Because You Never Asked

 

 

     (This essay was written in the early 90’s right after Papa Bush’s first Gulf War. As I put it up on my website in 2007, I was struck by how so much of what I’ve said about his son’s tragic escalation of what he started, was already percolating back then. There are also some prophetic aspects involved, which no self respecting chicken soup philosopher can let go unnoticed. This essay should be read in conjunction with the one to follow, “Kuwait”.)

 

     Although I’ve already devoted time to the Gulf War, I find myself helpless in not pursuing this theme further, partly due to a recent incident in my life, as well as the strong feelings I have on the subject. The “oil war” has been somewhat of a milestone in my life, one that has sapped my strength and made me feel, to some extent, like a man without a country. The war in the Persian Gulf corroborated a certain degree of wickedness I suspect underlies our western culture. The rather passive acceptance of this wickedness by my own people has left a deep psychic wound in me.

 

     The incident referred to above took place between an old friend and myself. Through no fault of his (that leaves me), we were discussing the Gulf War. Being that I’ve always felt a great affection for this person, his expression of some positions I found untenable, had me rather disappointed. This set me off on an uncalled for, out of place, tactless tirade (his elderly mother was also present) which I shall forever feel like a hopeless idiot for.

 

     A pox on you Gulf War! --- for a thousand different reasons.

 

     But there is no sense writing this stuff if I don’t say what I feel.

 

     Due to a kind of squeamish national guilt, we decided to downplay the real petroleum reasons for the military action, justifying our behavior, instead, with a whole host of rationalizations. One excuse was the evilness of the Iraqi leader, Saddam “Darth Vader” Hussein. It was rotundly decided by those responsible for the “truth”, that such evil, for the sake of drive-thru eating and the Magic Kingdom, could not go unchallenged. It wasn’t long before comparisons with this country’s standard for evil, Adolph Hitler, had become routine media fodder. With frightening ease, a despicable villain had been created upon whom we could gleefully vent our aggressive cultural tendencies. We now had an “enemy” and we really hated him. (It’s interesting to note that Saddam, no more than 5 years before, was an ally-friend of the United States.)

 

     This was beginning to be fun.

 

     My friend’s rather passive, albeit half-hearted acquiescence in these turn of events, ignited my unfortunate discourse. He even made a vague remark (it had to be vague, I was hogging all the energy) evidencing a certain sympathy for the plight of Kuwait (more in next essay). I began to scold him as to how Saddam Hussein would be about as famous as a stock clerk at K-Mart if not for our piggy, consuming, hyper-material way of life, that he was just a creation of our vision of life on this planet. Not being an ignorant man, he could see the logic of my assertions, and yet, he somehow felt Hussein was more responsible for all this than George Bush and his henchmen (and all of us in general).

 

     In spite of whatever personal brutality or other unenlightened actions Saddam Hussein is allegedly guilty of, I can’t swallow that line of reasoning.

 

     Saddam and George are performers in the same movie. The script is a disaster ready to happen for all mankind, but it is the Bushes of the world who wrote it and they are the stars of the show. They are the direct heirs of those responsible for the colonial exploitation of the raw materials needed to fuel the Industrial Revolution. They are the leaders of the industrial world, those in charge of the “karmic factory” that is producing the dominant model for life on this planet. Hussein is simply a supporting actor who got too big for his green beret. Hussein is just a bi-product of this process, some of the psychic pollution emitted in the production of the occidental mind set. This pollution was beginning to smell a bit too strongly, even for the likes of the Bushes of the world, forcing them to invest some in cleaning it up. But it was only a cosmetic, superficial solution. As long as the “Occidental Karmic Factory”  continues its business as usual mode, there will be more emissions to clean up later on, in one form or another; wars, terrorists, neurosis, crime, physical pollution --- business as usual.

 

     Which brings me to --- (see essay “Kuwait”).