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 | | Ben Heine / MWC NEWS |
It is equally impossible for me to countenance how anyone can continue to support in any way the greatest of their criminal enterprises: the War in Iraq. In spite the constant flow of revelations of the illegality, immorality and complete impracticality of this war on any level of scrutiny, many people, including Congressional Democrats insist on arguing the incongruous rhetoric of “victory” as if we have any alternative to ignominious defeat.
It is so amazing to note that the same dunderheads that argued us into Vietnam then blamed those with the sense to leave for better or worse, rather than those who unwisely took over for the French in what was proclaimed in advance as a sure recipe for defeat and disaster. Now this same idiot scenario is once again being played out in Afghanistan, Iraq and perhaps even Iran. Before the banner of ‘We Support our Troops” even the most ardent pacifist wilts and cowers into silence. Somehow the anti-war alternate, “We Support Our Troops – Bring Them Home Now!” just doesn’t cut it. These mottos and slogans seem to hold us in the grip of a hypnotized spell that even those few of us who see the manipulation are incapable of breaking. Few campaigns have been as pernicious or as effective as this campaign to support our troops. Many have tried to vault between the horns of this dilemma, to run the tricky gauntlet of supporting the troops but not the war, only to be snagged by the paradox of confronting the fact that these soldiers, many (most?) of these men and women, are volunteers who either out of misguided manipulations, downright ignorance or even malice of forethought are deeply supporting this immoral, illegal mission willingly at the cost of their lives. I assert that it is impossible to support the troops without supporting the mission. I find this position not unlike hypothetical arguments for supporting the child-soldier but not his atrocities, supporting the burglar but not the burglary, supporting the rapist but not the rape. Loving the sinner but not the sin? I suppose someone of transcendent Buddhist persuasion could affirm the support of our troops as sentient beings always worthy of our compassion regardless of their behavior. Of course then I would have to give the same support to the insurgents, el Qaeda, the Taliban and Tony Soprano. I take no delight in the death of anyone, be he Saddam or PFC Smith, but I swear to you that I would rather see ten young American soldiers die than have the hair of one innocent Iraqi child harmed. I also know that, if I were not a pacifist and also not a devout physical coward and if I called Iraq my home, I would be doing my best to kill as many Americans as possible. I suppose one could confront these soldiers and try to persuade them of the patent illegality and immorality of their enterprise. Somehow I think that this would not be a very successful task. Our energies can be better spent in attempting to dissuade young people from joining in the first place. All attempts must be made to present the reality of what being a member of the military in this moment of US history fully means and especially how it can impact on the lives of these young people. If we could only cut the supply of cannon fodder in this conflict, it would not be necessary even to cut funding. To my mind, this is one action that could actually bear fruit. In conclusion then we must do everything possible to eradicate the mindset that our leaders, Democrat and Republican, have done to convince us that they have either the interest or the ability to insure our freedom or safety. First of all our security is now wholly our own responsibility now that they have abdicated it. In spite of what looks like some actual Congressional oversight in terms of domestic infringement of the administration into our liberties, the Democrats remain unable and sometimes even unwilling to rock the boat in terms of ether foreign policy or the mid-east wars of conquest. This government has no desire to surrender its ill-gotten power in Iraq. That is why there is only talk among the Democrats of “strategy” in Iraq not withdrawal. Even in the chatter about “timed redeployment” there is never a mention of the permanent bases or any thought of abandoning our dominance of Iraq, our domination of its political system, its location or its oil. Most of the leading Democratic presidential candidates like Hillary and Obama, et al – the ones that the DNC will finally determine are milquetoast enough to appeal to the mythical mainstream will never oppose the neocon plans for the mid-east or the world and never, never be critical of the government of Israel. In the final analysis, I don’t think it is too much of an over simplification to say that the only people who are against this war and the occupation of Iraq are a majority of the American people and a majority of the Iraqi people who want us gone yesterday. 78% of Iraqis oppose the presence of coalition forces. Most shocking of all is – a majority (51%) of Iraqis regarded the killing of US forces as acceptable – a reasonable reaction, all things considered. ALL the Sunnis want every occupying American dead. These figures reveal the truth that our government has as little concern for the wishes of the Iraqis we are pretending to liberate as it has for the liberty and safety of the American people. As I survey the current political landscape, the only people I can find who support and benefit from the continued conflict in Iraq and who will profit from our perpetual forced occupation of the mid-east are the majority of the two corrupt, complicit political parties in this country, the war profiteers, the oil companies, the torturers and other moral degenerates like (what I hope at the time of your reading this will be) the ex Attorney General - and al-Qaeda. Each of us must look into his/her conscience and decide whom you identify with. There is no longer any middle ground upon which to stand – no fence upon which to sit. The words of the 1931 miners’ labor song: “Which Side Are You On?” resonates with new meaning and force. Bob Boldt is a Political Cartoonist, and an associate editor at MWC News Recommend this article...
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