Thought on Iraq

A character in Philip Roth’s The Human Stain (read the book, don’t waste your time on the movie), speaking of the White House in the previous administration, says that a banner should be hung on the building with the words, "a human being lives here." Well, perhaps the President behaved foolishly but it was a foolishness from which we could well have looked away. The current resident of the White House, while his personal behavior is less blameworthy, is truly a fool, one whose hands are drenched in blood. And we can no longer look away. Yes the tyrant is gone but when children on their way to school are blown-up or executed we can no longer say removing the tyrant was a good thing. We are responsible for this nightmare of suffering. We are all at fault because we re-elected the architect of this disaster and those of us in opposition have failed to stand up and do our duty. The fool would have us put up a copy of the Ten Commandments in every public square yet he himself has violated the most sacred of those commandments, Thou Shalt Not Kill. The blood on his hands is that of American military personnel, Iraqi military personnel, and innocent Iraqi civilians, including, worst-of-all, hundreds or thousands of children.