for the oil. It is also not a matter of whether the “Iraqis” think we are there for the oil, it is that the American people and the rest of the world think we are there for the oil.
But Shays actually believes he is an expert because he has visited the country 19 times. Why would he need to speak the language fluently? Or live in the country for an extended period of time in order to get to understand the culture and know the people? And the American government should have learned by now that we can’t just march into any country we choose and expect to give orders and have them understood, no less obeyed. But Shays’ comments are part of the larger, very tragic farce that has cost so many lives and which will be with us for endless generations to come because 9/11 is the excuse for everything.

David L. Meth (web.mac.com/dlm67) is a playwright from Westport, CT.