The New Iraq sounds an awful lot like the Old Pine Ridge

[Waya]

Editor’s note: Today marks the return of Rapid City resident Sam Hurst as a columnist for the Rapid City Journal. His column will be published on alternating Sundays.


Another bomb in Baghdad. Another dead American soldier. Another 60 dead Iraqis.

Having found no weapons of mass destruction, having turned the back alleys of Baghdad into an epicenter of terrorism, having popped the cork on a religious civil war, President Bush has reached deep into America’s psyche to conjure up one last justification for invasion that flatters our self-image. We invaded Iraq to overthrow tyranny and build a democracy.

Certainly the creation of a democracy half way around the world is worth half a trillion dollars, and the lives of 3,100 American soldiers. But the crusade seems more and more futile each day. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson never had to fight their way through roadside bombs, or ancient religious rivalries. Can it be done?

Meanwhile, back on the Rez ...

When President Bush says he’s prepared to stay in Iraq “until the job is done,” those poor Iraqis have no idea just how long he means. But the Lakotas do. The United States government has been “stabilizing” the Great Sioux Nation and promoting democracy for 139 years.


http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/02/18/news/opinion/opin03.txt

[CountAllVotes]

1. I've thought the same more than once

:dem: :kick: