Civil War in L.A.?

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Civil War? "The network's cable news outlet, MSNBC, drummed the point home repeatedly by using the phrase "Iraq: The Civil War" on the screen."

I am not trying to dispute whether or not the war in Iraq has turned into a “Civil War” or not, but I am interested in the press coverage of the war. In the news account they quote from Webster’s New World College Dictionary, which defines a Civil War as, "war between geographical sections or political factions of the same nation." What I am focusing on is that this definition can be used for L.A. Gangs (geographic sections) in the Los Angeles Almanac (http://www.laalmanac.com/crime/cr03x.htm) in which it shows that between 350 & 450 gang-related homicides occur each year in L.A. County. Is this a “Civil War”?

The media have been wanting to call it this for a long time but now feel the courage to do so, believing this is the last bit of leverage needed to get us out. But as usual they just don’t see the bigger picture.

Sunday, as explained on “Meet the Press”, the war in Iraq had been going on for as long as the U.S. involvement in WWII. Of course they got it wrong. The war in Iraq did end with the fall of Saddam’s government and when Bush made his famous “Mission Accomplished” speech. But like WWII V.E. day was not the end of the war and for almost 3 years after the German army surrendered, violence by insurgents continued in Germany.

The reason the insurgency was not as successful in Germany as it has been in Iraq is very apparent. 1) The war against Germany was a complete war, both the military and civilian populations were targeted and destroyed. By the time Berlin fell, there was no more fight in the Germans and no support internally for the insurgents. 2) Both Iraq and Germany had a neighbor very interested in controlling the post war politics. The Soviet Union simply kept part of Germany (East Germany) and controlled it for 45 years. Iraq has Iran, which can not militarily take control of Iraq (Shi’a region) so they have funded groups to keep the violence up with one goal. That goal is to embarrass the U.S. and its allies so much that they leave the region, and not bother Iran and its nuclear program.

It is just a sad state of affairs that we focus on the here and now so much that we can not see the bigger plan set into motion by those who wish us utterly destroyed.

Chris Mendelsohn
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