Dear Fellow Kossacks:
This has been a particularly difficult week for the world.
We here at the Kos community have tangled a bit over the causes, meaning, and long term impact of what is going on.
Granted we rather homogenous (in a political sense) here in our little bloggy world, yet there are still divisions.
Still, for the most part, we agree more than disagree.
With a few exceptions we generally seem to agree that
Update: Please feel free to edit/add:
- War is not the answer to just about anything. We don't want nations to resort to war.
- Neocons are insanely misguided in their belief that "shock and awe" will accomplish anything but the deaths of innocents and an increase in hostility and further violence.
- We don't want innocent people to die, for any reason.
- Terrorism is unacceptable and accomplishes nothing. (War is simply state-sponsored terrorism on a large scale.)
- The current administration's horrific agenda is served by mideast chaos and they have little interest in a peaceful solution. They seem ready to sacrifice as many lives as it takes to reach their goals.
- The Democrats in congress are largely weak and willing accomplices.
- John Bolton is an unmitigated asshole. (Note to Dems: Hello? Can't we find a U.N. Ambassador who supports Israel's right to exist and isn't also an unmitigated asshole?)
- The Democrats are pathetic in their support of Bolton and inability to wield a filibuster (their only fucking weapon) when it really counts.
- We need to elect Dems with cajones in 2006 and beyond. Or be ready to follow Mexico's example and take to the streets to "stop this shit." (Okay, maybe "take to the street" goes too far for some of us.)
- We need a cease fire now. The violence has to stop. Enough people have already died.
There is friction, however, on other points. For example:
Is Israel either deliberately targeting innocents or just reckless and then cavalier about their deaths?
OR
Does Israel perceive itself to be in a fight for its existence and pursuing the wrongheaded solution of war, regretting the deaths but foolishly carrying on?
(Of course there is a third option, which is the concept that all the deaths are just an acceptable degree "collateral damage" and Israel is just doing what it has to. Almost none of us agree with this, but even those that do are not necessarily trolls.)
Does Israel have some sort of usurpation of its neighbors' land in mind (as it "has in the past")?
OR
Is Israel protecting itself by taking land from which it has been attacked and trying to end the threat (as it "has in the past")?
Did Israel "steal" the Palestinians' homeland?
OR
Do the Jews have an historical claim to at least some portion of the area for a homeland for themselves?
Is the true goal of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah to stop the mistreatment of Palestinians and get Israel to pull back to some acceptable borders so Palestinians can have a homeland?
OR
Is the true goal of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah to rid the region of a Jewish state, with the concept of a Palestinian homeland being a lightening rod to inspire hatred for Israel, and therefore no borders that include a Jewish state will be acceptable?
Can there ever be a diplomatic solution? Will there ever be peace in the region?
Of course there are shades of gray, and in some cases, both sides of the coin have been true at some point or another.
And there are many other points where we diverge.
This is not intended to be a catchall for every one of those points, although if it becomes that, even better. We need to come together as a community because I truly believe that at our hearts we all agree when it comes to the value of human life and the need for peace. And the horror and futility of war.
Let's focus on getting these clowns out of office, including the complicit Democrats who can't seem to grasp what the hell they're supposed to be doing in DC, and fail us time and again.
But first, let's do what we can to support a cease fire, and an end to the violence. Only then can we move forward. If that means looking for some sort of savior in our next president, so be it.
In the meantime we have work to do, and we can squabble but in the end we have to work together to get it done.