“Blank Generation” by Richard Hell and the Voidoids was released in 1977. Generation X was spawned from 1965 to 1979, Generation Y from 1980 to who knows when. And now there’s another generation, brought to you by the letter W and the number 43; welcome to Generation ADD — Americans who can’t keep their mind focused on finishing a job before taking on another.When President Bush proclaimed the end of the combat phase of the Iraqi war last week, it brought to mind the status of some of the various other wars we’re involved in.
We declared victory in Afghanistan some months back during Regime Change 2002, and entered a “nation building” phase similar to what we now face in Iraq. But, despite money directed by Congress to assist victims of US bombing in Afghanistan, it has reached few, if any, of the intended recipients.
Don’t worry, though, the Afghan people are finding ways to get by. According to Asia Times, since the fall of the Taliban and the initiation of the US-supported Karzai government, the country has once again become the world’s leading poppy cultivation center. According to Pakistani narcotics intelligence agents, many international drug cartels, attracted by the abundance of cultivated opium, have taken advantage of the Taliban’s ouster to set up shop again in the region. Who knew that entrepreneurship and free enterprise could be restored so quickly in Afghanistan?
This isn’t to suggest that we’ve abandoned The War On Drugs. Far from it. According to the CBC, assistant US drug czar David Murray warned Canada last week that there would be “consequences” if it proceeded with a plan to decriminalize the possession of marijuana in that country.
“We would have to respond. We would be forced to respond,” said Murray. Perhaps a pre-emptive response would be directed at French Quebec in order to kill two oiseaux with one cruise missile.
And don’t forget the “with us / against us” War on Terror. American forces quietly signed a ceasefire agreement on April 15 with the People’s Mujahedeen, a designated Iranian terrorist organization that supported the takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979. “With us” can apparently be a very subjective judgment call.
Back in Iraq, weapons of mass destruction have still not been found. The US military, in fact, has not even bothered to visit or secure the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center outside Baghdad that held partially enriched uranium, natural uranium, radioactive cesium, cobalt, and strontium. According to the Washington Post, by the end of the week, it was confirmed that at least two Iraqi nuclear facilities had been looted of nuclear material.
It all makes you wonder if our nation, including President ADD, recognizes the importance of a consistent, focused, diligent stewardshi. . .oh look! PUPPIES!
This article appears in May 7-13, 2003.
