I’ve been very busy for the past week. My wife and daughter came down with a nasty flu (multiple, actually, as they each had their own viruses), I started a new job, and I just haven’t been keeping up with current events. Oh, I know that we’re bombing Baghdad, and we still haven’t dragged Saddam’s corpse through the streets or anything.
Although I did read that Ari Fleischer, fork-tongued demon from the foulest pits of hell, announced that we really don’t need to kill/capture/brutally sodomize Mr. Hussein in order to win after all. Well, that’s a relief. Look how we won in Afghanistan without finding Osama. Thank goodness Bush backed off from “Dead or Alive”, huh?
Fortunately, the media is willing to drop the matter, too. No one is pressing “The White House” about these things. (That being Fleischer, as Bush isn’t allowed to speak without a well-rehearsed script.) So Saddam goes free, Osama goes free, and, hey, remember that whole “anthrax in the mail” thing? Yeah, it’s just a vague blur, isn’t it? But, um, yeah, that’s could’ve been Saddam, too. Hell, we know that we sold him anthrax; maybe he was just trying to return it, like an overdue library book or something.
All I’m certain of is that it’s going to take a hell of a long time for America’s reputation to recover. Sure, we were disliked before, but that was just due to a perception of arrogance. Now the rest of the world has ample proof that we’re arrogant, brutish thugs.
Before I really get going, let me just say that George McGovern’s article is a far better writer than I am. That article is wonderful. Don’t drop out after the first few paragraphs, Lictor.
So McGovern covers it, but let me get my two cents in: All of this, this war, this unilateralism, this paranoia, this Homeland Security, this pro-Bush media frenzy, this base, virulent propaganda, all of this, is not America. This is the essence of the frightened bully, lashing out without thought, without consideration of the consequences. America has a reputation, and a history to live up to, and we’re not doing it. We don’t imprison indefinitely, we don’t strip away rights in the name of dubious safety, we don’t issue baseless, vague “terror alerts” to distract attention, and we don’t threaten those who disagree with us.
But that’s exactly what’s happening. Everything has become Us vs. Them, and God is on our side, and if you disagree, then there’s a mob waiting to meet you. There’s no reason why people should have to explain that anti-war does not mean anti-soldier. Dammit, read a little. Go out and read something by Stephen Ambrose, say Band of Brothers. War isn’t something to be embraced, to be entered into with a smirk and a swagger; it’s to be avoided at all costs.
Think of the idea of the American Hero: The Hero doesn’t strike first. Ever. The Hero has a code of honor. The Hero gets the crap beaten out of him by the Bad Guys, and then, and only then, does he pick himself up, dust himself off, and strike back. But only because has to, not because he wants to. Oh, sure, this is an ideal, but here’s the point: We only attack with a just cause, and only because it needs to be done. We do it grudgingly, and with regret.
But we’re stuck with an administration of people who, with one exception, lived through Vietnam, agreed with our involvement in Vietnam, found excuses not to serve, and evidently didn’t learn a damned thing. Or else they did learn something, but not what they should have learned. The lives of others are cheap, but their political and financial fortunes are paramount. They learned enough to intimidate the opposition, to ensure the media’s subservience, and therefore get what they want.
“Fuck Saddam. We’re taking him out.” (And the original source.) So said Bush in March of 2002, a year before the war. Of course this was all premeditated; of course he lied about caring about the UN’s decision. We’re being lied to, manipulated, and, hey, that’s the new America.
This is all a watered-down, chaotic rant. Months of base hypocrisy and outright lies tend to wear one down (For example, it’s evil when Iraqi troops wear civilian uniforms, but perfectly acceptable when U.S. troops do so). It’s difficult to keep the bile flowing. But whichever side you’re on, this campaign of deception, the lies, the backpeddling, the character slurs, the slurping media lovefests and smear campaigns, the sheer, outright McCarthyism of the Us versus Mythical “Them” fear-mongering...it’s a goddamn cancer. My grandfather fought in Europe in World War II. He fought the real Hitler, and not some tinpot ratings-building Dictator of the Month. The conservative Right needs a Hitler, needs an enemy that they can point to in order give vent to their hatred. Because that’s all they seem to do. It was the Communist Menace, then the Hippies, then Clinton, then Osama, and now it’s Saddam and damned anti-war protesters again. Freedom of thought? Fuck that, you think what they want you to think, you believe in their God, you accept money poured into their defense industry, you get your ass in line. To them, every opposing view is a Threat to America, but it’s an America that only existed (if at all outside their minds) sometime in the early 1950s. When people knew their place, when the White Man was secure in his power.
The only vision our leaders are offering is their deluded vision of a perfect world, and it’s a damned scary place.
Ten minutes to midnight. After all that, you’ll probably be happy to know that I’ll be getting some sleep now.