A cheese grater, or “shredder” as they are known in the Eastern United States, is a device that turns large portions of cheese into small slivers or crumbs to flavor certain kinds of food. Graters can be found in many kitchens—especially the kitchens of people who regularly eat pasta.
Of all the western kitchen utensils, it is always the cheese grater that comes to mind when hearing, reading, or talking about the American invasion of Iraq. It may be that the invasion now lacks the once-dominant flavor of Bush administration confidence and it could use a few shreds of aged progressio to spice it up again. Or the grater may be the perfect kitchen utensil to represent the invasion because once one learns how to use the grater, one never wants to put it down—you grate and grate away until your once-whole block of cheese is reduced to a huge pile of crumbs, most of which you’ll inevitably have to throw away or feed to the dogs.
There are only a few amazingly dedicated Bush disciples who will deny that the US basically shredded the state of Iraq for the purpose of American consumption. But it now appears that one little Bushy is trying to put things in the region back together again.
“We are...religious like many of you are…. We have many things in common,” First Lady Laura Bush told a dozen Emirati women at a leadership-training program.
According to an AFP report, Mrs. Bush explained to the women that working on “the things we have in common” would help build understanding between countries. She said it was important to “reach out to each other” and dispel stereotypes.
The First Lady arrived in Abu Dhabi last Sunday to begin a tour of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Jordan, designed to raise awareness about breast cancer, but also to help restore the US image so badly damaged by the Iraq war.
So shall we forget about cheese graters? I mean breast cancer is something we can all unite against, right? American, Iraqi, Sunni, Shiite, we can all pretty much agree that breast cancer is no good, so let’s just stop arguing and killing each other, sit down, and listen to First Lady Bush talk about something totally unrelated to the fact that her husband is directly responsible for the destabilization of the region and the death of around 80 thousand people in Iraq alone.
It is to Mrs. Bush’s credit that she reached out to the Arab world with care and sensitivity, knowing that many women in the region are deeply confused about what they should hate—the Bush administration or cancer.