A Cogitative Countenance

     I was one of those few who went ahead and wrote my second satire blog before the assignment was posted to Wasserman’s blog, and I felt bad that I didn’t do what everyone else did, so here it is.

     I found the clip from the Colbert Report quite funny, but the point it was making was clearer and came across stronger to me.  As I watched I was a little confused as to what was going on and all, but upon watching it a second time it struck me how realistic it all was.  I found it very interesting how he used the statistics of how 56% of Americans did not want to go to war in Iraq to begin with, and 70% of Americans were unhappy with how President Bush is handling the situation.  He comes straight out to make this point and others similar to it, and this is why I would consider this satire.  He taking the truth and adding humor, but still remaining true to these startling statistics and facts about the nation.
     He is basically just stating the facts, making them clear (although it might help if he talked a little slower so they could actually sink in), and adding bits of humor and jokes here and there.  I think the position that the character is trying to promote is anti-war, because he states that reinstating the draft would add to war efforts, but more importantly would cause an uprising against the administration here at home in America.

     The in class reading today about the Iraq Study Group was very effective at getting at some of the current key points in our nation’s foreign issues.  There were some new topics brought up in our discussion, such as the connection between Halliburton and Dick Cheney, and also how the U.S. is spending about a billion dollars a day to fight this war.  Two [1][2] Halliburton Watch websites that I found really show some corruption and problems that are going on.  It is scary to see how the government is handling such a vital process of trying to help Iraq.

The biggest windfall in the invasion of Iraq has most certainly gone to the oil services and logistics company Halliburton . The company, which was formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney, had revenue of over $8 billion in contracts in Iraq in 2003 alone. And while Halliburton ’s dealings in Iraq have been dogged everywhere by scandal – including now a criminal investigation into overcharging by Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root for gas shipped into Iraq – Vice President Cheney manages to be doing quite well from the deal. He owns $433,000 unexercised Halliburton stock options worth more than $10 million dollars.  But Halliburton ’s history of benefiting from government largesse goes back a ways. From 1962 to 1972 the Pentagon paid the company tens of millions of dollars to work in South Vietnam, where they built roads, landing strips, harbors, and military bases from the demilitarized zone to the Mekong Delta.

     It was also very interesting to see how expansive the intricacy is with many issues surrounding the war.  The Iraq Study Group’s suggestions about dealing with both the external diplomatic situation, as well as with the internal situation show that the Iraq war is more complex than most Americans ever imagined.  With the underlying religious aspect, and the deals between nations for troops, and so many more aspects in play, it is very difficult for the United States to just withdraw from Iraq.  I agree with the ISG’s recommendation of having the U.S. troops focus more on helping the Iraqi troops get in control and be an effective force.  I think that this would be the only way to remove our troops successfully without much further conflict, and without chaos and extreme problems in Iraq.  However, the diplomatic and religious conditions are much harder to solve.  And as for the dispute between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims, it seems that there will never be a solution that can be employed by an outside force such as the United States.

     I recently found a video online that has been supposedly banned from MTV, because it makes a point.

“Faithless Bombs”

     The point that I got out of it was that Americans are just standing by, while this extreme war and fighting is going on.  What do you think?  How does this link into our discussion in AMH, and would you consider this satirical?

     Not sure how this applies to either our American History discussion about the US status with Iraq or our new English lessons about race, if at all.  But I myself found it quite interesting, so I thought I’d put it out there for all to see.

Invisible Children

Where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live

     In choosing one of the three options provided by Mr. Olmstead, I personally would not choose any of them.  I believe that the best way to handle the current situation in Iraq would be to maintain the amount of U.S. troops there, but gradually decrease United States presence over a course of several years, and try to continue to set Iraq on a course towards Democracy.
     I understand that there are many U.S. casualties which hit close to home, and that is one of the main reasons that many United States citizens want the troops to evacuate Iraq.  In fact, according to CNN news,

U.S. military deaths in Iraq in October reached 100 Monday, making this the deadliest month for American troops in a year.

However, if the United States does pull out of Iraq, there is a great opportunity for more terrorist attacks against the United States.  Although the al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden are based primarily in Afghanistan, if the United States were to cease its efforts in Iraq right now, the rest of the world could quite possibly view our country as quitters or a failure.  And when this crack in America’s foundation is discovered by the rest of the world, there are countless possibilities that pose a threat to the U.S.
     This is where we have to make a vital decision; do we want to stay in Iraq and loose 75 soldiers a month who are doing their job, or do we want to evacuate Iraq and make the U.S vulnerable to loosing even more American civilians here at home?     Lula makes a comment that I need to disagree with based on my above arguments.

Now that our most recent purpose has been accomplished, creating a democracy, we definitely need to leave.  The Iraqi prime minister has said he does not want us there anymore.

We have not set up a successful democracy, because the three ethnic divisions in Iraq are at a constant dispute, which could even be seen as a civil war.  Therefore if America leaves now, without having established a successful democracy, Iraq may end up with in a tyrannical state which we initially set out to destroy, or end up with the rule of one party.  Both of these outcomes for Iraq following our evacuation will only be catastrophic; hence, we must remain in Iraq.
     However, viewing another issue that Lula brings up, I definitely agree with her in respect to the fact that

There are other parts of the world that need our help, such as, Darfur.  We have even called it a genocide and we haven’t helped.

The United States government, and especially the people of the United States need to have a broader spectrum of issues to be concerned with.  We should definitely address situations such as those in Darfur, but we also need to stay the course in Iraq.  For such a sophisticated nation, I believe that we are capable of multitasking.