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A serving US soldier calls for the end
of an occupation based on lies
By Tim Predmore
Sept. 19— For the past six months, I have been participating in
what I believe to be the great modern lie: Operation Iraqi Freedom.
After the horrific events of Sept. 11 2001, and throughout the battle
in Afghanistan, the groundwork was being laid for the invasion of Iraq.
“Shock and awe” were the words used to describe the display
of power that the world was going to view upon the start of Operation
Iraqi Freedom. It was to be an up-close, dramatic display of military
strength and advanced technology from within the arsenals of the American
and British military.
But as a soldier preparing to take part in the invasion of Iraq, the words
“shock and awe” rang deep within my psyche. Even as we prepared
to depart, it seemed that these two great superpowers were about to break
the very rules that they demanded others obey. Without the consent of
the United Nations, and ignoring the pleas of their own citizens, the
US and Britain invaded Iraq. “Shock and awe”? Yes, the words
correctly described the emotional impact I felt as we embarked on an act
not of justice, but of hypocrisy.
From the moment the first shot was fired in this so-called war of liberation
and freedom, hypocrisy reigned. After the broadcasting of recorded images
of captured and dead US soldiers on Arab television, American and British
leaders vowed revenge while verbally assaulting the networks for displaying
such vivid images. Yet within hours of the deaths of Saddam Hussein’s
sons, the US government released horrific photographs of the two dead
brothers for the entire world to view. Again, a “do as we say and
not as we do” scenario.
As soldiers serving in Iraq, we have been told that our purpose is to
help the people of Iraq by providing them with the necessary assistance
militarily, as well as in humanitarian efforts. Then tell me where the
humanity is in the recent account in Stars and Stripes (the newspaper
of the US military) of two young children brought to a US military camp
by their mother in search of medical care.
The two children had, unknowingly, been playing with explosive ordnance
they had found, and as a result they were severely burned. The account
tells how, after an hour-long wait, they — two children — were
denied care by two US military doctors. A soldier described the incident
as one of many “atrocities” on the part of the US military he
had witnessed.
Thankfully, I have not personally been a witness to atrocities —
unless, of course, you consider, as I do, that this war in Iraq is the
ultimate atrocity.
So what is our purpose here? Was this invasion because of weapons of mass
destruction, as we have so often heard? If so, where are they? Did we
invade to dispose of a leader and his regime because they were closely
associated with Osama bin Laden? If so, where is the proof?
Or is it that our incursion is about our own economic advantage? Iraq’s
oil can be refined at the lowest cost of any in the world. This looks
like a modern-day crusade not to free an oppressed people or to rid the
world of a demonic dictator relentless in his pursuit of conquest and
domination, but a crusade to control another nation’s natural resource.
Oil — at least to me — seems to be the reason for our presence.
There is only one truth, and it is that Americans are dying. There are
an estimated 10 to 14 attacks every day on our servicemen and women in
Iraq. As the body count continues to grow, it would appear that there
is no immediate end in sight.
I once believed that I was serving for a cause — “to uphold
and defend the constitution of the United States.” Now I no longer
believe that; I have lost my conviction, as well as my determination.
I can no longer justify my service on the basis of what I believe to be
half-truths and bold lies.
With age comes wisdom, and at 36 years old I am no longer so blindly led
as to believe without question. From my arrival last November at Fort
Campbell, in Kentucky, talk of deployment was heard, and as that talk
turned to actual preparation, my heart sank and my doubts grew. My doubts
have never faded; instead, it has been my resolve and my commitment that
have.
My time here is almost done, as well as that of many others with whom
I have served. We have all faced death in Iraq without reason and without
justification. How many more must die? How many more tears must be shed
before Americans awake and demand the return of the men and women whose
job it is to protect them, rather than their leader’s interest?
Tim Predmore is a US soldier on active duty with the 101st Airborne Division,
based near Mosul in northern Iraq.
Source: Guardian (UK)
The immaculate dictatorship: hypocrisy
of democracy in the US
By Elizabeth (Betita) Martinez
Sept. 22— Most people in the United States and other countries
would say that this country is extraordinary and probably unique in
world history. They will cite its size, wealth, technology, power. They
are not likely to mention its most remarkable achievement.
The United States is the first immaculate dictatorship in modern times..
Unlike other societies where the rulers have maintained control over
their populations by means of unlimited repression, those in the US
developed a unique formula to guarantee domination with minimum bloodshed.
If a serious challenge appears and co-optation becomes insufficient,
violent repression may be used, especially against people of color.
But the fundamental means of control here is maintaining the consensus
of the dominated that the existing system of rule is just. Such consensus
gives legitimacy and stability.
The US ruling class has established that consensus by an application
of psychological and cultural repression. Despite the fact that as a
nation the United States was born from genocide, slavery, military expansion
and colonization, most of its inhabitants have been taught over the
centuries to believe this nation is a democracy and the best country
in the world. This enables the majority, primarily but not only white,
to see themselves as superior to others: a species chosen by God to
dominate. Thus the people of this land are compelled by usually non-violent
means to see the US system of rule as just.
That view is sustained, first, by elaborate structures of constitutional
and legal protection for civil and democratic rights-on paper. Those
structures do not threaten continuation of the class dictatorship; in
fact their existence protects the rulers’ claims to democracy.
Second, people need to be told lies so astutely and so consistently
that massive rebellion rarely becomes a problem. The fine art of hocus-pocus,
turning lies into truth, goes back centuries but has now reached dazzling
heights. To turn repression into patriotism is just one recent example.
Third, people need to be taught to define well-being primarily in terms
of themselves and their families. When necessary, a perceived threat
to the nation’s well-being can be used to transcend the dominant
value system of individualism and mobilize nationalism.
The US ruling class formula must not be seen as simplistic brainwashing.
A significant degree of opportunity and free expression must exist.
The illusion of freedom must also be sustained by an economy that guarantees
a certain standard of living for a certain percent of the population.
This makes possible the culture of consumerism, which defines yet another
“freedom”: choice between products.
Compared to many other countries, the United States is in fact relatively
free, with space to protest injustice and demand reforms. We need to
recognize these realities-and also use them — while never forgetting
that they don’t permit a fundamental transformation of power relations.
Immaculateness exists to guarantee such basic change cannot happen.
Ours is an immaculate dictatorship, with no visible blood on its hands.
To keep most people convinced they live in a democracy, it functions
in an almost surreal fashion. Today, for example, many serious Californians
believe the way to uproot racism is not to record its existence. This
dictatorship rarely has to act like one. Other industrialized countries
may seem the same in certain ways but none can compete with the US in
its conviction of absolute superiority and its indifference to truth.
How to break through the hypocrisy called democracy? Today we see a
worldwide wave of new challenges to the immorality of empire. More and
more Americans have detected the odor of dictatorship. It is even possible
to imagine a national nervous breakdown taking place, as people see
how they have been fooled for so many years and become desperate or
cynical—but cannot imagine a new, better kind of society.
Within the US, the dictatorship’s weakest spot is racism, which
has been vital to its wealth and imperialist expansion from birth. To
working class peoples of color, the dictatorship has never been immaculate;
they have often been the first to tear away the veil of lies that say
the US system of rule is just. Keeping them divided has been crucial
for over 300 years, and their unity is its great nightmare. Let us all
reject that legitimacy rooted in lies. Let us join forces in an irresistible
tide of humanity rolling toward history’s most powerful empire.
Has this ever seem more necessary than now? And perhaps more possible,
even on the long moonless night of our present era when hope can seem
unbearably elusive? Yes, we who live in the heart of the empire have
the heaviest of duties. Let us consider that the greatest of honors.
Source: ZNET
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