Chaos under heaven

[donsu]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GH09Ak01.html

G-SAVE yourself
Last week, the State Department issued an "updated worldwide caution" about "extremist violence" against US citizens traveling abroad. According to Robin Wright of the Washington Post:
The warning said attacks against private and official targets could come in the form of assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings or bombings. The targets could include places where Americans meet or visit, such as residential areas, hotels and restaurants, as well as places of worship, schools, clubs, business offices and public areas, the caution said ... as causes of concern, the department cited spillover from the US intervention in Iraq in and outside the Middle East ... .This came not long after other officials in the Bush administration, who had been arguing fiercely since September 11, 2001 for a series of deep links between terrorism and Iraq, strove hard to deny that the terrorist bombings in London's subways had anything to do with Iraq. So the message was clear: don't leave home because ... uh, they hate us (but Iraq has nothing to do with it). Somebody just hadn't bothered to inform the State Department.

-snip- (large snip talking about: "the president and his people - who have spent the last four years reaching for their dictionaries (the way gunfighters once reached for their six-guns) whenever they wanted to redefine our world to fit their needs -"; smirk doing the "bring 'em on" scene again; the mouthings of maj. gen. Webster and brig. gen. Alston; how many troops have to die in one day before it makes front page in US papers; Karen and smirk's future book; etc.)

Oh, and to catch the full spirit of our Bushificated summer of fun, just consider the State Department's recently announced winner of its annual Foreign Service National Employee of the Year award. According to the eagle-eyed Al Kamen in his Washington Post online column, "In the Loop", the winner gets "a certificate signed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and $10,000". And, as it happens, that man, an official in the US Embassy in Baghdad, has a remarkable tale to tell. As Kamen relates it, his "life was at risk night and day" and he had "many close calls personally and several friends were slain".
If that's not enough, "after a suicide bomber detonated (a) device within five yards of the dining table", the announcement says, (he) "limped in to the embassy and continued working despite suffering from shock and severe hearing loss". When a colleague was assassinated and his US supervisor sent home the following day, (he) vowed to work "even if no one was left".

And when the delegates to the Iraqi National Assembly met at a Baghdad hotel, he was "trapped in the elevator when a rocket slammed into the hotel", we're told. "Later that day, a Gurkha security guard standing a few feet away was struck in the head by shrapnel from an exploding mortar round," and (he) provided first aid. So, to honor this American hero, we give you our proud winner ... step forward, Mr Anonymous. (His name was omitted from the State Department announcement "for security reasons").

And if that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about the state of our American world today, then, boy do I have a five-star hotel in sunny Baghdad to sell you.
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