Humility I could say we need a good dose of it. Maybe we already have. Funny though that Congress thinks the same thing as well.

Anyway, we call Al-Jazeera propoganda, but then we have our leaders and news reporting the Iraqis as using civilians and trickery -- the cowards. A smart bomb isn't trickery? Wearing body armor? Do we give up all our technological advantages seeking a fair and honorable fight? The answer is of course not. These cowardly Iraqis are merely resorting to the only thing really left to them. Their doing what any good soldiers would do, using every advantage they have to fight back. Wouldn't it be more cowardly if they backed down from the fight entirely?

I wish, and the Coalition soldiers probably, wish that the Iraqis would go ahead and surrender like they were supposed to. Nationalism apparently cuts a little too deep. What would you do if the States were invaded by a superior enemy?

light:
ADRIAN COTTER
RADIANCE TROT
RADIANCE TORT
CRANIA DOTTER
CRANIA ROTTED
CROATIA TREND
ATTICA DRONER
RADIAN COTTER
RADIANT RECTO
RADIATOR CENT
ATTAINER CORD
ATTAIN RECORD
ATTAIN CORDER
TARTAR COINED
ACED NITRATOR
CAIRNED TAROT
DANCE TRAITOR
ACNED TRAITOR
CORDATE TRAIN
REDCOAT TRAIN
TRACED RATION
CARTED RATION
CRATED RATION
TORNADIC RATE
TORNADIC TEAR
RANCID ROTATE
DICTATOR RENA
DICTATOR NEAR
DICTATOR EARN
CANDOR ATTIRE
CREATION DRAT
CREATION DART
REACTION DRAT
REACTION DART
CERTAIN TARDO
INTERACT ROAD
TETANIC ARDOR
ENACTOR TRIAD
ACTION DARTER
ACTION TARRED
ACTION RETARD
ACTION TRADER
CAIRN ROTATED
TANTRIC ADORE
INTACT ROARED
INTACT ADORER
AORTIC ARDENT
AORTIC RANTED
RICOTTA ANDRE
ACORN ATTIRED
CARTON TIRADE
CANTOR TIRADE
ORCA NITRATED
CARROT DETAIN
TRACTOR DIANE
ACTOR DETRAIN
ACTOR TRAINED
CART RATIONED
TACT ORDAINER

Spent a nice relaxed weekend in Tucson. Soaking in some heat, and able for the most part to avoid the news, and worry about other things. My sister has an amazing house on the east side of the city, the Catalinas and Rincons and other ranges in clear view. She has 3 and a hald acres of desert land, some of it landscaped, but for the most part inseperable from the surrounding desert ( their neighbors have much the same ). They have a gorgeous walled courtyard with pool and hottub shadowed by big old trees and palms, birds chirping merrily in the branches. The backyard slopes down gradually a ways, interrupted by a stable, exercise yard, and other horse things ( from the previous owners) into a dry wash. It was a lovely place to wander especially at dusk, cacti and trees all tinged red.

Meanwhile the war proceeded apace. It does seem a strange strategy from the outside. As one newspaper put it, tearing the country apart from the inside. Little territory has been held it seems -- either with the notion that everyone there will surrender or welcome the troops, or that any resistance will collapse once the head does. But the Iraqis seems to be unable to take advantage of it, unable to cut supply lines or keep blown up bridges blown. I wouldn't want to be in the Iraqi military myself.

Strangely I've noticed that the Coalition forces will announce deaths, but not injured. There really have been very few with some of the heavy fighting that appears to be going on. The coalition cheerily notes how many iraqis they think they've killed (although they don't do body counts), it doesn't seem like they leave anyone just wounded (with the firepower being brought to bear, how could they). The coalition forces must be much harder to kill with all their body armor they wear. But how many Americans & Brits have been wounded?

Protests today are on the light side. Minus some 1400 hundred activists, with police out in force keeping people on the sidewalk, the disruption has been not as great. The steady thrum of helicopters and planes, is a pretty much constant downtown, punctuated by the occassional wail of sirens. People against the war seem split on what to think of it all.

The war presses on. The news programs are coming across as sports shows, admiring the technical prowess and the skills and the hardware. "A wave of steel" is sweeping northward. "I fell in love with this plane" said one journalist. "we were eating our fruit salads watching artillery shells explode, 'walking' towards us. A Wart Hog floated in, dispatched a missle, destroying the battery, and then floated off." Fruit salad? Then the US military complains when they hide their tanks in civilian centers. What do you expect them to do? Stand up and be destroyed like a man! We are just taking the country apart. The "heavy resistance" that has come in some sections, usually sounds like light resistance, after you read the article. I just wish we'd speak of these soldiers, these mens desctruction with a little more humility. I wonder if you compared the amount of money in men, equipment and training between the two sides, how would it stack up? How much does it cost to train a pilot? a driver? a special forces soldier? a regular soldier? to build a command and control center?

The natives are restless.

All over downtown SF, protesters are camped out in intersections, one where they had potted trees and newspaper racks to form a low lying barricade. But just below the Sierra Club, you can see that it doesn't take much it seems to shut down a city. Many seem to be veterans of critical mass, all it takes is one or two people and traffic stops. A few more to get your back, and drivers usually stand down. The police seem remarkably absent and one wonders if they are chasing protesters all over town who just melt away and then reform elsewhere. Thank god terrorists are not so smart. As I write the human barricades below on 2nd and Mission have slipped away.

Of course, what good is it? Plenty of media but who is watching and who is swayed? What exactly is the message anyway?

The kneejerk response is, of course, "if they don't like it, let 'em go live in iraq" as one guy spat into his cellphone as he walked past. "Huh?"

Any minute now it will begin. Half a world away, soldiers, pilots, civilians have knots in their stomachs waiting for that first shot. I can't say I'd want to be in any of their shoes. Once, long ago, I'd thought of being a soldier. I probably would've made a good one. Some small part of me wishes I had, the rest of me is glad.

War is looming. For the ones who have wanted peace, it seems we have failed. The administration has paid no more attention to us than they have to anyone else. So what next?

The first thought is to hope that continuing demonstrations will have some effect. But I fear the only hope of the success in demonstrations would come only after a failure of U.S. military might. This is not the way forward.

We should hope that this war is over, as is likely, in a matter of weeks. We should pray that our troops are as effective as we are told. We should hope that a bomb, a bullet, or our troops find Hussein quickly, and verifiably. That speed and effectiveness will make for less lives lost, civilian and soldier alike.

But we can, and should, do more than hope and pray. It is time to refocus our energies and bring them to bear on the future of Iraq. This is the crux of future war or peace: can our nation rebuild Iraq?

We cannot, and should not, let Iraq be rebuilt by the current administration and their friends alone. We must ensure that education, liberty and justice take footholds, not just oil companies. We must ensure that our nation is there to help over the long haul, not just to the next election. We must ensure that democracy does thrive, and that there is not just another Saddam, or Osama, waiting in the wings.

i read this keen little book called off the map about how things get named the other week. it was a fast read. mainly little factoids about names of places that will never stick, but it was still a fun little romp through the atlases of the world.

anyway it got me thinking about secret places. not sure exactly why, except maybe that often times maps have been made to help people find them, treasure maps, maps to shangrila and all that. but the secret place, or the place with a secret has always had firm control over my imagination. finding a place that only i or a select few know about is something that is very tantalizing. ever since i've moved into my apartment four years, i've been wanting to turn my garden into a secret one ( alas i've neither the money nor time to succeed ). i love the hill caer caradoc near my aunt's house in shropshire, england, because it holds a story that is ancient and little known, the hill feels like it has secrets -- as do the surrounding hills.

growing up, there were the woods across the street, the hidden pool by the old barn, special groves within the woods. those places were mine within my head. my own mental map.

i wonder if there is some biological basis to that really, the need to find some hidden spot to hide from predators or rivals. it might also be behind the very need for huamsn to explore, to find their own spot of land, their own tree and piece of dirt.