Today, the same day I read this comment on the BBC:
Iraq killings top 1,000 in April
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani
Mr Talabani said he was shocked by the ongoing sectarian violence
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has said more than 1,000 people were killed last month in Baghdad as a result of ongoing sectarian violence.
... I also had a conversation with a Bush supporter. I live in Germany and here it is quite rare (at least from my experience) to speak to someone who openly admits being a supporter of Mr. Bush.
By the way, one of this country's hottest selling posters is still (something I previously diared about):
US World Domination Tour
Below the fold.
The man I speak of is actually a friend of mine. He was in the German airforce and is now a financially well-off business man. Morever, he seems to be quite gentle and kind (I guess I wouldn't be friends with him otherwise), The nature of the conversation was such that I figured it would be nice to recount it here.
He began by stating that, within the context of war, Americans had made many sacrifices in the name of freedom around the world. Then, in a somewhat lower voice, he added in this statement to my surprise:
Sure, with this one you kind of get the feeling they're partly in it for the oil, but on the whole you can see that they also do things / make sacrifices in other parts of the world where it's not just about the oil.
I said "What sacrifice are you ... ?" when he interrupted saying "Do you know how many soldiers died in Vietnam? Over 40,000 - that's a sacrifice."
I formulated my sentence again:
What sacrifice? I know that men - many just young boys - lost their lives in that war (just referring to losses on our side!) and that dying is a definitely a sacrifice. When I ask "What sacrifice?" I mean that Bush (and his cronies) are obviously not prepared to make any such sacrifice concerning their own families when they dupe their own people into war. Sure, they don't mind letting other people's kids pay the ultimate sacrifice. Kids that are recruited from supermarkets and school campuses under slogans such as "How would you like to be able to afford college in a few years time?"
Again, to my surprise, this conversation ended quite peacefully. He basically shrugged his shoulders and we continued our previous conversation where we'd left off before.