"WE DON'T WANT TO BE PLANTATION OWNERS"

Sully posts a note today from a military chaplain friend of his in Iraq re the Fallujah deal. Here's just a taste:

"This country became a welfare state under Saddam. If you cared about your well-fare [sic], you towed [sic] the line or died. The state did your thinking and your bidding. Want a job? Pledge allegiance to the Ba’ath party. Want an apartment, a car, etc? Show loyalty. Electricity, water, sewage, etc. was paid by the state. Go with the flow: life is good. Don't and you're dead. Now, what does that do to initiative? drive? industry?

"So, we come along and lock up sugar daddy and give these people the toughest challenge in the world, FREEDOM. You want a job? Earn it! A house? Buy it or build it! Security? Build a police force, army and militia and give it to yourself. Risk your lives and earn freedom. The good news is that millions of Iraqis are doing just that, and some pay with their lives. But many, many are struggling with freedom (just like East Germans, Russians, Czechs, etc.) and they want a sugar daddy, the U.S.A., to do it all. We refuse. We don't want to be plantation owners. We make it clear we are here to help, not own or stay. They get mad about that, sometimes."

Where on earth do such people get the idea that it's NOBLE of the USA to invade a foreign country (not at anyone's request unless you count Amadh Chalabi and his host of Iraqi exiles, nearly all of whom have turned out to be liars and/or crooks) and try to impose our own distinct form of government, culture, etc. upon the inhabitants -- and THEN to disparage them because they don't "appreciate" what we're doing for them. "We don't want to be plantation owners?" On the contrary, his attitude seems perfectly in line with the "nicer" plantation owners who couldn't understand why their slaves didn't appreciate that Papa was looking out for their best interests since they were incapable of doing so themselves. And while we're at it, if things were so good for the Iraqis under Saddam (a sugar daddy?), why does BushCo keep pounding on how terrible he was to his people?

If you listen to this guy, you'd become convinced that WMD was the ONLY justification for regime change, not to "liberate" the Iraqi people in a way they don't like or want -- and since we found no WMD, we ought to go home.