How Optimistic Are You?

While sitting in the doctor's waiting room this morning, we were treated to a bush press conference on CNN. Most of my fellow patients were just tsk-ing and rolling their eyes- a good sign that bush's low poll numbers are pretty accurate. I really, sincerely wish that I could view the world with the optimism of bush but then again, I have to worry about old age, health care costs, taxes, medicare, social security, my kid's future and all that mundane stuff. I have no ranch to retire to or a well equipped bunker. Living in reality makes it hard to view world affairs from a sunny perspective.

Sure some folks in Iraq are doing alright since the US bombed the shit out of their country in order to take out the dictator. But most Iraqi's are not so optimistic. In fact their only wish is not to die:

Laith Muhammad, 32, a student in Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, listed the risks Iraqis face these days. "We either die by the Americans, the insurgents in the name of jihad, the security companies, which kill you and leave you laying in the street, the Iraqi police or . . . the death squads," he said. Such squads are widely believed to be operating from within the country's Interior Ministry. Muhammad cited private militias as yet another threat.

"Three years after the American invasion of Iraq, I have only one wish," he said. "I do not want democracy, food, electricity and water. I just do not want to die." (WAPO)

I suppose you can look optimistically at the new businesses flourishing in Iraq. How about terrorism insurance?

Mr. Said, a slim, baby-faced 23-year-old, did what a small but growing number of Iraqis are doing: He walked into the offices of the Iraq Insurance Company and bought a terrorism insurance policy. It looked like an ordinary life insurance policy, but with a one-page rider adding coverage for "the following dangers: 1) explosions caused by weapons of war and car bombs; 2) assassinations; 3) terrorist attacks."

"Am I worth only five million dinars ($3500US)?" Mr. Said asked wearily, after signing his policy. "It is not a solution. But Iraqis can be attacked by anyone, just walking on the street: Americans, insurgents, the Iraqi Army." The payout is not a lot of money, even by Iraqi standards. But in a country where terrorism kills hundreds of people a month and no one can rely on the government or employers to provide for their relatives afterward, it seems to be an idea with a future. (NYTIMES)

The neocons have redefined every word in the dictionary. I am not sure what their definition is but if a bunch of people in the same country are killing each other, that is not a civil war anymore. It's a strategy towards success, or something like that.