12-9-06 Gangs
To characterize the situation in Iraq at this point as "civil war" isn't really accurate. What's going on over there is tribal level loyalties and affiliations acting within small spheres where the members all know who belongs to their group and who doesn't. In other words, it's thousands of gangs, all fighting each other. And the American military is the biggest gang.
Over here in the US, someone once said that "all politics is local." It speaks to the same reality everywhere, that the group one belongs to is the basic personal reality, where the members of that group are one's own and they all know each other, and where the level of interaction between members of one's own group is significantly different than the interactions between members of different goups. Within each group, there is politics, but between groups there is negotiation or war.
The significant difference in how people interact is this simple one. Among group members, it's politics. Between gangs it's either negotiation or war.
Corporations, for instance, are gangs. They prey on each other, corporation versus corporation. Sometimes they negotiate and work together, and sometimes they wage war against each other.
This choice, whether to negotiate or wage war, is the basis for what we see now in Iraq. The largest gang, the US military, is charged with the task of making war on thousands of smaller gangs. The problem, basically, is that they can't easily tell which gangs are the enemy, and which gangs could be made into allies.
One thing is pretty definite, however, in that the sooner the warmongering mofo's in the White House focus on negotiation instead of "winning the war", the sooner this mess might begin to show signs of cooling down.
After all, when the leader of the biggest gang on the block refuses to negotiate, things can only continue to get worse.
Over here in the US, someone once said that "all politics is local." It speaks to the same reality everywhere, that the group one belongs to is the basic personal reality, where the members of that group are one's own and they all know each other, and where the level of interaction between members of one's own group is significantly different than the interactions between members of different goups. Within each group, there is politics, but between groups there is negotiation or war.
The significant difference in how people interact is this simple one. Among group members, it's politics. Between gangs it's either negotiation or war.
Corporations, for instance, are gangs. They prey on each other, corporation versus corporation. Sometimes they negotiate and work together, and sometimes they wage war against each other.
This choice, whether to negotiate or wage war, is the basis for what we see now in Iraq. The largest gang, the US military, is charged with the task of making war on thousands of smaller gangs. The problem, basically, is that they can't easily tell which gangs are the enemy, and which gangs could be made into allies.
One thing is pretty definite, however, in that the sooner the warmongering mofo's in the White House focus on negotiation instead of "winning the war", the sooner this mess might begin to show signs of cooling down.
After all, when the leader of the biggest gang on the block refuses to negotiate, things can only continue to get worse.
posted by Jeff Barnard at 8:56 AM
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