The War On Terror

Two articles caught my attention today. The first is a description of the judicial follow-up to Haditha - as a reminder, Marines there killed 24 civilians including many women and children. According to this article the commanding officer claimed that he had not considered the killings unusual, part of the regular routine so to speak, and for that reason did not initiate an investigation. If that is the case then obviously, this must happen so much more often than the world knows or ever will find out. Apart from the fact that the supposed American moral authority in this war thus becomes questionable, it also spells doom on their efforts in Iraq. No wonder civil war is erupting there if the American troops act like this and I can only repeat myself, what a mess Mr Bush has created there, unbelievable.

The second article is an Op-Ed from the NY Times arguing that American ties to Pakistan should be strengthened as they helped prevent attacks from occurring a few days ago. The authors go on to list various positive aspects of General Musharraf's regime. I simply cannot believe that in a war supposedly fought for the defense of the enlightenment, for the spreading of democracy (sorry, I like to get corny with stuff like this sometimes) what these two guys are advocating is to support a dictator who tight-fisted rules with the help of the military. History does repeat itself it seems, as long as the dictator's enemies are our enemies, the worst ones will be supported (Saddam in the 80s, Pinochet in the 70s, Mobutu, the Iranian Shah, the list goes on and on).

Seriously wonder how this struggle can ever be won by the West if this is how we fight it.