Because You Never Asked

Operation Iraqi Freedom

            America's latest attempt to promote peace, harmony and goodwill through death and destruction, is now about ten days old. Although my thoughts on the matter are still somewhat fragmented, a few spheres of clarity are beginning to take form and crystallize.

            For one such as I --- and, I suspect, for the millions of Americans who are incredulous in realizing that the United States of America, their country, could possibly stoop to such wickedness --- there are certain analogous images from other times in history that have begun to focus in my mind's picture bank.
         Imagine what it must have been like for a clear thinking German during the formative years of Hitler's Reich. Imagine being able to recognize the oncoming madness as it insidiously worked its way into the fabric of German culture. Imagine your frustration as it stealthily wrapped its hands around the throat of all dissent until its message had monopolized the discourse. Imagine seeing most of your friends, relatives and coworkers falling prey to this lunacy
            Imagine your feeling of dismay and helplessness.
    Certainly, in comparing Nazi Germany with the current situation in the Disney States of America, there are differences of degree. American dissent is surely more numerous and given more avenues to express itself. But it has become a cosmetic voice of dissent, let loose in just the correct dose necessary to give the message of the "Military-Industrial-Media Complex" (see essay "September 11^th") the legitimacy it needs. It is an ingenious form of vaudeville that is becoming more and more sophisticated as commercial television moves into its second half century as the mouthpiece for the "established order". Persuasion, be it in the form of a Hummer commercial, a sitcom, or an attempt to sell "Operation Iraqi Freedom", is the #1 industry in the American driven global economy. At times, even advertisers, public relations people and propaganda shamans of all stripes, be they for commercial or political interests (which are generally the same thing), err in their judgments and have a difficult time selling whatever it is they are pushing. This war and its aftermath may be one of these moments. But now that it has begun, the fabrication of false imagery becomes easier. The question as to the war's morality and legitimacy has now been buried and forgotten under a barrage of heroic bellicose images. Glorifying the troops in their courageous defense of liberty has now become as easy and resounding as a wide open slam dunk.

            I, along with millions of my compatriots, currently feel the same dismay and helplessness of those clear thinking Germans of the 1930's.
           But the Nazi analogy does not end there. Perhaps the most striking similarity between Hitler's Germany and Bush's America is manifested in the blind confidence each nation had-has in itself. Both nations, with the use of strikingly similar propaganda devices (see essay "September 11^th"), were-are thoroughly convinced of the righteous nature of their cause. Americans, as did the Nazi era German, feel no guilt in the death and destruction rained down in their name because, in the end, they will be making a better world for all, one in their own image, one that no one could possibly reject. The German arrogance of the 30's and 40's was based upon a racial superiority they eventually came to believe. "We are smarter, stronger, more industrious." The sooner they took over and weeded out the inferior strains of humanity, the better off the world would be. America's contemporary arrogance is based upon a "way of life", on the idea that we are free, that we have liberty, democracy, that --- and this is the most arrogant of all --- we are happier than the rest of you. "Don't worry, once we blow your country to powdered milk, we'll build it back up again and you can have a McDonald's in every neighborhood too. You'll love it. Trust us."
           Obviously, Germany's racial pretensions were a more lunatic form of arrogance than the Wal-Mart life style superiority so fervently believed in by those now glued to "American Idol". But it might also be said that the Nazis were more honest in their pretensions. Unlike the Bushian Americans, who have to throw up a smokescreen of liberty, freedom, democracy and such in order to camouflage their true imperial designs, Hitler and his Huns were out front with who they were and why they behaved as they did. It was certifiably nuts, but less hypocritical and cowardly than what us Americans are currently up to. Perhaps the point of this paragraph can best be summed up in the following thought: Hitler was a soldier; Bush was a draft dodger.

            If you are not one of the approximately 6 billion people who are unfamiliar with these essays, by now you should know that the author has spent a goodly amount of time trying to unmask the media sleight of hand that eventually legitimizes such barbaric acts as "Operation Iraqi Freedom" (excuse me while I relieve a sudden wave of nausea). For those of you who still believe in the virginal, lily pure motives of your country's destructive passion, I will now try something different in an effort to de-program your polluted minds; something more simple, more primal, more vernacular and hopefully more effective for the Monday night football yokels that so manically support these acts of global mayhem.
           If an athlete says it's not the money --- it's the money.
           If a coach says he's happy where he is --- he will soon be leaving.
           If management gives a vote of confidence to a coach or manager --- he will soon be fired.
           If a boxer acts like it didn't hurt --- it hurt.
           If Hollywood stars say they are happily married --- they will soon divorce.
           If Hollywood stars say they would like to do something more serious --- they will continue to do crap.
           If a politician says he hasn't made up his mind --- he's running.
          If a news organization claims to be objective --- they have an agenda.
          If Fox News repetitively says, "We report, you decide" it means --- "we spin it, you swallow it".
          If a country is waging war for freedom, liberty and democracy --- it is doing such for anything but .
          If a country is waging war for its enemy's own good --- it is only trying to help itself.
          If a country says it's not the oil --- it's the oil.
          If a President repetitively says he wants peace --- he wants war.
          Does Tiger Woods have to always be telling us what a good golfer he is?
          Have I made any headway in convincing you? Does it still come as a shock to you that we are not killing, maiming and destroying for freedom and democracy, but rather, for wealth and power?
           I'll keep trying.

            In writing about "Operation Iraqi Freedom", I find myself magnetically drawn to some discussion of the American flag, which has taken center stage not only in this conflict, but every time we dubiously flex our military muscle.
            What is a flag but a symbol of something? Contrary to the American Legion rhetoric we crassly hear from people like "Mini-Me" Bush, who's combat record is similar to that of Sheryl Crowe's, nobody goes to war to defend a flag. But we do defend whatever that flag supposedly symbolizes. If the stars and stripes are to continue symbolizing what the "prevailing wisdom" says it does, then the burning of it, which is no less a symbol than the flag itself, can never be considered a crime.
           More so than freedom, more so than democracy --- two concepts that have been overly romanticized in American folklore --- the American flag has stood more for "opportunity" than anything else. But the last half-century of "Yanqui imperialism" has given the flag new meaning. Before discussing that, let's further examine this "opportunity" idea.
           The wave of immigration that saw all four of my grandparents arrive to America at the beginning of the 20^th century, was a different animal than the poverty stricken, 3^rd world migrations of today, desperately beating on the opulent mansion doors of North America and western Europe. My grandparents, and the millions like them, were leaving behind stagnant, tired, old world cultures whose socio-political evolution had still not reached a point where they could provide for the populations tightly packed within their borders. Further sweetening the migratory impulse was the adolescent muscle of American industry in need of cheap quantities of labor. The immigration reality at the turn of the 20^th century was something that made sense for both the donor and receiving nations. (For more, see essay "Immigration").
           The same cannot be said for contemporary immigration patterns. Today's contraband immigrant, primarily from Africa going to Europe and Latin America going to the United States, is fleeing exploited countries, not stagnant ones. They are leaving behind countries that have been raped by the global economy and trying to enter the wealthy, rapist nations of the north. "If you can't beat them, join them." Loosely speaking, these Afro-Latino immigrants are going over to the enemy. Who can blame them?
           But, whereas the migrations that brought my grandparents to these shores were a positive development, not just for the United States, but for the world in general, resolving various and sundry problematic situations, the desperation immigration trying to sneak into Europe and America today is not resolving any of the problems facing the global community. These immigrants are on the last train out, leaving behind hundreds of millions like them for whom nothing has changed. If conditions in the donor nations of the 3^rd world have not been improved --- and this is the most essential task facing contemporary mankind --- then the "opportunity" offered the very few that can reach the "promised land" is a hollow one, being neither necessary for the receiving nation, nor helpful for the exploited nation. Ergo, being the "land of opportunity" has become a meaningless thing.
            If the American flag can no longer be said to stand for opportunity in a sense that is healthy for the global community, what does it most stand for today?
           Before describing the flag's role in "Operation Iraqi Freedom" (I feel faint), it should be said that the attitude I see from America's rank and file as the massacre enters its second week, is that of embarrassed apathy. Most people are staying away from the subject, avoiding the war news, diverting their attentions with the usual things they amuse themselves with. (These are such "trying times" for Americans.) There is none of the fervor of Papa Bush's first Iraqi crusade, nor that which followed 9/11. Those presenting the flag in one form or another, usually on their vehicles, fall into the following categories:

            1) Anyone with a flag decal, bumper sticker, plaque, article of clothing, etc., accompanied by the words "these colors don't run", "united we stand", "proud to be an American", or "God bless America", not only supports "Operation Iraqi Freedom", but is in favor of America ass kicking anyone, at any time, for any reason given. If the government says we must destroy Vermont because Ben and Jerry's is artificially raising the price of cookie dough ice cream . "yeah, for freedom and democracy, kill the bastards!" Special mention must be made for the "God bless America" crowd, who no doubt believe that God is actively involved on our side as we destroy whoever and whatever we are destroying. This attitude makes them ideological brothers with Osama Bin Laden.

            Although I make no claim to any data proving my case, there seems to be a disproportionate amount of people in this category who are overweight (fat?) and drive around in empty Tahoes and Navigators.

            2) Anyone with a real flag flying from their motor vehicle is in favor of "Operation Iraqi Freedom". In fact, those with a flag flying from each side of the vehicle belong in category 1.

            3) Anyone with a flag decal, bumper sticker, plaque, article of clothing, etc., unaccompanied by any message (proud not to be French, etc.), is most likely in favor of "Operation Iraqi Freedom", but not always. Many of these flags are left over from 9/11, or are simple manifestations of patriotism that might exist without our imperial war machine going into action. But still . a healthy pro war majority.
What then, does the American flag now most stand for? Freedom? Democracy? Opportunity? No. It stands for WAR!

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Email: JerryG@postcman.info