Things Fall Apart
"Things fall apart," wrote William Butler Yeats. "The center cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned; the best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity."
These lines come to mind whenever I think of the wars we are fighting in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq (not to mention Yemen and Pakistan). Hard as it is to believe, people seem to need to be reminded that we are, in fact, still at war in Iraq, that soldiers and civilians are still dying over there, and that money which could be better spent at home continues to be poured into the sand (and into the cash-fattened pockets of "defense" contractors). Mr. Obama has promised to withdraw from Iraq by December 31, but in recent days, his people have intimated that this deadline is not going to be met.
Things fall apart, said the poet, and he was right. On Monday, 42 apparently synchronized bombs exploded across Iraq, killing 89 people and wounding 315. The average number of bombings per day is 14 -- think about that: 14 explosions a day counts as an "improvement" for that country -- and the people of Iraq are today terrified that the worst of the violence they have endured is about to come crashing down upon them once again.
No, that war is not over, and from the sound of things, may not be over for a long time to come. The corporate-owned "mainstream" media, whose involvement in and responsibility for the onset and prosecution of that war is manifest, act now as if matters in Iraq are all but settled. It's so much better over there now, they say, lying through their teeth as the bodies continue to fall. The powers-that-be behind these soothing voices would like us all to forget any of this ever happened -- and that it is still happening, even as they pad their swollen bank accounts with blood and treasure.We at Truthout refuse to let this stand. This country is still at war, and to deny its existence is to let every "defense” and media corporation responsible for it get away, literally, with murder. The best lack all conviction, the poet said, but that is not true here. Truthout will not let this stand.
These lines come to mind whenever I think of the wars we are fighting in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq (not to mention Yemen and Pakistan). Hard as it is to believe, people seem to need to be reminded that we are, in fact, still at war in Iraq, that soldiers and civilians are still dying over there, and that money which could be better spent at home continues to be poured into the sand (and into the cash-fattened pockets of "defense" contractors). Mr. Obama has promised to withdraw from Iraq by December 31, but in recent days, his people have intimated that this deadline is not going to be met.
Things fall apart, said the poet, and he was right. On Monday, 42 apparently synchronized bombs exploded across Iraq, killing 89 people and wounding 315. The average number of bombings per day is 14 -- think about that: 14 explosions a day counts as an "improvement" for that country -- and the people of Iraq are today terrified that the worst of the violence they have endured is about to come crashing down upon them once again.
No, that war is not over, and from the sound of things, may not be over for a long time to come. The corporate-owned "mainstream" media, whose involvement in and responsibility for the onset and prosecution of that war is manifest, act now as if matters in Iraq are all but settled. It's so much better over there now, they say, lying through their teeth as the bodies continue to fall. The powers-that-be behind these soothing voices would like us all to forget any of this ever happened -- and that it is still happening, even as they pad their swollen bank accounts with blood and treasure.We at Truthout refuse to let this stand. This country is still at war, and to deny its existence is to let every "defense” and media corporation responsible for it get away, literally, with murder. The best lack all conviction, the poet said, but that is not true here. Truthout will not let this stand.
Truthout
William Rivers Pitt, Columnist and Editor
William Rivers Pitt, Columnist and Editor
posted by Dot Calm @ 9:27 PM
