Sharing Nugget #31

#31: "All they ask, is for their leaders not to ever send them into harm's way - unless absolutely necessary."

Prof showed us a bit of this show "Fahrenheit 911" in class. And I went home to watch the entire show again.

You should watch it.

The firt part is very entertaining, the way Michael Moore makes fun of Bush. But its too out-to-mock to be credible. However, the later part of the show becomes an emotional ride. It shows us the pain of families that has lost a child in Iraq.

Says one parent, "A parent is not suppose to bury their child". And she went on to read out the last letter from her son.

The cries of sorrow by a Iraqi lady who had five family funerals since the American bombing started is heart-wrenching. Goodness.

I agree with some points of the show - that the reason to invade Iraq is still not justified. And as of now, the death toll in Iraq is more than the number who died during 9-11. For what? Weapons of mass destruction? Nope. Link to Al-Qaeda? Nope. Replace a brutal regime? Maybe justifiable. But what about Sudan? Rwanda? Come on.

Says a insider in the show, "We would never have paid interest in Iraq if not for its oil". This is the most plausible explanation I will subscribe to. The show's case that its "all about the money", with Iraq "been the 2nd largest reserves of oil in the world", may be biased. But it is very attractive to believe in because I always held a disdain view to greedy people who builds a wealth on the backs on others who suffer for it.

This goes back to the industrial age where kids and women are literally chained to machines to produce goods for the capitalist. This oil-money grab is one of the reasons experts cite for the rise of fundamentalists who are willing to become a martyr because they have nothing to lose. And these oil companies are the very reasons why alternative fuels cannot find daylight - which will be good for global warming and allows cheap access for the poor to energy - because the companies have invested too much in oil-based infrastructure. (This is from a credible source)

But well, these are too complex. And I am a fatalist in this - we cannot change anything can we?

But what is simple enough to grasp is this: At the end of the show, Moore tells us that the majority of troops in Iraq comes from the poorest part of USA. Of the hundreds of US congressmen, only ONE have a son in Iraq. Only one.

Says a corporal who came back from Iraq, "I will rather go to jail then be sent back to Iraq. I will not kill another poor person who pose no threat whatsoever to my country.... I won't do it."

The poor people who are neglected by the liberal systems are the very first people who are willing to fight to defend the freedom of USA. And all they ask for, is for their leaders not to ever send them into harm's way - unless absolutely necessary."