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A Second Opinion
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to
get its pants on." Sir Winston Churchill.
Louis Armstrong and Beethoven will be remembered long after George W. Bush and
his Axis of Oil unless the latter change their tune.
Why is war so damn popular with the United States of Amnesia? The families, receiving
their boys’ flag-draped body bags back home, are having a hard time believing
that the liberation of oil is really worth the price they are coming to understand
all too clearly. Iraq is a country destroyed. The rest of us are just upset at
the rising price of gasoline.
Yet, while families of those laying siege and those besieged suffer, profits are
being made. The military charges taxpayers very high rates for everything shipped
to war zonesincluding fuel. Remember the toilet seats the military bought for
$100 a pop? Very expensive poop. Hummers for the military don’t come cheap
either, and they consume vast amounts of this over-priced imported, and then re-exported,
military diesel fuel. The price of gasoline in Iraq and Iran was about two cents
a liter prior to the invasion. Now, that is really annoyingand the big multinationals
are humming all the way to the bank.
And yet pirates, whether presidents or kings, hate accountability. How can George
W. and his Axis of Greed be brought to account?
Most people support a fair war; if an army invades, we defend ourselves. But invading,
without UN sanction, a country that has been devastated by a decade-long embargo,
under the false pretense it harbors weapons of mass destruction is really dishonest.
The US did it anyway. The next Axis of Opportunity is Iran which also has a lot
of oil.
Could there be "plausible cause" for the US, or one of its proxies,
to blow up the UN headquarters in Baghdad and then blame it on Iran? Consider:
First, the UN might be brought into line and allow its member nations to provide
UN peacekeepers to take orders directly from US generals; second, Sergio Vieira
de Mello, having brought peace to East Timor against the wishes of oil companies,
and having annoyed the US by demanding that human rights and the rule of law prevail
in all countries, might be eliminated; and third, staging the moral equivalent
of Pearl Harbor might justify invading Iranafter all, the events of 9/11 produced
a similar scenario. Those Iranian villains (as seen on TV) are B-A-D folks, and
we just have to invade, err, I mean, liberate the Iranian people!
The US foreign interest liberation army can find terrorists behind any bush where
there is money to be made. It would seem that the principles of the UN Declaration
of Human Rights and the laws of the International Court are of absolutely no consequence
to Bush’s regime should they impede the will of the US. If you’re
with US, you’re innocent; if you’re against US, you’re guilty.
Might makes right, and this new "right" distorts what we know as truth
and the ensuing justice.
All of the resources of the USfinancial, military and mediaare brought to bear
when resistance threatens Ameri-can preeminence anywhere in the world. Raw American
power fueled the juggernaut which rolled into Iraq.
Many international media representatives were present at the UN news conference
when it was bombed August 22, but few, if any, embedded American journalists were
there. On April 8, the US killed independent journalists when an American tank
shot depleted uranium (DU) munitions into their media headquarters at the Palestine
Hotel earlier in the invasion. Better dead than read, if you are not embedded.
If the eloquence and devotion of a Sergio Vieira de Mello threatens to dampen
the US profit lust, well... such a person can be dealt with.
Could the love of money really be the root of all this evil?
Imagine that monstrous profits from war be capped. Imagine that contracts for
any war and its subsequent reconstruction be opened for tender rather than given
to the company with the most powerful government friend. Imagine taxpayers getting
the best not to mention the least morally repugnant bang for their buck. Let’s
live under no illusion: This is heresy to the Bushites and all fundamentalist
militarists.
Here is a modest proposal. Cap profit margins on all materials and services, bought
or supplied to the military and for any aspect of any war effort. The citizens
of the world’s largest democracy decide on a profit margin of between one
and ten percent. Not 100 to 1,000 percent or more, as the "game" is
now played. For instance, the US could buy gasoline for the two cents a liter
retail price from Iran instead of a ridiculously expensive landed price from Texas.
War uses a lot of oil. You do the math.
War is deadly attractive to bankers, insurers and other corporatists especially
when they fix the prices. Furthermore, the collusion, manipulation or just plain
intimidation keep citizens in the dark.
If big bucks can only make a modest return on foreign war portfolios, then financial
resources would be committed to higher-yield and more socially responsible investment.
Hell, if prices were fiscally prudent, citizens could afford two wars for the
price of one.
Dream big. Think globally and talk locally. Welcome to the beginning of the world
you want to live in.
We would all do well to ponder the following story. A deeply religious man was
praying to God when a beggar came by and asked for food. This annoyed the high
priest who resentfully handed some nourishment to the fellow and whisked him away
so he, the holy one, could get back to his more serious task. The mediator was
extremely upset that God would allow such poverty on Earth without providing for
them. So in his prayers he asked God, "Why have you not provided help and
support for the poor?" God responded, "My dear child, I have provided
for them... I created you."
"We don’t need a war on terrorism,we need a war on militarism."
Michael Franti.
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