The New Red Herring

I've talked about it a lot, how, back in the days and weeks after 9/11, it was pretty clear who had attacked us. It was a terrorist group based out of Afghanistan. The news repeated it over and over again.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Then, and I remember this distinctly, someone, somewhere, suddenly chirped, "Iraq."

And everyone, myself included, were like "huh?"

Then, slowly, VERY slowly, the news changed:

Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Iraq
Afghanistan

It was weird, but it kept happening, over and over. Slowly, it evolved:

Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Iraq
Iraq
Afghanistan
Iraq

The next thing we knew, the possibility of invading Iraq wasn't so preposterous after all. The names had been repeated so often, so much, that they almost went hand in hand.

Iraq and Afghanistan

And that was a long time ago. Today, we are talking exclusively about Iraq. Too bad for Afghanistan. Then, yesterday, as I watched the news, I saw a government official defending the shift in "strategy" and stance of the administration. Rumsfeld is out, Bush is on his way out along with the Republicans. All of the sudden, the administration is agreeing with what were once called "ridiculous , anti-American ideas." Now everyone is on the same page, be it because they really believe that Iraq is a quagmire and or because they have no choice strategically, politically.

But all I noticed, with a strange feeling in my stomach, were the words coming out of this government official:


Iraq
Iraq
Iraq
Iraq
Syria
Iraq
Iran

I'm just saying, watch out. In a few years, we may not be talking about Iraq.