It's really bizarre how, in the context of war, totally normal attributes of human behavior become transformed into into mysterious cultural quirks of the elusive Arab. I recall having read in the past that because Arabs are horrified of shame, it's not a good idea to humiliate an innocent man by breaking down his door at night and handcuffing him in front of his wife and children before hauling him off to jail. Now it seems that Arabs are also so invested in honor that they don't like it when mercenaries kill their relatives.
What a fascinating place Iraq must be! Maybe someday we'll discover that in Arab culture they have this weird thing where people's political allegiances are heavily influenced by issues of ethnic, cultural, and religious identity and that having their destinies controlled by a foreign, religiously alien, occupying army that doesn't speak the language is kind of a drag. Who knows?
UPDATE: John Cole follows up by noting this story from the Onion in July of 2007, and remarking: "At some point in the not so distant future, we may be better off turning over our entire government to the staff of the Onion."
But its not just the Onion. Grand Theft Auto IV (yes, that's why blogging has been light since last week) is loaded with the same sort of satire.
There is a very sizable majority of the country that recognizes just how broken our political discourse has been these past 8 years. The question is, are we going to be brave enough to do something about it?
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