Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To War We Go!
The Bush administration has turned democracy into a cheap cliché in just four years
 

February 14 2005
Counterbias.com
by Jack Dalton
 

A headline in the Seattle Times reads: “Military Calls Iran War Plans Routine". When war planning becomes a “routine” matter you may rest assured that this nation has come full circle to become the very “monster” it has always professed to be fighting. Especially in lieu of the fact the wars this nation’s hawks are planning will be wars of their making; wars that the neo-con cabal has been planning and looking forward to for the past 15 years, if not longer.

 

“Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace” is exactly what this nation is being led into by a relatively small group of hard core neo-cons with an army of pundits, religious zealots, corporate greed merchants and “Mayberry Machiavellis” comprised of the Project for a New American Century, the Carlyle Group, the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Club for Growth, and the Federalist Society, all of whom are at the head of the Bush Administration parade attempting to redefine this nation. These are by no means all that comprise the menagerie of megalomaniacs pulling the strings of “government.” But these groups are pretty much at the top of the heap of those that formulate what the foreign and domestic policies emanating from the Bush Administration and Congress will be.

 

This isn’t rocket science; just a cursory look at the Project for the New American Century's statements and those coming from the American Enterprise Institute will bear me out on this. In fact the “members” of the PNAC, just a few short years ago, were known as the “crazies” throughout Washington, D.C. Now they are dictating U.S. policy, as half the PNAC is the governing body of this country. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Ledeen, Bolton, Feith, Perle—need I go on? Check out this 48 minute video on the Carlyle Group if you want your blood to run cold. The Bush Administration, PNAC, Carlyle, and the Federalist Society, for example, are all one in the same for all practical purposes as these people bounce back and forth between them all.

 

Two and a half years ago we in this nation were “sold” a bill of goods by these people about the absolute “crisis” Iraq posed to the security of the U.S. In a relatively short period of time every single reason articulated by Bush & Company proved to be one big scam perpetuated upon us by them. As a result of this Bush Administration war of choice over 100,000 people of Iraq are dead, with 60% of that number being innocent women and children. Over 1,400 U.S. soldiers have been killed, with that number increasing daily (and that number is understated by all accounts).

 

Now, today, we hear Bush, Condi Rice and the media pundits articulating the very same rhetoric about Iran. This comes as no surprise as the PNAC, which has been a “guiding” force for Bush and his war plans, stated in no uncertain of terms that after Iraq comes Iran then on to Syria, and this was said prior to 9/11. Bush/Cheney have been following the PNAC’s playbook from day one. I see no reason for them not to continue in terms of Iran, but then oil is in this mix also.

 

One “Crisis” after another says Bush Administration--when the only “Crisis” is Bush Administration.

 

We also are hearing Bush & Co., day after day, articulate one “crisis” after another, all generating non-stop ‘fear’ much the same way the invasion of Iraq was sold with fear. The purpose of which is to generate the necessary “manufactured consent” of the American people behind the creation of their “Necessary Illusions.” And the Bush administration has plenty of pundits and PR firms to help in the sales campaign.

 

The “crisis” in Iran; the “crisis” with social security; the “crisis” with lawsuits; the moral values “crisis”; all when the only crisis this nation faces is the one that has been created by those that are deliberately burying this nation in a level of unsustainable debt. And at the very same time turning the U.S. into a militarized empire, and one great big “third world” cheap pool of labor. We are being led down the same exact economic path as was Argentina when its economy went bust. Now that’s a crisis.

 

If you want to look at a “crisis”, here’s a good one for you. It started back in the early 90’s when Newt Gingrich gave the “gift” of the “Contract for America” to the nation. Along with this is the deliberate policy of “Starve the Beast”.

 

What Gingrich and Norquist laid out is in action right now, today. Gingrich, in a recent interview on Hannity and Colmes, stated one of his three main agenda points—getting “God” back in the center of government as a matter of policy. The religious zealots love that one, and it is currently being articulated in Congress.

 

“Starve the Beast” is up and running full steam ahead—it’s a deliberate policy of creating deficits so large that the government will be forced to cut programs across the country. Bush and Company has this down to an art form. Essentially all social safety net programs are on the chopping block: social security, Veterans Affairs. health care and benefits to veterans, Medicaid, education, state block grants, all those things that were put into place to be of help to those in this nation that “free market capitalism” leaves behind.

 

It is the entitlement programs these people view as a threat to democracy, freedom and liberty because according to them, these programs have created a “socialist welfare state” redistributing wealth downward. At least that is how the people running this nation view it. Sometimes it seems as though a feudal system would be more to their liking, with all us good little serfs doing as we’re told, fighting their wars. John Jay and Alexander Hamilton always did say, “The people who own the country ought to rule the country.” Not much seems to have changed.

 

The 2006 Bush budget calls for the axing of or significant fund reductions to 150  “unnecessary” government programs. While the poor get poorer, there will still be plenty of funding for the war department. The crisis we are faced with is what the militarization of the nation, under direction of the Bush Administration, is creating and costing us socially, economically, politically, morally and especially in terms of the cost to people’s daily lives in a hundred different ways as a result of this Bush war of choice in Iraq.

 

While Bush & Co. continue rattling their sabers and threatening nations around the globe, the European Union, China, Russia, Venezuela, Iran, and Brazil are starting to counter U.S. polices and threats with economic warfare of sorts.

 

See how much Bush and Company have accomplished in five years.  If this country does not change its direction, we will end as all other empires have ended—with an over-extended military, and the economy in the toilet. Good-bye noble experiment called "America". Our military is already over-extended and we are in serious economic hot-water. In the meantime we have a lot of people in uniform whose lives are being destroyed behind lies, cons and deception.

 

A  Cost of Militarization and War

 

Some people are starting to see through the disinformation. Some of those in uniform on active duty, those of whom have been to Iraq and seen the Bush war of “freedom and democracy” up close and too personal, have come away from it knowing that war and all its barbaric inhumanity (especially when propelled by greed), is not an answer to or for anything. The worst part is finding out after the fact you went to war for lies—those are bad demons to live with.

 

No longer is this nation content with having a defense force. The Bush bunch has transformed it into a military of aggression. And in the process this nation has become the monster it has professed to be fighting. People on active duty in the military are seeing this, objecting to it, and in a lot of cases are saying “no, I won’t go!” Sgt Kevin Benderman, Darrell Anderson, Adam Mowery, and Carl Webb are but four of them—however, the list goes on, increasing almost daily.

 

Over 5,500 active duty military have gone AWOL rather than be participants in the war in Iraq. There is a growing number of active duty military that have been to Iraq once and now, after coming home, have become war-resisters.

22 year old Darrell Anderson is one such young man. He enlisted in January 2003, mainly to have money for college, and, according to Darrell, “was ready to die for my country.” Seeing the war in Iraq as a participant changed him. He began to see the utter futility of war and he began to see thru the rhetoric of why he was there. In April, 2004, he was wounded by a roadside bomb.

 

Three months later, in July, he was sent back home. His mother, Anita, said Darrell seemed fine upon returning, but was deeply changed when he returned home again on leave for Christmas.

 

"He paced the floor constantly, never once slept through the night," Anita Anderson said of her son. "He would get up in the middle of the night and go out walking. He was having nightmares. He was depressed. He couldn't even watch a movie."

According to Darrell, in early April he was ordered to shoot at a car full of people moving in his direction, which he would not do. "This car kept coming, and the other guys were yelling, 'Why don't you shoot, why don't you shoot?' But I felt the car posed no threat. Then, the window of the car rolled down, and it was just an Iraqi family," Anderson said. "I said, 'Look it's just innocent people.' But they kept telling me, 'The next time, you open fire. We don't care."'

When Darrell was notified about going back to Iraq, he said no and went to Canada.

“They call me a deserter but it is not me that deserted; it’s my country that deserted its morals and been over taken by greed. When a country makes all its decisions based on money, it has no compassion for the people which their heartless decisions affect. I was willing to die to defend my country but they lied to me about what I was doing. I was sent to kill innocent people and die myself just so the rich could protect their investments. How long will the world stand by and let this unjust war go on and how many young poor kids will die for the rich? Bush wants to set up a democracy in Iraq when we don't have one in the states; we have a plutocracy, a Government ruled by the rich. We as Americans have to open our eyes and question the country we have been raised to trust. It’s time to stand up and say 'I will not be a tool of destruction any more.'”

As Darrell told me over the phone, “Why should I have to face time in jail just because I do not want to fight in a war? I’m not the one who has done anything wrong.” He is now pegged as a criminal by the U.S. military.

What the U.S. military is doing to some of its own is criminal. What the military is doing, directed by the Bush administration, is a direct result of the militarization of this nation as well as its plans for more wars—did someone say Iran?

To Conclude This Now

Thanks to the Bush cabal, we have a war in Afghanistan, a war in Iraq, an almost-war in Venezuela and the Philippines, and war drums beating for Iran.

At the same time, the Bush cabal, along with burying the country in a mountain of debt that will last decades, is rolling back all public safety net programs for the old, sick, veterans, and children, as well as increasing the level of secrecy under which they operate. They are criminalizing dissent as Bush preaches freedom and democracy around the world while stifling it here. Remember "Free Speech Zones"?

The military is stretched so thin that it is now calling back to active duty people who, in some cases, have been out for years. A single mom with babies who has been out for 5 years, called back up; a 20 year old kid with herniated disks in the neck while on active duty, sent back to Iraq; people like Adam Mowery who the Army discharged due to a significant back injury, called back up. There is a long list of those in similar situations.

The Bush cabals “pre-emptive wars” are creating a growing number of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) cases, who are ending up in jail, committing suicide and, in some cases, killing their families, wives pr girlfriends. Recently in Oregon, a veteran of the war in Iraq was sent to prison for second degree murder. He suffers from PTSD, and he killed his girlfriend.

With cuts to the Veterans Administration, where will these people go for treatment when they return home? Or does anyone care? I really wonder about that a lot when it takes veterans 20, 30 and 35 years to finally get proper treatment from this government as it did with those of us that went to Vietnam.

Every day that the Bush cabal is in charge of this country looks more like the old Soviet Union, where the state reigns supreme. This is not what we are supposed to be. At one time we were more of a humanitarian nation, where the “rule of law” reigned—no longer, as Bush and company have transformed all that. They have turned democracy into a cheap cliché in just four years.

If we do not find a way of taking this country back, it will go the way of all empires—collapse in on top of itself. The other nations of the world are starting to stand against this country as never before. We had best pay attention.

It took massive non-stop acts of civil disobedience over thirty years ago to finally bring the Vietnam War to an end. That must be considered a viable action today. If the Bush bunch is not stopped, America is doomed.
 

Jack Dalton is a disabled Vietnam veteran, activist, writer and co-editor of the Project for the Old American Century.

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