Posted on 03/24/2003 11:14:44 AM PST by Maedhros
"What a country calls its vital economic interests
are not the things which enable its citizens to live,
but the things which enable it to make war."
-- Simone Weil (1909-1943), French Philosopher
Once again, after almost a decade has passed,
the fiendish roar of American and British jets echoed
in the suburbs of Baghdad, Iraq, and a deadly rain
of bombs once again hits one of the oldest cities on
earth.
Immediately, the corporate media rushed to the
airwaves to promote the bombings, and Bush
Administration officials announced that the aerial
attacks on the Iraqi capital were acts of
"pre emptive self-defense."
Once again, the corporate-political media launch
into the demonization game, with attacks on a
"Hitler"-like Saddam Hussein, with foreboding
threats of Iraq developing "weapons of mass
destruction," -- yeah, uh huh.
George Bush II announces that this, his first
substantive international action (other than a
contemporaneous photo-op with Mexico's
Vicente Fox), was meant to "send a message"
to Hussein. His Dynastic, Unroyal Highness did
not deign to tell his subjects what the "message"
really was.
This writer will try.
The great English writer, George Orwell, in
his prophetic novel of an intrusive, panoptic,
totalitarian state, "1984", illustrated with
brilliant clarity the capacity of such states to
utilize words that mean exactly the opposite
of what they were proferred to mean. In "1984"
the State states:
"War is peace. Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength."
Similarly, "Weapons of Mass Destruction"
is a term that evokes fear, but fear stifles
thought and cripples reason.
Consider the fact that never has either
Israel or the apartheid-era South Africa been
described as states wielding "Weapons of
Mass Destruction," although both possessed
nuclear capabilities.
If having a 'weapon of mass destruction' is
a violation of international law, then the USA
must be a global criminal, for no nation
possesses so much nuclear weaponry
(moreover, no nation has formerly used
such weapons -- except the US).
If most Americans are asked to name the
country that sells the most arms to the rest
of the world, even reasonably well-informed
folks would say, "Russia," "China," "France,"
or "Brazil." Few would answer, "USA."
In selling weapons the US truly is 'Number One.'
Iraq waged a bitter and vicious war for almost
a decade against her Shi'a neighbor and
rival, Iran. Almost a million men, women and
babies perished in that southwest Asian
holocaust. Guess who sold the most arms
to Saddam Hussein's army?
The United States of America.
Back during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War,
it was the Ayatullah Khomeini who was being
demonized by the media. Iraq's Hussein was
"our guy."
What the bombing of Iraq was and still is
all about -- is oil.
Don't take my word for it.
Several years ago, when another US-UK
bombing spike was going on, an American
general, Brig. William Looney, spoke openly
of the "message" that America was trying to
send to Iraq:
"If they turn on the radars we're going to
blow up their goddamn SAMs (surface-to-
air missiles). They know we own their
country. We own their airspace ... We
dictate the way they live and talk. And
that's what's great about America right
now. It's a good thing, *especially when
there's a lot of oil out there we need*."
-- (Blum, Wm., p. 159, *Rogue State*,
Common Courage, 2000)
The general sez, "oil." Shouldn't he know
why Iraq is being bombarded?
This is the Voice of Empire, as real and as
omnipotent as any empire in history; the Roman,
the Byzantine, or the Ottoman Empire. And
empires do what they do for one real reason:
they can.
Copyright MAJ '01
From overhead the words resonated: So long as the Arabs fight ... so long will they be a little people, a silly people, greedy, barbarous, and cruel, as you are Saddam.
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