Yesterday, I wasn't posting anything new. I was still occupied by a discussion on my previous post.
Well, for now I have decided to wait with more new issues. There are too many confusing news around. One side says it achieved this-and-that-. The other side denies it. I hope that early next week there will be more clarity in Iraq making it easier to post on more issues.

One of many examples for this confusion in judging the news can be found in an article from a German newspaper. In it Mr. William Wallace is quoted (the commander of US ground forces in Iraq):

"The enemy whom we fight is a little different from the enemy we opposed in our wargames."

But of course, US Central Command denies that. Maybe next week news will be clearer.

Is God blessing America?

It seems that in American politics the presence of God is always neccessary. I noticed that American patriotism is to a large extent connected to a religious aspect. Basically, God blessed America.

While I have been aware of this connection for quite some time, yesterday I gave special thought to this issue. I watched a documentary about the "new religious right" which formed in the US in the late 1970s and gained great impact on the presidencies of Mr. Reagan and Mr. Bush, sen. Of course, the notorious issue of abortion was addressed in this film. This was fairly interesting, but it was merely the starting point from were my thoughts took off.

We all know of the WASP phenomenon. For decades (if not centuries) there has been one requirement every American politican had to fulfill in order to have a great career: He had to be a White Anglo Saxon Protestant. JFK was the first and only non-protestant President of the US. Well, he was catholic.
It seems to me that today the denonination is not that important anymore. But in order to be successful, one still needs to portray the image of piety. Hence all kinds of Christian rhetoric is found in political speeches.

This is extremely interesting because of the fact that in no other western democracy state and church are so clearly seperated institutionally. I mean, there are no religion classes in school, for example. The tolerance of other religions is much greater than overhere in Germany. An Organisation like Scientology is considered a sect here, in America it is a church.

So despite of this obvious freedom of religion, every politician needs to address God and Christian belief. Whenever the feeling of patriotism needs to be addressed you won't have to wait for a long time until God's blessing will be mentioned. Even on dollar bills Amercia portrays its christianity: In God we trust.
Generally, there seems to be a feeling that America is God's own country.

Why?

Actually, the bible says that the Jews are God's chosen people. Well, Jesus was a Jew. It seems logical from that point of view. Why America? Probably because of the founding fathers. Every school kid in the US learns how they came to this country in order to live in freedom. That they came to America because of the intolerance in England.
My HIS 212 (American Culture) prof at WMU put it differently. They came over the Atlantic because THEY were intolerant. They came because they were christian fanatics.

Maybe this explains why patriotism has been connected to religion in the US from early on. At least the founding fathers were the first WASPs.

In times of war, God seems to be referred to even more often than usual. Clearly, God wants Hussein to be removed from power. Does he?

Is America God's tool to create and preserve world peace? Is war the Christian way to achieve such things?
The pope disagrees. In the middle ages it was the papacy who called for crusades. Now it is calling for peace.

This war in Iraq is clearly not motivated by religion (at least for the coalition troops). Still there is this Christian rhetoric. Why does America want God as an ally in this war?
Pacifists are not taken seriously, these days. They are seen as naive idealists, far away from the brutal reality of the world.
That may be true. However, Jesus was a pacifist. How can any Christian believe that God could justify war? Apparently, more bible study groups are neccessary, especially in the White House.

Some signs of hope to end this war quickly?

Well, yesterday I expressed my pessimism about the overall outcome of this war. Militarily, it will be a victory for the coalition, however costly it may be. My concern was about the effect this war might have on the Middle East region.

Today, some news indicate that the Iraqi population may not unite in defense. We can not know for sure, but at least british information suggests that there is some kind of an uprising in Basra against the iraqi forces.
Noone can confirm that, yet, because the coalition is not in Basra. Maybe there is an uprising, maybe not. Maybe there was a revolt but iraqi troops ended it. We don't know.

Troops are advancing fast towards Bagdad, that is encouraging. Only the sandstorm seems to slow down the advance. Two things concern me, though.

1. pictures of thousands of Iraqis living in Jordan who come back home in order to fight.

2. the valiance and courage that Iraqi troops show near Bagdad.

Referring to my first point: These people in Jordan can watch Jordan TV. They are not limited to Iraqi propaganda. They decide to go back home to defend Iraq. This may be an indication of the effect that this war has on the arabic world, in general. Although most arab governments side with the coalition, their population seems to side with Saddam.

Referring to my second point: I watched CNN about an hour ago. An embedded journalist reported out of the sandstorm close to Bagdad. He said that this storm makes it impossible to advance. On the positive side it makes you basically invisible, as well. He reported that one can see only about the next 40 meters.
Still the convoy was under attack from Iraqi vehicles. The Iraqis were shooting with their machine guns at the tanks. The bullets cannot penetrate the tanks. Still Iraqis kept attacking. Their attack was cut down by the convoy. Basically Iraqi troops didn't have a chance. They were coming in pick up trucks!! The reporter was amazed by the outstanding courage of the attackers. He mentioned that twice in his 90 second statement.

So if the morale of iraqi troops is really that good, then guerilla warfare may trouble this country for a long time even after Bagdad is secured. Also, the main battles are still ahead, I think. Bagdad will probably be heavily guarded.

Unfortunately, I cannot quote the source, but yesterday a german news station reported that according to US military experts the fight for bagdad may cost the US 3000 lives.
For a war, this is a small number. But it is significant, nonetheless. I am not sure if the American public has been prepared for that.

I just started my weblog today. I am still very inexperienced with the technology. I hope you can live with all the shortcomings and errors that will be around here for some time.
Well, the longer I do it the better this log is going to get (hopefully)

The war in Iraq is affecting our daily lives. It sure affects mine. I am watching more of the news lately. Unfortunately, I get three different opinions by watching three different stations.
CNN basically suggests that all is well. German news stations are reporting on much heavier resistance than the invading troops may have expected. The BBC has been kind of vague on this lately.

However, it seems to me that the media is beginning to realize now, that there will be little cheering and more bullets waiting for the "coalition forces".
As sad as this is, I wonder why the American public is surprised about it. How could anyone expect Saddam's troops to surrender just like that? No matter if his troops like Saddam or not, they love their country. Therefore, they defend it against invasion. It seems like CNN is slowly adjusting its news coverage, gently preparing the public for more and more casualties. Basra, the city which was claimed to by under coalition control about three days ago, is now a military target. What about the inhabitants? They are as civilian as they were yesterday. It has been naive to think they would welcome invading forces. The Shiites there feel decieved by the US for not supporting them in their struggle with Hussein in 1991.

We were lead to believe that this war would be one of little civilian casualties. Also, we were lead to believe that this war would be swift and welcomed by the people of Iraq. That prooves to be far from accurate, right now. The strategy apparently underestimated Iraq. There is no point in complaining about the guerilla warfare tactics, Iraq apllies. If you face an invasion and are relatively ill-equipped the Geneva convention becomes less of a priority. The Iraqi army is pulling back into towns and wearing civilian clothes... well, this is the only strategy Iraq can take apart from surrendering or dieing. The Iraqi army would lose terribly in the open desert. In towns, the technological advantage of the US/GB forces is not as important. Also, by bringing the war to the towns and cities, Iraq achieves an objective that might be crucial to the overall success of the war. Iraq is uniting its people against "invaders". The reason is obvious. In order to defeat Saddam's fighters harder strikes will be neccessary. Strikes on towns, on cities, therefore also on civilians. Take some pictures of parents crying for their children into the equasion and you get a mood of hatred towards America. Eventually Iraq will be defeated militarily. But isn't the goal of this war to fight, weaken and defeat terrorism?: Didn't Mr. Bush set this goal? This war is about to increase muslim terrorsim. Already, violent outbursts erupt in other arabic countries. The population of the arabic world (except in Kuwait) sides with Saddam. This is sad, but it was to be expected. There are many reasons to be against this war. Some of them are connected to pacifism. I understand that the "hawks" won't agree on them. But what about the current situation? Isn't this war increasing the threat of terrorism? I am so surprised that "hawks" did not follow this argument and opposed war on this ground. I oppose the war because I think it will not help to achieve the ultimate goal: the defeat of terorism.

The bottom line is, we can expect many more casualties in the comnig days and weeks, soldiers and civilians. The American public has not been ready for that. It feels like cheap propaganda to declare Basra a military target now. Now, we have to bomb the people we are coming to liberate. Let's face it: the American strategy to win the people is going to fail. Just before the war started, Mr Bush said that this war could help to achieve long lasting peace in the region and help to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict.
It may be, however that the exact opposite will happen: the whole region in chaos and new waves of terrorism rolling...
I am not very optimistic, right now.