Bad history better swept under the rug
Front page of the San
Diego Union-Stars and Stripes-Tribune says it’s a time to reflect and instruct.
Just don’t reflect too much. SDU-T has
become a propaganda newspaper so would expect more patriotic propaganda from
teachers than investigative analysis.
“It was one of the worst tragedies in our history.” It
certainly was a dramatic tragedy. However, it certainly didn’t compare to the
Civil War or World War II. Actually, compared to other countries America has
been free of great tragedy. We’ve been a lot better at inflicting tragedy—the genocide
of the Native Americans, the enslavement of blacks and isolating them even
after they were freed. And there was the war against the Philippines:
“The war and occupation by the United States would change the cultural landscape of the islands,
as the people dealt with an estimated
34,000–1,000,000 casualties.” (Wikipedia)
Now that’s a tragedy. And there was he Mexican-American War,
which enabled the U.S. to steal a big chunk of Mexico. And then the Vietnam
War:
"Estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians
killed vary from fewer than one million
to more than three million. Some 200,000–300,000 Cambodians, 20,000–200,000 Laotians, and 58,220 U.S. service members also
died in the conflict.” (Wikipedia)
Except fore the young American men drafted into the military
the Vietnam War was not a tragedy for Americans, who could watch the war on TV
in the comfort of their homes. But it wasn’t so great for the Vietnamese, being
occupied by the world’s most advanced and sophisticated killing machine.
And the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have not been tragedies
for Americans. And after 9-11 the terrorists were not a serious threat to
Americans. George W. Bush tried to make the 9-11 attacks into the equivalent of
the attacks on Pearl Harbor. But after a few weeks only people suffering from hysteria
could continue to believe that there was a serious threat to the nation. Bin
Laden’s crew pulled off a remarkable coup, but that was all. Unlike Pearl
Harbor, no nation was responsible and no nation had declared war on the U.S. It
was an act of terrorism. That’s all.
But why would bin Laden want to do that? The answer to that
question is one teachers would want to avoid. Like they wouldn’t want to
explain the U.S.’s support of the many dictatorships in the region, including
bin Laden’s, Saudi Arabia. It’s still a dictatorship but it buys billions of
dollars worth of weapons from the U.S. Or explain our friendship with Saddam
Hussein. Check out Donald Rumsfeld (special envoy of President Ronald Reagan) with
Hussein:
Even though Hussein invaded Iran first, the U.S. was on his
side because the U.S. has always hated the Iranians. In 1953 the U.S. and Britain
helped to overthrown a democratically elected government in Iran so they could
install the Shag as their puppet dictator:
The teachers certainly won’t to talk about that. And why
didn’t George H.W. Bush’s take out Hussein when he had the chance during the First
Gulf War? Hussein had committed war crimes against Kuwait. Because Hussein was
an enemy of Iran. So you see the U.S. is quite capable of supporting really bad
people—not long ago Mubarak, Egypt’s form dictator, and until recently
al-Assad, dictator of Syria. Dictators will to tolerate the abuses of Israel
against the Palestinians were especially favored.
Along with Britain the U.S. supported the Jewish invasion of
Palestine. Europeans thought the Holocaust was evil, but that didn’t mean they
wanted the Jews invaded their country. The Palestinians were nobodies so let
the Jews invade the homeland of the Palestinians.
But don’t worry about teachers discussing America’s
inglorious history. They put students to sleep if they did that.
9-11 was an
opportunity
That’s right. The 9-11 attacks were just what the proIsrael,
antiMuslim neocons occupying White House were waiting for—War! A war that
really wasn’t a war for Americans but only for the Afghans and later the Iraqi.
Afghanistan hadn’t declared war on the U.S. No Afghan was involved in the attacks.
The Taliban—the Muslim patriots who would try to defend their homeland against
America’s Cyberdyne military machine—didn’t even know about the attacks.
Certainly don’t want to tell the kiddies that given they are most the people
the U.S. war machine has been killing in Afghanistan.
So it was an opportunity to crank of the U.S.
Military-Industrial Complex and make millions for the war profiteers, provide
lots of military jobs, and create a whole new entertainment genre. Like the new
BIG BUCKS book by one of the SEALs who assassinated bin Laden in his home. Usually
drones are the weapon of choice for such assassinations but Obama wanted a body
to guarantee his reelection. The title of the book is No Easy Day. You think being a SEAL is hard try being a American
coal miners. Each working day is dark and miserable:
Or try walking a mile in the shoes of a Taliban soldier.
Actually hundreds of miles.
You see the Taliban Reapers American soldier are fighting
have no planes, helicopters, tanks, or vehicles at all except perhaps pickup. And
as they march to battle carrying an AK-47 or a rocket launcher and wearing sandals
and a robe, they never know when an invisible helicopter or drone will take
them out. Unlike American soldiers Taliban fighters can pretty much assume they
will die when they engage the enemy, if only because it won’t be long before
the jets and attack helicopters will arrive.
For example, after 11 year of fighting about 2,017 U.S.
soldiers have been killed. That’s 183 solders per year. That is a small number
of a WAR. No one keeps count of how many Afghans have been killed. Often there
is nothing left of them to be counted. Here’s what a NO EASY DAY is like for
the Taliban:
It was only a war for
the Afghan and Iraqi people
For the neocons and the U.S. military the wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq were not really wars except for the Afghan and Iraqi people. Americana
were not threatened by either nation. Neither people had anything to do with
the 9-11 attacks. And neither nation had the military capability of threatening
America. The biggest threat to Americans continued to be other Americans. Since
the 9-11 attacks no less than 154,000 Americans have been murdered in this
country.
For the U.S. military the “wars” were military exercises,
the opportunity to test and develop new weapon systems and try out new tactics.
Afghanistan was okay but the military needed towns, so Iraq was chosen as the
place for urban warfare exercises.
And the soldiers involved were volunteers who most likely
grew up playing video games and wanted the opportunity to kill real people and
to use the fantastic weapons of mass destruction of the U.S. military. And the
risk is minimal given “In the decade since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Center, 2,333,972 American military personnel had
been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or both.” (“U.S. Veterans: By the Numbers”)
And if there was no risk at all what would be the fun.
War is profitable
And the wars meant spending trillions of taxpayer dollars that
would make war profiteers rich and keep the economy going until it ran out of
gas, which it did.
War is entertaining
All the shitters in on military bases provide the Koran for toilet
paper. A harmless joke. And what about those Mohammed dart boards.
And males soldier have a lot of fun with the female soldiers:
If you can’t rape the one you want (Afghan/Iraqi) rape the one you’re with.
Hey, and it’s caught on back home where 1 out of 5 American
women have been the victims of rape or attempted rape.
And Republicans will tell you girls that if you don’t want
to get pregnant just say No in your mind. Otherwise, just lie back and enjoy
the moment.
Sometimes fun means shooting civilians, a habit picked up
from the Taliban:
The Afghan and Iraq Wars have been all around entertaining,
at home and abroad. And one result has been the U.S. has become a totally
militarized nation that enjoys the movies and books about the wars and the
endless video games.
What’s next?
If the Republican kill cult gets into office—advised at prayer breakfasts by his holiness, the Most Reverend Terry Jones—Iran most definitely will be on the Nations To Kill List; and certainly
Russia, according to Romney America's number one foe; and America's banker, China; finally, Lord willing,
Armageddon. It's time to stock up on chips and beer.
