Baghdad Bomb Attacks and Virginia Tech
One day after the horrific gun attack on fellow students and three professors by a deranged young man occurred at Virginia Tech a renewed wave of bombings in Baghdad killed up to 200 people.
While the carnage was far greater in Baghdad, as the Virginia Tech horror story involved the shooting of 33 people, including the gunman, compared to about 200 who were killed by bomb attacks in Baghdad, it is the Virginia Tech story that stays in the news.
No doubt, the American media outlets will milk the tragic story for weeks to come. We will witness reports on the smallest details of the incident, see students who had seen the troubled student once in their lives be asked questions about the nature of the man, and generally have over the top coverage of this sad event until we can stand it no more.
Why the difference in the coverage of the two events?
One answer is simple. People tend to focus on events that hit close to home and that they envision that for the grace of God could have happened to them, family members, or to someone they care for. Millions of American families have family members attending colleges and universities or, know someone who is attending, so this event did indeed hit close to home.
Another answer is tragic. Bombings in Baghdad have become so common place that they are no longer news. They have become expected events. For Americans, and I expect people the world over, it is just another normal day in Baghdad. Only when the bombings are of truly huge proportions, as the bombings yesterday were, does the story even make the news headlines for more than a few minutes.
While it is perfectly understandable and normal that Americans and others would naturally focus on events that occur in their own neighborhoods, it is tragic that the situation in Iraq has become so disastrous that the killing of one or two hundred poor souls in a bomb attack isn’t even news for more than a few hours.
Car and suicide bombings have not decreased since the US lead troop surge began over two months ago. Bush administration officials and the President himself continue to say that “it’s too early to tell” and “we will have good days and bad days” as they offer their assessments as to how the troop surge is playing out.
No one has the guts, not even the Democratic opposition leaders, to just come out and say the obvious. To say that America, due to it’s total lack of understanding about the political and religious dynamics in Iraq, lost this war the day it started.
The war Gods are never kind to a nation that goes to war without the best of reasons. President Bush wanted this war. He wanted to be seen as a great wartime President. He wanted to create a legacy of far sighted leadership in re shaping the political landscape of the Middle East. That’s what he wanted. What he created is disaster.
Simple minded Bush thought it would be an easy victory. Too bad Bush was and is not someone who has an appreciation for history. No foreign army has ever prevailed for long in this part of the world. The Iraq war is a war that did not have to be fought. The war Gods punish aggressors and invaders as they are now punishing the United States.
Two big questions are how long will the destruction of Iraq continue and how long will the US keep significant levels of troops there?
While no one knows the exact answers to these questions I expect one answer covers both. Which is for a very long time. Certainly for as long as the stubborn Mr. Bush remains the American President. And probably for long afterwards as the Iraq situation continues to become worst and worst.
By the time a new US President takes office there is a good chance that the chaos in Iraq will have spilled over into neighboring countries. The new President will have his/her hands full trying to extract and defend the US from the Bush mess in Iraq and elsewhere.
In the meantime Americans will rightly weep over the tragedy at Virginia Tech and other close at home incidents that may happen from time to time and Iraqis will continue to weep for family members, loved ones, and associates who are lost every day in this totally unnecessary, mismanaged, and disastrous war.
The pain that the Iraq war has caused for millions of people is right off the scale. But is it news? Unfortunately no, at least not more than for a few hours. It is too common place.
