Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Living In Iraq

During the postwar aerospace boom, job seekers from far and wide settled in the sprawling suburb known as the San Fernando Valley. Just over the hill from Los Angeles, this community-of-the-future boasted wide-open spaces, newly-minted tract housing, good schools, and plenty of tree-shaded streets safe enough for baby boomers to play in.

Ah, but that was the 50’s.

Last night, a task force of 900 (NINE HUNDRED) police and federal agents, using nine helicopters and untold other vehicles, conducted a raid on the most prominent San Fernando Valley insurgents. Excuse me, gangs. Their dragnet swept through six cities and several counties, netting 23 of the 48 people targeted.

Is it me? Or does this sound more like an operation planned and executed by the Department of Defense in a land called Iraq?

2 comments:

John said...

Uncertain. Is the military presence (police) the problem or the insurgents (gangs)? I couldn't tell. Do you need 900 agents to catch 23 people? Does everybody have to lay on the ground until it is over? Do the insurgents (gangs) practice lots of crimes? Car bombs? Suicides?

The neighbor's garbage can got egged last week, a graduation rite or something by the local high school.

Randy said...

Let's make one thing clear. None of this happened anywhere near me, nor the little enclave in which I grew up. Moreover, strangely enough, the cities in which the raids were conducted were (for the most part) not even located in the San Fernando Valley. The little factoid I ommitted is that 2 of the 48 apprehended were wanted in connection with cop killings--cops assigned to the San Fernando Valley. Need I say more?

In late breaking news, I think a few more were rounded up.

In sum, just another example of "our" arrogance--we (naively? diabolically?) impose our will throughout the world when it takes a military operation just to take care of things at home. And I use the phrase "take care of things" loosely.