Whirlwind Days

It has been a whirlwind since last entry, so I'm behind. Even Iraq became a distant blur for a time. Weather has been wild - East coast getting buried under snow while Texas has been getting some fierce COLD air and stiff winds from the North. BRRRR. And I grew up on a farm as a kid, trudging thru snowbanks. Texas has nothing in cold compared to the frozen North, but even this is too cold for comfort for this warm-climate guy.

Iraq looks strange, still, even after a break. Go check out the Iraqi blogs I referenced in an earlier blog--to see how Iraqi citizens feel about what is happening.

 It appears our U.S. picked GC (Governing Council) are making business deals for their personal gain and showing Iraqis that they aren't paying attention - when they claim they didn't know about a Iraq census plan for 2 months. It gives the Iraqis people the impression its a puppet government, and a corrupt one too. This is not what the U.S. needs.

Friday I was asked to be moderator at a Vietnam protest for religious freedom at Houston's City Hall. Their faces aren't as well known as Saddam's but their cause is the same - Viet gov't even tried to block the Vatican from appointing a Viet bishop as a Cardinal in Rome - talk about paranoid. They have the Buddhist leaders under house arrest, turning pagodas (their church) into jails.

Not cool. I think Americans are getting complacent, thinking Iraq is fixing itself - when bin laden, the real threat, is still open for business. Saddam sightings by Iraqis are common - one newspaper even showed a dual photo of Saddam with Bush during Bush's quick stop at the Baghdad Airport. Frankly, my opinion is that even if Saddam is captured or killed, the insurgents will continue - you have 20% with nothing to lose. It takes few killers to wreck a peace. You got to give them something to lose to bring peace to Iraq - or else this hundred billion dollar experiment will end in failure.

I imagine US TV jokersters Letterman or Leno would say something like: "Find the turkeys in this picture." Here's a link to it: http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/b.JPG