A group of fundamentalist religious fanatics, representing millions of people of faith, have seized their country effectively holding its followers hostage. They are holed up in a sacred shrine, a symbol of the glory of their flag, the embodiment of who they are as a nation. Their leaders have a love of guns, they have been known to amass weapons of mass destruction, they are a country at war prompting protests against a regime that is not so far removed from a dictatorship.
The leaders of their country have a passion for power with a political agenda that is divisive not inclusive. The citizens must be loyal, standing by an oath of support for a leader that was not elected but appointed to the highest office in the land. The upstarts that have challenged the governing administration are labeled as insurgents, dissidents, protesters with a satanic mindset. They are not recognized as people of faith.
The picture is hazy -- wait a minute. Is this the Imam Ali Mosque? Oh no, I'm starting to see more cleary, it's the White House. Is this Najaf? This can't be, it's Washington, D.C. That's not lyad Allawi, it's our commander in chief. That's not Moqtada al-Sadr, it's John Ashcroft. That's not them, it's us.
That's not Saddam Hussein pretending to be God, it's President Bush. That's not Iraq's democracy in flux, it's our democracy being stomped on. Those are Iraqi women behind a shroud, we are American women being force- fed a shroud of silence. Those are Iraqi soldiers being killed, American soldiers are coming home in flag-draped caskets. The Iraqis are slowly being given their civil liberties, our civil liberties are systematically being taken away.
It's no small wonder the picture is hazy. Who amongst us wants to believe this is our America?