around Then

As we get back into an active war sort of mind frame I am shocked to understand how I ever got out of an active war state of mind. I guess it’s all the TV coverage again. The flooding of the market of graphic imagery. Be wary, be wary afraid.
I found an article I wrote for the SMU Daily Campus on the one year anniversary of the war in Iraq and it seems even sillier now, but the message still rings true. Stay sensitive, CNN isn’t showing you the sensitive stuff. War is not fluffy.


Where are we now?
by Cole Suttle

Now that we’ve marked the one year anniversary of a War our President declared a “success” ten months ago, I think it is time to step back and work on our definitions.
I don’t want to think about whether or not going to War was the right decision. There are enough well paid opinion makers on television to do that. It’s not that Bush mislead the country in his State of the Union cheerleading speech, it’s just a glitch in the information system, right? Nobody knew Saddam wasn’t really dealing nuclear arms with Africa. Honest mistake, honest.
It’s not even worth thinking about the fact the immanent WMD threat has thus far turned out as hollow as the African Ore deal. Darn information network. It’s a big desert though, they could be buried anywhere they tell me. Besides, the WMD motivation for War is so yesterday’s news. Now it was just the “right thing to do.”
Somehow our pluralistic “One Nation Under God” listens to a President justify War with scripture. Why bother talking about a paradox like that? I would get too confused comparing America’s noble intention to liberate the Iraqi people with some sort of other religious war.
So what should we think about on the anniversary of the Empire’s first preemptive attack in the fight against Evil? In his one-year anniversary script reading speech, our smooth spoken Chief reminded us “There is no neutral zone between Good and Evil.” What a relief to know Bush has the age-old dilemma of Good and Evil down to an exact science. What a relief that even though our information technology still has some kinks in it, our judge of character is flawless.
After Bush’s speech, I found myself thinking about the Fall of all things. You know, Adam and Eve, the juicy fruit, our eternal debt to God? I’m not an authority on the Bible so I’ll ask anyone out there who knows. What does it mean to be born with Original Sin? Does it mean that even before the miracle of birth all children are never not guilty? That even the first breath is a guilty one? What is the difference between being Evil and being a sinner?
This doesn’t feel like a very comfortable line of questions. There must be a difference between evil and sin I haven’t had explained to me yet. I hope so. Because if my instinct to associate sin with evil is implied, then I’m even more confused what Bush means when he assures us there is no grey area in a person’s soul. According to the teachings of his own faith, every child comes into the world a sinner/evil. When, I would ask him out of my own ignorance, does the dramatic leap over the neutral zone from sinner to Good human come? After baptism? Right after Baptism? Maybe after rehab, eh Dubya?
But I guess if Bush is the example, I clearly don’t understand what Love your Enemies means either.
Then I tried to put myself in the human part of the War- I thought about how many coffins were used in military funerals this year. I thought about what the children’s nightmares have been like in Iraq, the US, everywhere. I thought of how many body bags the military ordered for Operation Iraqi Freedom. I thought about the growing rate of Coalition force suicides. I thought I might be scared. Then I reminded myself the more fearful I am, the less willing I am to think for myself.
Our President has not wavered to remind us again and again that Iraq is a better place because of America’s altruistic commitment to Democracy in the Middle East. I guess I should be happy Bush is so sure what “better” means, but for some reason I can’t quite rest easy taking him on his word. I’m sure it’s my own lack of vision, but I get confused watching the news every night and hearing about a bigger bomb explosion with more people dead.
I couldn’t handle being President, especially not this President, so I respect the position and the weight of the responsibility he has. Still, I worry what ignorance in high places can do, and I worry we’re becoming desensitized to the absolute horror in Iraq because we see it everyday. So that’s what I thought about: staying sensitive.
There is a Michael Franti song that goes “You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can’t bomb it into Peace.”
Think about it.
Then think about where you’ll be when the two year anniversary sneaks up on you. That isn’t so hard to imagine these days is it?
Now that’s scary.




A dream I had around then…

I had a dream once, and it’s a strange dream I’ll forewarn you, but I can’t seem to forget it. Since I’m only trying to be honest here, hopefully anyone reading this won’t judge me too much for my dreams seeing as I’ve only developed a rather minimal control over them so far. It went like this…In a big field somewhere under an African sky, Bush, Osama, Allah, Jesus and Buddha were all sitting around a campfire talking. The one other face I could make out was an Indian Chief in full ritual ornamentation passing around a peace pipe. I remember expecting the apocalypse to happen any moment with all these people in one place, but to my amazement it turned out to be quite the opposite. Then, like a flashbulb exploding over their heads in neon smoke the words appeared, “The World Peace Pipe Coalition.” Bush and Osama and Allah and Jesus must have all seen the same thing because they all began to laugh at the irony of the whole situation. Peace pipe? Talking out problems? But they didn’t laugh half as hard as Buddha did. Buddha laughed so hard he woke me up and I found myself in bed. With a sigh I swung my legs over the edge and stood up thinking, “It was just a dream I guess,” as I opened the mornings paper to see another Blast. It’s scary what’s managed to become routine this past year.