Per Variety Online: (RE: Oscar noms) It was a very good year for Paul Haggis, who racked up his third consecutive scripting nom, for “Iwo Jima” (after “Million Dollar Baby” and “Crash”). The last two pics won best film.
EGADS!: 1) Hmmmm….Eastwood 2007; 2) In all the organization nominations of the past week, only one Best Actress nom for Robin Wright Penn - the Spirit Awards. Sad!
Per NYT Online Headline: Bush Insists U.S. Must Not Fail in Iraq
EGADS!: Semantics, again. Semantics all over the place. We have to question what we mean by “failure” and “success.” If the U.S. gov’t sent soldiers to invade Iraq, without confirming and unequivocably varifying the existence of imminent danger to the United States, then we would define “failure” as the act of invasion. Bush failed when he ordered the invasion. “Success” on the whole is not in the equation - although, distant options could include “getting U.S. soldiers out alive.” It would seem that the president equates failure with leaving Iraq. He might say, “Failure is leaving Iraq without finishing our job.” HOWEVER: If the main objective of the invasion was actually to establish a firm presence in the Middle East, via Iraq, then the “job” would be to never leave.
U.S. citizens are afraid of the word “Failure.” The president uses it knowingly. But just as it’s vital that we question the government’s actions and don’t submit to national decisions blindly, it’s also very important to understand and act upon the idea that the president’s failure is not always the same as the nation’s failure.
Of course, we’re in a horrible situation - a no-win position, like standing on a landmine. If we move, we die; if we stand still we die. If we leave Iraq it’s predicted that the civil war will implode - a civil war that we triggered (making us, ultimately, the imminent danger to Iraq). But if we stay, our troops will continue to become casualities in a war between foreign factions. Is this the president’s responsibility? Yes. Is it the troops’? No - Acting as a protective force is their job, not their sentence.
