"We're in desperate need of a Martin Luther King, a Mahatma Gandhi, a Nelson Mandela; the Midles East is in desperate need of somebody to rise up and lead. I always think about how nearly every major city in this country has a Martin Luther King Boulevard, King's picture is up in every classrom, we take a day off every year to celebrate him, and everyone universally admires him--but we all know what he would say about the Iraq war. We turn a blind eye to the things we know he would tell us."

It feels strange to quote Ethan Hawke. But that's who said it. It's from a very short interview by Julie Delpy in the new issue of Interview. It really touched me. It's so simple and so obvious. It drives home how desperately we need leadership and how quickly things can turn from bad to worse in its absence.

• Interview Magazine (this piece appears only in the print version)

previously on wtg:

• R.I.P. Rosa Parks
• Chernobyl's Legacy
• Ariel Sharon
• John Kerry: "This Is The Katrina Administration"
  
• Santorum Does It Again: "We Found WMD!"
• G.W. Bush and "Hard Work"
  
• Clay Bennett on Iraq's Burgeoning Theocracy
• Signe Wilkinson on Iraqi Women and Islamic Law
• Nick Anderson on Journalist In Iraq
  

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