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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Cultural Divide

Cultural Divide

by John Cole|  April 1, 20044:46 pm| 6 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs

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Sometimes I wonder if maybe I just view the world differently than everyone else, other times I just wonder if Americans have our own unique worldview. When I read stories like this, it makes me wonder:

Europe reacted with horror Thursday to the grisly images of four American bodies being mutilated in Iraq, with some newspapers speculating about a quicker U.S. troop withdrawal and others saying it could serve as a new standard for attacks…

In the Milan daily Corriere della Sera, which published similar pictures, columnist Gianni Riotta noted that the attack came during the U.S. presidential election campaign, and that previous U.S. decisions to withdraw troops, in Lebanon and Somalia, have come after particularly bloody attacks.

”If the American public opinion is impressed by the fierce torture of Fallujah and by the endless stream of army dead … it could force the White House to do a turnaround, hand over governing to the Iraqis, leave some troops based there, and then get out,” he wrote.

This is, I must note, the completely different reaction that I had. Yes, I was horrified by the disgusting inhumanity of it, but at the same time, there was never even a thought of cutting and running. My reaction was that we must hunt down those who did this, and that this is more evidence that we need to fix this region. I would like to think that the majority of Americans se things the same way, but I don’t know sometimes.

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Reader Interactions

6Comments

  1. 1.

    CadillaqJaq

    April 1, 2004 at 5:36 pm

    I had much the same reaction: stay the course and clean out the terrorists… cutting-and-running is NOT a solution.

    (As far as cleaning up the situation, I envisioned an evacuation of all women and children followed by one MOAB… sort of like Randy Newman’s suggestion: “Let’s drop the big one now…”)

    Well, I can dream.

  2. 2.

    Bruce

    April 1, 2004 at 9:20 pm

    Bring the hammer down

  3. 3.

    Al Maviva

    April 1, 2004 at 10:29 pm

    If I was in an intel cell in Baghdad, I’d take a good close look at those news stories and All Jizzeera footage coming out of Falluja. And then unleash the SEALS and Delta. I get the impression General Kimmit is thinking something more drastic is in order – a huge, end to end dragnet – is what he suggested in a press conference today.

  4. 4.

    Kimmitt

    April 2, 2004 at 7:25 pm

    “I would like to think that the majority of Americans se things the same way, but I don’t know sometimes.”

    A majority of Americans are simultaneously disgusted by the crimes and, now that the WMD claims have been debunked, baffled as to why our people are in harm’s way in the first place.

    From what I can tell.

  5. 5.

    M. Simon

    April 4, 2004 at 11:31 am

    No WMDs? Excellent. We took Saddam out before he could do any more damage.

    BTW here is one more American who is resolved that we are not cutting and running like Vietnam. Which cut and run added about 1 million Vietnamese casualties to the war. Killed by the North. Post hostilities.

    The constant low level of death in Iraq is bad enough. I do not wish to be responsible for mass murder.

  6. 6.

    Kimmitt

    April 5, 2004 at 3:06 am

    “I do not wish to be responsible for mass murder.”

    There was, not long ago, a very straightforward way to avoid this.

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