Endless Tape Loop

I'm not sure what anyone else is thinking, nor if I have any true sense of what's going on, what's happened, what's happening now, what will happen soon. I do know that people are uncertain, unsure and nagged by a steady low current of chronic anxiety. It's like a steady undercurrent, a buzz, and not the kind any of us with any sense seek.

How it looks to me: The only sensible spin, for me, is this -- The Administration has gotten philosophical. A scary thought, given the general consensus that if you give the Government anything, it'll find a way to mess it up in royal fashion. Philosophy is no exception, and this is a case of taking the long view, as they say. The long view, at present, seems to me to take this form: The Middle East is a political mine field, no pun intended, and has been for thousands of years. The Administration believes, or would like to believe, or has of late embraced the belief that there is no hope for any real peaceful resolution to the so-called Mid-East conflict, no hope for any semblance of political stability, no hope of anything ever approaching comprehensive democracy. This being said, it remains a major source of good old black gold, oil, that is, economic fuel. So, while one side of the Adminstration's mouth pays lip service to such quaint notions as environmentally friendly fuel cells, the other side of the mouth is screwed up into an expression of determination, and that determination is to take over the area, topple the evil dictator(s) and run the show. The sense that this humble citizen gets is that -- regardless of the protests of the hundreds of thousands of citizens of America and other nations against the aggressive policies currently in play -- The Administration has made a decision. That decision appears to be that America is going to the Middle East with a goal of taking control, which it believes will be best for everyone in the long run. Best for America, of course -- American economic interests, to be exact -- because it will clear the way for the US to control a major source of oil, thereby stabilizing the economy, somewhat, and appeasing, somewhat, the populace, which is burdened by unemployment, failed school levies, crumbling city infrastructures, increasingly high costs of basic needs (housing, education, healthcare), in short, the continued demise of whatever may be left of that 1940's fantasy known as "The American Dream." Not to mention that microwave ovens and VCRs and, now, cell phones are *still* not interchangeable. But I digress.

Looks to me like a decision has been made to take control of "the problem" by force. To dip back into the days of manifest destiny.

"Let's have a war / we need the space." - Fear

Deal with the hell of the short term (read: War on Iraq) to get to the relative economic and political stability of the long-term (read: US control of foreign resources).

That's what I see happening. That's what it feels like to me. You don't move tons of equipment and thousands of troops just to make a point.

My fiancee asked me the other day if I thought we were going to war, and I said yes. "Doesn't that piss you off?" she asked.

Yes, I said. Yes, it does. It really does. Equally, it saddens me.

But it does seem to be happening, regardless.

I hope I'm wrong.