Antiwar.com Blog

Toronto Blue Jays star one-bagger Carlos Delgado has been protesting the Iraq war by leaving the field during the playing of God Bless America. Delgado intends the gesture as a protest against policy with which he disagrees:

“But I think it’s the stupidest war ever. Who are you fighting against? You’re just getting ambushed now. We have more people dead now after the war than during the war,” he said. “I don’t support what they do. It’s just stupid.”

Delgado has come under fierce criticism from fans and pundits for this harmless and symbolic gesture. One fan said, before a game in New York:

“I think it’s totally disrespectful,” he said shortly before gametime. “It’s a slap directly in my face, as a New Yorker and an American.”

It is not. Delgado has already identified the reason he is protesting. It has nothing to do with slapping a fan in the face. Offended parties are afflicted with the disease of self-identification with the state, L’Etat C’est Moi in other words. The state is an organization which is separate from the people it rules, and which commits terrible crimes in their name. Awfully convenient then, for the criminals in charge, that many people think they are the state. What a bewildering sight it must surely be, for the blind servants of the state, uncritical and trusting of their politicians, to see someone like Delgado actually walking a different path. Delgado’s critics are afraid that he is right, and wrapped in that fear, are lashing out at him, ridiculing his courage. God bless him.

And just introduce our newest blogrollee from the land of Peter Singer, AC/DC, and Elle McPherson, Tim Gillin, who is, uh, not quite like any of the aforementioned.

From Reuters:

After launching two wars, President George Bush said he wanted to be a “peace president” and took swipes at his Democratic rivals for being lawyers and weak on defence. …

“The enemy declared war on us,” Mr Bush told a re-election rally in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday. “Nobody wants to be the war president. I want to be the peace president … The next four years will be peaceful years,” said Mr Bush, who used the words “peace” or “peaceful” 20 times.

From Feb. 8:

I’m a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign-policy matters with war on my mind.

Did somebody say “flip-flop”?

“For a while we were marching to war. Now we’re marching to peace. … America is a safer place. Four more years and America will be safer and the world will be more peaceful,” he said. But a few hours later, in St Charles, Missouri, Mr Bush warned “the world will drift towards tragedy” if America shows “weakness”.

Marching to peace. Jesus.

From Reuters:

After launching two wars, President George Bush said he wanted to be a “peace president” and took swipes at his Democratic rivals for being lawyers and weak on defence. …

“The enemy declared war on us,” Mr Bush told a re-election rally in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday. “Nobody wants to be the war president. I want to be the peace president … The next four years will be peaceful years,” said Mr Bush, who used the words “peace” or “peaceful” 20 times.

From Feb. 8:

I’m a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign-policy matters with war on my mind.

Did somebody say “flip-flop”?

“For a while we were marching to war. Now we’re marching to peace. … America is a safer place. Four more years and America will be safer and the world will be more peaceful,” he said. But a few hours later, in St Charles, Missouri, Mr Bush warned “the world will drift towards tragedy” if America shows “weakness”.

Marching to peace. Jesus.

Let’s actualize that Nelson Mandela analogy! Arthur Silber elaborates on my post of last night and Jim Henley joins the burgeoning mob. Head on down to the local K-Mart and grab a stylish Martha Stewart-brand pitchfork.

U.S. military deaths in Iraq have just passed 900. Since the June 28 handover, 46 U.S. troops have died in Iraq. I hesitate to make the following grim calculation, but it’s time for us to contemplate the future of this misadventure. 46 dead in 23 days works out to a rate of two per day. Should this rate hold, we will pass the 1,000-death mark in about 50 days, about a week after the Republican National Convention in NYC ends.

This milestone will undoubtedly get a lot of play in the press, the way all such arbitrary milestones do. (Remember Y2K?) But why must it hit 1,000 before America takes notice? When “combat operations” ended on May 1, 2003, the total was less than 150. When Saddam was captured, the total was less than 500. What will the total be by the time Iraq is a functioning liberal democracy?