Michael Paul Gonzalez: Scary Author. Monkey Enthusiast.

so much to react to out there. The war. The Oscars. The impending Hulk Hogan match at Wrestlemania. The world is full of conflict and triumph. It’s a wonderful time to be alive. I haven’t ranted about writing for a while. This is where I am: I’m working on finishing up a screenplay so that I’ll have something to sell out here. I’ve shipped my book off to a few competitions, and I have some plays circulating… so who knows? One production would be nice. Hell, anything would be nice right now. I’m here to write and I need to do more of it.

The war: What’s strange to me about the war is the amount of information we’re not getting. It’s starting to feel a bit 1984 over here. There have been many civilian casualties, but our media has not shown them. Our troops have been captured and harassed on TV… but our media has not shown it. Oil fields have been lit on fire, possibly by Americans (according to Iranian journalists, anyway). There were reports of 8000 troops surrendering… but that didn’t happen. There were reports that we’d captured Basra, and then we hadn’t, and then we had, and then we almost had, and then we were near Baghdad, and then we weren’t, and then we were approaching… The situation only seems to change when bad things happen to the U.S.

Troops die, and then a good progress report comes out. The whole thing is starting to smell like a big stinky coverup. Don’t get me wrong. I support the troops and am quite happy to see Saddam deposed. But he’s one tough bastard. I wish it could happen through coalition instead of US aggression. The worst part is, winning the war will be bad for US foreign policy. Pulling out will be disastrous. So we’re in a no win situation, and it’s all because we decided not to wait one extra month. Iraqi children will see their fathers killed, creating a new generation of strong US resentment, anger, and possibly the next Osama bin Laden.

Yet again, part of me feels this war is justified, if not necessary. Weird. I’m kind of on the fence here. If Iraq uses the weapons we claim they have, then that will make up my mind one way. If Don convinces Georgie to push the big red button, well… not that there’ll be much world left afterwards, but I would certainly have a bone to pick with that.