The Sphinx Could Kill You

The Great Sphinx of Giza, with the Pyramid of Khafre in the background

This article, about the current shit storm in Iraq, appeared in the Boston Globe on Monday. See my comments in parenthesis. ( )

Desperate for answers to all-important Iraq riddle
By James Carroll
December 11, 2006

IN MYTHOLOGY, when the ancients were desperate for an answer, they would present themselves to the Sphinx and ask their question. The Sphinx would reply with a riddle. The riddle would reveal the needed wisdom. But to go to the Sphinx was an act of desperation because, if you failed to answer the riddle correctly, the Sphinx would kill you.

See Wiki entry on the Sphinx here
(Note that Sphinx means “to strangle” and is a half-human, half-animal death dealer. If the US is at this point in the game, we’re in serious trouble. The Sphinx is a highly chthonic creature and stands at the entry way of the underworld. It’s do or die time, literally. Funny that we find ourselves at death’s door in the same year scientists declare: Pluto is not a planet. Pluto, of course, being THE PLANET of death, rebirth, and transformation, it is here that fate reveals its ugly head. Fate is the massive hand wrapped around our necks, choking us sober. We, the people, who stood silently as our leaders pushed us into this mess, need to understand how our reckless compliancy has contributed to the many deaths and broken hearts of Iraqis and Americans-now their blood is on our hands. )

Our nation stands before the Sphinx today. That is how desperate we are about Iraq. What is the good way out of a bad war? (A question I’ve been asking myself for years! Were Americans THAT naïve to think we could actually fix Iraq? This country has been experiencing internal strife and conflict since the BEGINNIG OF TIME, i.e. Mesopotamia) We hired the Baker commission to speak for us, and it was remarkable for its frank assessment of the Bush administration's failure, labeling the American effort as weak, deteriorating -- "not working." (Really, I think most of us knew this a year ago, and the fact it took our leaders this long to figure it out is frightening.) The commission identified the two realms within which the answer to the war can be found. (Well, that’s nice, I doubt Bush will listen to a word of it as his answer is to drive the nail further into the coffin-or in his words “stay the course”.)

Subsequent discussions have further illuminated the situation. Within Iraq, the three main parties to the conflict must be helped to deal with one another. A road to negotiation among Kurds, Shi'ites and Sunnis must be opened, so that they themselves can begin to resolve the question of their governance, whether through the present unitary constitution or through adjustments that would give each party autonomy. (More evidence organized religion is the road to hell paved with good intentions. The Kurds, Shi’ites, and Sunnis religious beliefs are causing the rift. Although, in the recent past before the US invaded, the groups were able to get along with little conflict. However, poverty, war, tension, post-traumatic stress disorder, and grief all contribute to an atmosphere of total despair. Iraqis live this reality, which would cause any normal person to crack under the circumstances.)

The Baker commission explained, though, that such local resolution cannot happen without the positive support of the parties in the region -- the second realm. And here the dominant party is Iran, with which the Bush administration refuses to talk. (I don’t believe the Bush admin. knows how to speak civilly, they just throw random grunts and growls out periodically for good measure.) Military force so dominates Bush thinking that no diplomatic initiative seems possible. Democrats are as paralyzed by the military mindset as Republicans. (Should be read as: The Democrats are just as pathetic as the Republicans.) The impasse between Tehran and Washington thus emerges as the main obstacle to larger peace. The Baker commission, and the discourse it sponsored, laid all this out, even as the White House reiterated its refusal to deal with Iran -- displaying thereby its absolute lack of any idea for Iraq except more of the same. Bush will "prevail." (Superhero comic books anyone? I hear they’ve been selling really well these days.) Only "victory" will do. Not even Bush seems to know what these words mean. (Shocker! Someone give him damn dictionary and soon!) If there is a better idea, no one offers it. (I refuse to believe that in a country built from the ideas of great scholars and political geniuses there are “no better ideas” for Iraq.)

So here we are before the Sphinx, with what seems an unsolvable problem. The war is killing our young. The war is devastating the people of Iraq. The war empowers the nihilistic fringe of Islam, which now threatens to ignite the entire Middle East. Because oil is at issue (Is the mainstream media finally admitting this?!), the global economy is at risk. (This should be read as: America’s obsession with BIG FAT SUVS is threatened) If America stays in Iraq, the violence will worsen. If America leaves Iraq, the violence will worsen. What can we do to stop this? Even after the Baker commission, no one knows.

For a long time, the Sphinx just looks at us, the famous stare. (Yes, one gets the feeling the “majority” has been fast asleep since Clinton got a blow job.) Finally, the Sphinx offers up the riddle: "I took you into this war. Adjust your thinking about me, and I can bring you out. If you refuse to change, I will destroy you. What am I?"

Once the question is put, the answer is obvious. Nuclear weapons. The Bomb is the Sphinx in the living room. Whatever first motivated President Bush to invade Iraq, (a lie, a bold faced freakin’ lie!) Congress and the nation approved only out of dread that Saddam Hussein was obtaining nuclear weapons. (I think we’ve all learned “a feeling of dread” should be dealt with in therapy, not with bombs.) Saddam's nukes turned out to be an illusion, but the fear was real, and led to our mistake. Today's war began with yesterday's nuclear nightmare. (Now, today’s nuclear nightmare began with yesterday’s war. Demonstrating, if you go looking for trouble, it will eventually find you.)

That fear dominates us again, only now in relation to Iran. Washington says it will stop at nothing to prevent Iran's arming itself with nukes -- but in fact nothing in Washington's present strategy can stop Tehran (Current strategy: Buy time while we cross our fingers and pray this will go away), which is the main revelation of failure in Iraq. Military force is the new impotence, but we will flail away, preferring death to diplomacy. (And we call ourselves a “civilized” nation) This course keeps us stuck in Iraq, while guaranteeing Iran's going nuclear.

"Adjust your thinking," the riddle says. Since 1945, the United States refused to submit its nuclear program to authentic international controls, while insisting, since 1968, the year of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, that other nations must submit in just that way. (Hypocrisy spreads its nasty virus, people- other countries will follow our lead in this arena.) This nuclear double standard is the issue. Iran's nuclear ambition is only to have what America has. Hence the impasse. No riddle here. (And no problem solvers either, just Americans looking dumbly out off our proverbial “it’s all about me” window, without a prayer of saving our selfish asses.)
Washington must renounce the nuclear double standard, recommitting itself to nuclear abolition. The reason Iran should not have nuclear weapons is that no country should. With that one stroke, the entire dynamic would change. Negotiations with Iran would be purposeful. Iran would have reason to defuse the bomb of Iraq. The Sphinx itself would be disarmed. (And that folks is the hand of fate loosening its tight choke hold on our great nation.)
James Carroll's column appears regularly in the Globe.

Here is a another article title taken from Reuters-today in the news:

“Bomber kills 60 in Baghdad, Bush to review policy”

Well, isn’t that special. Bush “reviews policy” (i.e. sits in his palace of privilege and does nothing while the rest of the world burns.) I am SICK N’ TIRED of this administration’s “talks”, “visits”, “policy reviews” and “panel of experts”- get off of your collective asses and DO something. Stop this war.

This song describes the rage and sadness inherent in American society at this point in history. I’m sure it was originally meant to be a song about the loss of love. However, to me, it represents greater loss, the loss of faith in one’s country in the face of death.

Blue on Black- Kenny Wayne Sheppard

night falls and I’m alone
skin chilled me to the bone
you, turned and you ran,
slipped, right from my hand
blue on black
tears on a river
push on a shove
it don’t mean much
joker on jack
match on a fire
cold on ice
a dead mans touch
whisper on a scream
doesn’t change a thing
it don’t bring you back
blue on black
blind and now I see
truth, lies, and in between
wrong can’t be undone
slipped from the tip of your tongue
blue on black
tears on a river
push on a shove
it don’t mean much
joker on jack
match on a fire
cold on ice
a dead mans touch
whisper on a scream
doesn’t change a thing
doesn’t bring you back
blue on black