there comes a point
when the pottery barn analogy:
' you break it, you own it '
' becomes you break it, you fix it '..

but when the more you try to fix it
the more you seem to break it
at some point you have to stop "fixing it"
and get the heck out
out of the lives of the people
you're trying to 'fix"
in your own image... ?

our attempts at influencing events
in the islamic world
is a contributing factor to the spread
of Islamic fundamentalism world wide..
case in point:
if the oil interests of britain & the united states
had not pressured their respective governments
to have their spy services initiate a coup
which assassinated the first democratically
elected president of Iran
& installed the shah
eventually deposed by the popular Islamic revolution...
would Iran be ruled by
the fear of fundamentalist theocracy it is now?

it seems rule by fear
is inherent to religious fundamentalism
of any type historically
christian, moslem, or hindu ....?

when the way of truth is denied a people
the door is opened to distortion & kaos?

in this case:
when freedom of self determination
was denied the Iranian people
the nationalistic tendencies were
seized by the fundamentalist theocrats
as a means to revolution & power..
the united states became "the great satan"
in the eyes of those who recognised our complicity
in their genuine oppression by the shah
which came as a shock to most americans
trying to understand " why do they hate us?.."
who had been kept ignorant
of our historical meddling ?

they hate us because
we have been directly & indirectly
reponsible for
keeping them poor & living in fear..?
if not now out right responsible for killing their loved ones
in the case of iraq...?
it appears the iraqis blame the americans
not the insurgents for the kaos of their country now..?

for over a century the united states
foreign policies
have been actively
& passively contributing
to the sublimation of the Islamic & 3rd world peoples
in the name of getting a cheap price for oil..?

we have been perpetrating
on the peoples of the nations
of Islam & the 3rd world
conditions that we ourselves as americans
would not tolerate
& that the american people
would rise up to free ourselves from...?

it seems funny/sad
that the religious fundamentalist
in power, seeking to be in power,
& seeking to remain in power in this country
don't see that they are just as fanatical
as the fear motivated power seekers in Islam
they're trying to vilify & destroy
by getting everybody stirred up
& afraid of the boogy man:
the ultra orthodox, intolerant, radical conservative,
backwards thinking, anti-women's rights,
just fill in the blank
moslems?christians? jews? hindu? maoists?

not saying that there aren't a lot
of nut case religious fanatics
in every neighborhood, country, religion...
of the human family..

social intolerance by whatever flavor
sucks...sucks the life out of the world ?

but no matter what we do
whether we believe in god or not
there are just so many human beings ever born...?

we all come from the same place,
go to the same place
& have just this one earth
to learn to share
& prosper upon..
or not..?
we only get one sandbox
to make messy &/or enjoy.. ?

imagine a world where every soul
born into this world
is truly welcome..?
& knows it
because everyone
including governments
communicate this through our actions, efforts, & policies?

where along with GNP & the gross national happiness factor
there's a gross national compassion quotient.. ?

where the long & short term policy decisions
of business & government are based on
what is genuinely
good & life affirming
for the present
& future generations
of all humanity... ?

i long for a time when our u.s.
domestic & foreign policies are governed
by integrity
not by greed
or some obscure squeaky wheel business interests
but by our highest ideals
our promise not to impose
but to set the good example..
doing the right thing just because its
right & serves the long term goodness
of life on earth...

if our goal in iraq was to help the iraqi people
free themselves from the tyrant : mission accomplished
now that we seem to be contributing to the tyranny
perhaps its time for us to find a more effective way
to help ...?
beginning with getting the heck out of the way
especially if we know the insurgency is mostly unified
around getting the americans out of the country ?