[ Wednesday, December 15, 2004 ]
Maybe it's the time of year. Solstice is next week, the sun's just about at its lowest point in the sky; the worlds colors are faded and washed out in the dim sunlight. The days are short and cold. The wind out of the west has that Alberta bite to it, and the fuckin' thing smells like snow.
Melancholy comes easily, drugs notwithstanding. The re-selection of Bush didn't help spirits any, and the ongoing war is depressing. How rational is conscious thought at these times?
The war in Iraq is going so bad, the government has admitted to lying about it, and defends the lying on the grounds on national security. The all-volunteer force is all there; the reserves are all there, and the National Guard is there as fast as they can be rotated in. A significant percentage of America's civilian "first responders", (firefighters, cops, paramedics) are in this group, and are gone to Iraq. The war is going so well, that the highway between the airport and Baghdad is no longer secure. Convoys are getting bombed and shot up daily forcing the generals to concede yesterday that they can no longer supply the troops "in the front line" by land alone, and will need help from the Air Force "short term". The AirForce, in turn, says it cannot move sufficient material to supply the troops for anything but the short term.
My winter solstice-depression fear? That two events will happen simultaneously or close together. One, an insurgent counter-offensive ala Tet. Our folks are spread so thin that a simple military defeat is quite possible. The generals have been talking around this fact for months, but it's starting to leak out.
And Two, another domestic attack, possible a nuke in Washington DC. ( I warned you I was depressed) We know they want to; we fear they can; what's to stop them? Total chaos on the east coast, no government and the National Guard all tied up half a world away.
Neither of these scenarios are far fetched. Both are possible. And "we" just gave the perps of this mess free reign to keep doing what they're doing. Our government has admitted it's lying to us, the media has admitted it's going along and America is stuck with one party rule.
It's going to be a long, long, cold winter.
gonzoliberal [9:43 AM]
