Bush & Brown-Fathers Know Best?

"Our aim, like the United States is, step-by-step, to move control to the Iraqi authorities," Brown said, joining Bush at a news conference at this mountaintop presidential retreat at CAMP DAVID, Md.

All of this boils down to men who come running to "take control" when those they consider "children" fall down and scrape their knees. Sometimes, the best thing is for dad to stay at work and let the children grow up. Instead of this "step-by-step" approach, sometimes you just have to throw the kids in the deep end and stand prepared should they begin to drown, but let's not assume they will.

This statement by British Prime Minister Brown echoes a hundreds of years old patriarchal view by the US and England, as if they are still legitimately delegated the position of policemen for the world. We hear things like this and just nod our arrogant Anglo heads in the assumption that "someone's gotta do it... if not us who?" The answer is clear to all but us; the world community is made up of sovereign nations who don't need a daddy. The only time we need to intercede is when one nation breaks the sovereignty of another, and sometimes when our assistance is requested to quell internal strife. Even then, we must sometimes say, "No".

Iraq is perfectly willing to let us do their job for them, to take the heat as it were, literally 115F degrees, while they take vacations. Bush and Brown are perfectly willing to do it as it feeds their corporate masters of the military industrial complex. It's all about business for them, and we have to get it through our heads that this exercise of imperialism for business sake is an unacceptable justification for the loss of life. Yes, people die anyway, everywhere, but it is not always our job to augment their deaths with those of our soldiers.

There is no pride in dying for corporate profits when it has nothing to do with the defense of our nation. In fact, these same men, if posted properly within the US, could clearly enhance our defense against potential foreign action.

How many times must it be said that there are limited resources and anyone you put outside our country is no longer available to directly defend our nation? Meanwhile, their occupation feeds a resentment that actually decreases the quality of our security by creating an impetus for insurgencies.

It is time for we children to tell our daddies that we no longer believe they should run the family. They have put us in greater danger and have destroyed our reputation as keepers of the flame.