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Some
Thoughts About the War by
Rob -
Not since 9/11 have I seen such uncritical, unquestioning,
mindless thinking. I
hesitate to use the word “think” since that implies a cognitive
process performed by an individual.
“Groupthink” would be a more accurate term.
No need to have any thoughts of your own, just mimic the group.
If waging war is like pouring Miracle Grow on the State, it is
also like pouring another kind of fertilizer into the cranial cavities
of Americans. War causes the
critical reasoning part of the brain to simply shut down in most people.
This phenomenon is exacerbated by the fact that few Americans
know enough about current events and history to have an informed
opinion. Hell, most of them
couldn’t find Iraq
on a map, much less tell you anything about its people, history or
culture. -
Several weeks before the war began, I said that we would
be hearing the words “we,” “us” and “our” a lot more during
the coming weeks. Each of us
is now part of the herd, the hive, the collective, whether we want to be
or not. War crimes are
committed in my name, using my money, and I will be targeted by
terrorists as a result. Every
entity from the federal government to my homeowners association tells me
that “we” support “our” troops.
War is a catalyst for collectivism and ushers in the total State. -
I feel like I’m living some bad dream, where I’m
surrounded by people who are like a combination of brainwashed subjects,
willfully ignorant proles, a lynch mob, the boys in Lord of the Flies,
religious fundamentalists, and Florida Gator football fans.
The flickering light from their torches allows me to see the
crazed look in their eyes as they roar their approval of whatever their
emperor does and lustily chant, “Kill!
Kill!” -
I’ve heard many people say that -
The media and those who support the war have made much ado
about the “liberation” of Iraq. But the Bush
administration’s own term for this—regime change—indicates that Iraq
is not being liberated, it is simply getting a different regime.
First a military government appointed by Paul Wolfowitz will rule
Iraq
indefinitely, and Iraq’s oil will be used to pay for the occupation and probably some of the
cost of the war. The police
force will probably be provided by Dyncorp, employees
of which kept teenage girls as sex slaves in Bosnia.
Iraq
currently does not have an income tax, but the Bush administration is
planning to impose a progressive income tax.
It is also planning to disarm the Iraqi people; that
process has already begun. When
the U.S.
can no longer justify the military government, it will devise some
scheme (such as the loya girja it used in Afghanistan) to install Ahmed Chalabi as the head of the new regime under the guise
of “democracy.” In 1992,
Chalabi
was convicted in abstentia of embezzlement and fraud and sentenced
to 22 years of hard labor following the collapse of Jordan’s second
largest bank, which the Jordanian government says cost it $300 million.
The U.S.
government has bankrolled Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress for
years, despite the fact that the CIA and State Department consider him
to be a con artist, and the vast majority of Iraqis consider him to be a
carpetbagger (he hasn’t lived in Iraq
since 1956) and a puppet of Washington. The
U.S.
has promised to turn over weapons captured from the Iraqi army to him,
and has been flying him and his ragtag “battalion” of 700 men around
Iraq
in recent days. There is no
way in hell that the U.S.
is going to jeopardize Iraq’s oil, Israel’s security or America’s empire by allowing the Iraqi people to choose their own regime. -
Those who support the war constantly remind us that U.S.
servicemen fight to defend our right to free speech, but then imply that
if we exercise that right, we are ungrateful for their defense of free
speech and are abusing our right. They
argue that the best way to honor those who are supposedly defending our
right to free speech is to not exercise it when those troops are ordered
into combat, because anytime that happens, they are automatically
fighting to defend our right to free speech, regardless of what it is
that they are actually ordered to do.
Their claim that the military defends free speech is ironic since
nothing promotes censorship and the stifling of dissent like war.
Just look what happened during the Civil War, when The Great
Emancipator shut down scores of newspapers and imprisoned many thousands
of northerners for opposing the war. -
The invasion of -
The American flag (or the pin version that is worn on
one’s lapel) and a yellow ribbon are the AIDS ribbon of this decade.
They are obligatory and ubiquitous, and if you’re not
displaying them, you must be an uncaring soul who wants people to die.
The bigger your pickup truck or SUV and the American flag
that’s on the back of it, the bigger the patriot you are.
The biggest patriots mount a small flag above their car windows,
like they’re on their way to a college football game.
For these people, war requires the same amount of thought as a
football game. They show up
in their team’s colors (red, white and blue), root for the home team
for a couple of hours, wave their team’s pennant (an American flag),
and then go home either celebrating victory or ruing defeat.
Indeed, football and war are completely interchangeable.
After 9/11, a former neighbor of mine flew an American flag every
day of the week except for Sunday, when the Stars and Stripes was
replaced by a Green Bay Packers flag.
Go, team. -
What does “support the troops” mean?
Few Americans say they support the war, but the vast majority of
them say they support the troops. Does
it mean that they support what the troops are doing?
It must, because if the troops were doing things such as raping
women and torturing children, presumably fewer Americans would support
them, although I suppose we can’t be too sure of that.
Many Americans are still hesitant to say that they support war,
but it’s much easier and PC to say that you support the troops,
because then you absolve yourself of responsibility for the consequences
of war. Note that if you
want the troops to come home immediately so no more will be killed,
captured or wounded, you do not “support the troops.”
Rather, you are ungrateful for their sacrifice, don’t recognize
their bravery and would probably like to spit on them when they come
home. -
When one group of people tries to achieve its goals
politically through the State instead of privately through persuasion,
voluntarism and cooperation, it always creates tremendous antagonism
between people, especially when the minority believes that the actions
of the majority are immoral. Politics
prevents man from taking advantage of one of the greatest opportunities
available to us as humans: the ability to create value and advance our
lot in life by trading peacefully and collaborating and cooperating with
each other when we share similar objectives.
So much of our time and energy are wasted bickering with each
other about who should control the reins of power.
If you want to know what politics does to people, just tune in
“Hannity and Colmes” or some similar show.
I would not have to spend so much time protesting this war if it
was not being waged in my name using my money, and those who support the
war would not have to spend so much time chastising “all of you
anti-war people” (as I’ve heard several talk radio hosts say) and
bashing France. In a
voluntaryist society, those who support the war could spend their time
fighting the war themselves, raising money through voluntary
contributions to support the war, or trying to persuade
others to support the war. This
would also have a beneficial side effect by making war less likely and
destructive and by narrowing the scope of violence, since few of those
who support war are willing to put their money (or their body) where
their mouth is. Even though
virtually none of the leading neocons who support this war ever served
in the military, it is never too late.
They could raise and fund their own private army, and Perle,
Wolfowitz, Goldberg, Frum, Kristol, Feith, Abrams, Libby and Wurmser
could each get their own battalion.
War is a glorious thing, and I think these people should get the
opportunity to experience it firsthand. -
Sometimes I’ll hear someone who’s pro-war refer to
anti-war folks as “socialists” or “commies” (or “commys,” as
they say on FreeRepublic), which I find amusing.
I’m sure many socialists and communists oppose the war, but if
you oppose the war, that doesn’t mean you’re a socialist.
Nothing moves society towards socialism like war, so I find it
curious that those who oppose war are socialists, but those who want
higher taxes, a bigger military and more collectivism are not.
I have also heard some of those who are pro-war refer to anti-war
folks as “un-American,” which today means not automatically
supporting whatever the current regime wants.
But which group is closer to the original American ideals of
small government, low taxes, no standing army, no foreign wars and no
entangling alliances? What
would the Founders say if they were alive today?
Would they be discussing which country to invade next, Syria
or Iran? -
One of the surprises of this war (wars are like
that—full of surprises) has been the widespread looting that has taken
place in Iraq. But should it have been a
surprise? American taxpayers
were looted to pay for this military, and Iraq’s oil will be looted to pay for the invasion and occupation.
Government is in the business of plunder, and war sets a moral
tone that makes looting seem more acceptable.
If it’s OK to kill innocent people, what’s so bad about
stealing their property? -
Although the U.S.
went to war with Iraq, one might have concluded from the rhetoric that we were about to go to
war with -
For someone who claims to be a devout Christian, Bush sure
does have an odd way of serving as a witness to the Lord.
Whatever happened to “love your enemy” and “turn the other
cheek”? What would Jesus
have done? Can’t you see
him planning the “Shock and Awe” campaign, or complaining about how
he couldn’t use “calmatives” such as tear gas, or briefing
reporters about the new Mother of All Bombs?
Is this
how Christ wanted us to treat his children?
I think Bush’s religious beliefs reinforce his megalomania, and
I think he’d like to bring about Armageddon, but I don’t think he
has much interest in Christ’s teachings (and the pro-war leaders in
his regime are not Christians). Jimi
Hendrix said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the
world will know peace.” Christ
stood for love, Bush stands for power. -
When I look at the faces of the men who were killed in
this war, I don’t see people who “had other priorities” when it
came time to serve their country (like Dick Cheney) or who deserted
their unit (like George W. Bush). I
don’t see men with cute little names such as I. Lewis “Scooter”
Libby. (I can see it now:
“Drill Sergeant, my name is Scooter.”)
I don’t see politicians or policy wonks.
I don’t see members of such groups as The Project for a New
American Century, or people who read Commentary
magazine. I don’t see
people who have an office in the American Enterprise Institute building,
or people who are on TV shows such as “The Beltway Boys.”
I don’t see people who have advised or spied for the Israeli
government, or who secretly lobby for defense contractors while holding
one of the top jobs at the Pentagon.
I don’t see people who are obsessed with the |
