Alright, so we got around to politics a while back, me and the buds, and we get to talking about the big philosophical issues.
I have always believed that, as a soldier, I must at some point understand why the hell I do what I do. Even if I wasn't, it's good to understand why anybody does what they do. So what about Iraq?
The problem here with all of this political banter and broadsiding is just that: politics. People in this country are in constant need of someone to bitch at, someone they need to point their finger at (any one finger may apply). In this case, the liberals are angry at President Bush for having attacked a country in the Middle East "for no good reason". Now of course this debate could go on forever: WMDs, Saddam's atrocities, et cetera.
But what about the big picture? The entire Middle East? Lately I have understood more and more about the region, not just from books and the 'Tubes but also from people who have lived there. And the picture is easy to depict. It's politics over there, too, only far worse. It's presidents and kings using Islam as a weapon.
The problem here is poverty. These leaders - if you can call them that - leave their people in poverty because they know that if the people have nothing to live for, they can, through the medium of religion, control them -- completely, and utterly. This is total domination. This is absolute tyranny.
For instance:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1874471.stm
Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress, according to Saudi newspapers. In a rare criticism of the kingdom's powerful "mutaween" police, the Saudi media has accused them of hindering attempts to save 15 girls who died in the fire on Monday.
About 800 pupils were inside the school in the holy city of Mecca when the tragedy occurred.
.. inlineIMAGE -->According to the al-Eqtisadiah daily, firemen confronted police after they tried to keep the girls inside because they were not wearing the headscarves and abayas (black robes) required by the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islam.
One witness said he saw three policemen "beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya".
The Saudi Gazette quoted witnesses as saying that the police - known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - had stopped men who tried to help the girls and warned "it is a sinful to approach them".
The father of one of the dead girls said that the school watchman even refused to open the gates to let the girls out.
"Lives could have been saved had they not been stopped by members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice," the newspaper concluded.
Relatives' anger
Families of the victims have been incensed over the deaths.
Most of the victims were crushed in a stampede as they tried to flee the blaze.
The school was locked at the time of the fire - a usual practice to ensure full segregation of the sexes.
The religious police are widely feared in Saudi Arabia. They roam the streets enforcing dress codes and sex segregation, and ensuring prayers are performed on time.
Those who refuse to obey their orders are often beaten and sometimes put in jail.
This is the misogynistic, tyrannical, zealous religious bullshit that these people have to endure every day. Just as religion picks up during times of crisis and lack of hope, so too have the Arab people turned to Islam when their children starve and their sons and daughters are killed in worhtless wars, while their leaders drive around in the finest cars money can buy.
This is the world they live in. People wonder how a person can kill themselves so easily, but when the tyrants living in their castles allow their kingdoms to turn into hell, heaven sounds pretty damn good.
So what do we do? Honestly? I say we build a load of tanks and blitzkrieg the entire region. In their wake, we give U.S. corporations gigantic tax incentives and tell them to develop the region using modern, western methods of industrialization.
But most importantly, we build schools. Lots of schools. Tens of thousands of them. A literate, scientifically wisened populace is a populace that can take the reins of its own destiny, and destroy the backwards ideologies perpetuated by the current Arab states. Except for Lebanon. And the United Arab Emirates - those guys are already catching on.