05 April 2006

It never stops

The Bush administration is working towards war with Iran. Iran has been testing weapons systems of late. New missiles, new torpedoes, and other weapons. This is a threat to Bush. Bullshit!
If my neighbor tells me he is going to kick the crap out of me, throw me out of my house and do what he pleases with my property, I have a right to defend myself. Going to town and buying a shotgun is NOT a threat to him. It is my self defense. This is what Iran is currently doing.
Bush has threatened Iran with everything, up to and including, nuclear weapons. What does he expect them to do? Just stop making any sort of defensive weapons and tell him, OK, just come and throw out our elected government? I doubt any American would feel like doing or saying anything of the sort if the situation were reversed.
Iraq, the killing of civilians continues. Of course it does. Iraq is very much like Viet Nam in that our troops are fighting an enemy that does not wear a uniform. It is a guerilla war. Even if you had a "score card" you could never tell the "bad guys" from the "good guys". Just like Viet Nam. So, when an IED explodes and kills or wounds a fellow Marine or soldier, the rest of the troops near by feel the need to take revenge on some one. Any one. If all the people close by are innocent civilians, well, that is their tough luck. Some on, any one, has to pay for their buddies being killed and/or wounded. Viet Nam was like that, so is Iraq, and Afghanistan also. That is how guerilla wars are done. I do not condone this, I just know that it is how these wars go. Been there, seen that. It all becomes reaction, emotional reaction. Right and wrong are not considered. My buddy was just killed/wounded, some "rag head" must pay for this. Substitute any other racial or ethnic slur and you get the picture.
This is how war destroys all who are involved. These acts, like all acts in this life, create memories. And as the song says, memories are like star light, they go on forever. PTSD is a life long disorder. The next war will bring back the memories of this current war. The memories do NOT lessen with age. Hell, I think they get worse with age. They are impossible to get rid of. Drugs, booze, they are temporary crutches. Long term, they do even more harm. You cannot hide from your memories. Hell, try to hide from any part of yourself. Can't be done. Maybe clone yourself and the clone, not having your memories might be able to hide from you. Of course the original you will still be stuck, for life, with your memories. Life sucks sometimes.
Another rant. It is time to quit talking about "private military contractors" or "private security contractors". Call them what they really are. Mercenaries. Hired guns. And they are NOT like the old Richard Boone character Palladian. These are people who sell their services to the highest bidders. They kill for money. That is their choice. Do not ever ask me to feel sorry for them when they are killed or wounded. They do not follow any international laws. They do not have to answer to a chain of command, just to their paymasters. They do not deserve the respect due to "regular" military troops. These hired guns make huge amounts of money, much more than our troops get paid. They do take risks, but seem to have the support of our military leadership. I imagine they get air support when needed.
Why go on about this? Well, the killing of four such "contractors" was huge news in the USA a few short years ago. What a crock. Regardless of their citizenship, they were hired guns, not regular troops. They had no loyalty to any country, just to whomever signed their pay checks. You want to give hired guns military status? Fine, next war, fight it with ONLY hired guns. See how much of a tax cut that will get you. The use of these "private militaries" should be a war crime, if it isn't. Yes, the death of any human being saddens me, but I will shed no tears for the mercenary. The hired guns get away with whatever they do. No accountability. If these hired guns torture prisoners they do not face court martial. They just get re-assigned to some other "trouble spot" else where. Not even a pay cut, and probably a pay raise. If they claim to be professionals, well, so do Mafia hit men claim such status. I see no difference. A hired killer, is just that, whether it is the government (through the back door of course) who pays them, or some Mafia don, it is the same. A hired killer is just that. Plain and simple.
On a lighter note, every American needs to read "Attention deficit Democracy" by James Bovard. In my opinion, this is one of the most important books about America in the last few years. Definitely a MUST read.
WAKE UP America. We are being sold into a new slavery of endless war.
Don't take my word for it. Check out www.Counterpunch.org. www.antiwar.com www.fff.org
www.democracynow.org www.tomdispatch.com www.lewrockwell.com These are just a few of the excellent real news sites on the web.
Read, learn, be informed! Do it NOW. Citizenship has implied duties along with the benefits. It is the DUTY of all citizens to be informed. Do NOT depend on any TV news station, they answer to the sponsors. Get the real news. Get informed and stay informed. WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As I am sure you know, the iran vs US war started back in the Reagan era when Iraq and Iran were at war with each other. The US navy moved right into the gulf to make sure that the oil flow kept flowing. The US was sneaky, they watched from the sidelines while hundreds of thousand if not millions of iraqi's and Irananiums killed each other off, all the while our oil tankers were pumping the wells for the black bood. However, we cannot allow Iran to arm itself with Nuclear weapons, they cannot be trusted, as they will launch them into Isreal the first chance they get. We may be killing thousands of people on the War on Terror, but how many have we saved? It is time to cleanse the world a bit, it is history repeating itself.