Welcomed as liberators

The United States just seems to be able to do no wrong in our global policy. After all, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Baghdad, where there were American and Israeli flags painted on the roads themselves. People were even spotted carrying flags for the two nations, and there were some dolls of GDub and Israeli PM Olmert.

Except for the fact that the flags were painted on the ground so that Iraqis could trample over the images, the flags were carried so that they could be burned, and the dolls were actually effigies with vampire fangs, but those are all insignificant details, right? And the secondary fact that some of the Iraqis view GDub as being as bad, and possibly worse, than Saddam doesn't carry any weight, does it?

Yeah, maybe the Iraqis don't really like us after all. Of course, how can you really blame them when our President didn't bother to take the time to learn that there were multiple sects of Islam within Iraq itself, and that the sects aren't necessarily the most fond of each other. In fact, when meeting with three Iraqi Americans who attempted to illustrate the point, Bush is said to have responded, "I thought the Iraqis were Muslims!" Maybe the three meeting with the Decider didn't bring enough crayons of varying colors while illustrating their point.

Through the entire conflict, GDub has stressed the importance of bringing democracy to the region. Well, Lebanon held democractic elections. So did Iraq. And, to an extent, so did Iran. And yet those are some of the hotspots, and the largest military force is provided by another democratic country. Maybe democracy isn't such a good thing to spread after all. It's kind of like biting into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich only to crack your teeth on a nut, when you were pretty sure that it was the creamy peanut butter that had been used.

And finally, in whacko news, apparently Mel Gibson isn't an anti-Semite. This according to other movie stars, who, amazingly, still count themselves among Gibson's friends. They also say that he's a "different person" when he's drinking. Which means that alchohol turns him from Dr. Gibson into Mr. I-Hate-Jews. And when he's really on a bender, he becomes Mr. Why-Doesn't-Sugartits-Understand-Why-I-Hate-Jews.

I guess Hollywood really is a dream machine, where people can live their fantasy lives however they choose.