The Savage Wars of Peace

A knowledge of history is fun, because one can chuckle at the parallels 'twixt events past & present. (Gallows humor, to be sure, but humor all the same.) More & more, Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki is looking like mid-20th century Chinese, later Taiwanese dictator Chiang Chi-Shek, a weak, corrupt leader propped up by the Americans as a bulwark against even more malign forces, but ultimately more concerned with clinging to power than governing for the benefit of his people—& thus ultimately the author of his own political demise. This analogy leaves open the question of whether I.S.I.S./I.S.I.L., the ultra-violent offshoot of al-Qaeda current posing an existential threat to Iraq, is the pre-1949 Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong or one of the myriad regional warlords that, like Chiang's K.M.T. Nationalists, were ground into oblivion or driven into insular exile by Mao's all-conquering People's Liberation Army. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, there was a vicious, recriminatory debate amongst the American political & chattering classes, "Who lost China?" I laugh at the parallels 'twixt al-Maliki & Chiang lest I weep for all the American, Western allied, & Iraqi blood & treasure lost in Iraq, blood spilt & treasure spent in vain if we must eventually have the vicious, recriminatory debate, "Who lost Iraq?" We cannot let the sacrifices of the last eleven years have been in vain.

The trick to gallows humor is to keep laughing. In the name of all that's holy, just keep laughing.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Joe Jackson, "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: 'Tis Mr. Jackson's birthday. Smoke if you got 'em.