by Jerry Burke
The concept of spring, however, is finally solidified this weekend. The definitive spring holidays of Passover and Easter are upon us, and nothing says spring like colored hard-boiled eggs and matzo.
As we celebrate the holiest of life-affirming holidays on the Judeo-Christian calendar, our hearts and minds continue to be with events a half a world away. The war in Iraq seems to be winding down, and now the arguably more difficult task of keeping the peace in Iraq begins, much to the chagrin of cable news networks. Peace does nothing for ratings.
But, wait! There's still, er, "hope!" It seems Iraq's wacky next-door neighbor, Syria, has caught the eye of Washington hawks. Saddam's half-brother attempted to make a run for the border. Claims that Syria possesses chemical weapons and is harboring other Iraqi leadership makes it the number one candidate to replace Iraq in the "Axis of Evil."
I don't know about you, but I need a break from all this. We need to finish off a war before we talk about starting another one. The Bush administration would argue that the entire process falls under the umbrella of the "war on terrorism," as did our ousting of the Taliban from Afghanistan. While we sent them running for the hills, many of the top leaders managed to escape, and we don't seem to be hearing much about them anymore.
But there does exist a precedent for America in declaring "war" and then, slowly and without fanfare, letting it slip out of our consciousness. Remember the war on poverty, declared by President Johnson in 1964? That apparently went swimmingly. Unemployment's up, and for the first time in American history, a generation will end up earning less than the generation before it. Homelessness is skyrocketing and planned tax cuts are set for those who need them least.
Let's not forget the war on drugs, declared by President Nixon back in the '70s. A few years ago, we were finally told that we were losing it. That implies that there is a war being fought and that people on drugs are winning.
While more than one-third of the 1.6 million arrests made in 2000 were for mere possession of marijuana, the real big-wigs manage to avoid prosecution. Throwing thousands of users and minor dealers into overcrowded prisons may spruce up the numbers for the public, but the guys in charge on both sides know all to well how easy the grunts are to replace.
The word "war" comes from the Old High German word "werra," meaning "confusion" or "strife." War is a part of our nature, but it is vital that our leaders see these things to their conclusions, both home and abroad, and focus on what can really be done, not on pipe dreams and empty rhetoric.
