A Nation of Relentless Savagery

 

You've been avoiding this for a long time.

You prefer to remember the times he took you to the park, that amazing camping vacation a few summers back, the funny things he often says at the dinner table, that beautiful dog he gave you on your 12th birthday.

But you can't deny it any longer.  The truth is painful.  But . . .

Dad is an alcoholic and he beats mom.

Do you hate him?  Do you reject him as your father?

No . . . but things have to drastically change and very soon.

This is not actually the story I wish to tell.  I'm merely drawing a parallel.  I'm talking about dealing with denial, facing reality, accepting responsibility, taking action.

There are many situations in life for which the above scenario is a metaphor.

The parallel I'm making is the relationship between a citizen and a government gone mad.

We've avoided it for a long time.  We prefer to think of America as a beacon of hope in the world, the fountainhead of truth and justice, a purveyor of democratic values and human rights.

But we can't deny it any longer.  The truth is painful.  But . . .

As Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his monumental, myth-shattering speech -- the one that probably got him assassinated -- at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967:

“The greatest purveyor of violence in the world: My own government, I cannot be silent.”

I won't go into the long history of American aggression.  Whole books have been written which detail our gruesome heritage of merciless wars, the most notable being Howard Zinn's classics, A People's History of the United States and the more recent A People's History of American Empire.  Nor will I indict the U.S. foreign policy apparatus for its gross deceptions and hypocrisies, elucidated with unparalleled clarity and candor in William Blum's excellent work, America's Deadliest Export: Democracy.

I won't talk about the millions of human carcasses piled on top of more carcasses, the result of countless war crimes and merciless military strategies which place no value on human life, whether the victims are in uniform or innocent civilians.  I've realized that the scale of the horror is such that its incomprehensible to most good decent citizens.  I myself when confronted by figures like 3 million Vietnamese killed, 1.5 Iraqis killed, on and on, find my eyes glazing over in the deluge of zeroes.  I literally cannot grasp these numbers and apply them meaningfully to the grief and physical suffering which they are supposed to somehow encapsulate.

Let's instead look at a few simple very recent facts and try to put them in perspective.

Fact 1:  The U.S. is not officially at war with any other country at this time.

Fact 2:  The U.S. has not been attacked in any sense of the word in the last 16 years.

Fact 3:  Last year the U.S. military dropped 26,171 bombs on seven different countries.



Mind you, these are the official figures.  Who knows what the real totals are?

These were not water-filled balloons or July 4th fireworks.  At the end of every explosion, there were body parts strewn all over the surrounding area.  Survivors were being crushed in collapsed buildings, or crawling along the ground with limbs torn off, leaving a trail of blood squirting out of severed arteries.  Innocent people, men, women, and children just going about the everyday business of living, were mangled by a lethal mix of high-velocity shrapnel, and chunks of rubble created by ton after ton of high-yield explosives dropped anonymously from the sky.

Rigorous studies have made it very clear that well over half of the casualties of current warfare are civilians.  In what are called 'internal conflicts' -- like Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia -- which now are by far the most prevalent form of military conflict, the percentages can be as high as 90% civilians.  These violent clashes are typically fought by proxies. In all of the countries just listed, the aggressors are mercenaries paid by the U.S. and its allies to enter and destroy a country in what is then deceptively characterized as a civil war or "people's uprising".  There is very disturbing recent evidence, for example, that the U.S. through CIA back channels has been funding ISIS, Al Nusra, as well as other extremely barbarous terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria.

By the way, that money they withhold from your paycheck?  Or that quarterly tax payment you regularly make?  Think about it.  This is where a big chunk of your tax dollars is going.  You're paying for this.

Does any of this make my point a little more comprehensible?

26,171 bombs . . . funding terrorism . . . innocent civilians die . . . all in a days work.

America can say with great pride that what it does, it usually does very well.

When we put our minds to something, we pull out all the stops.

Now we can put killing right up there in the Top 10.

We kill efficiently.  We kill without remorse.  We kill without hesitation.

NOTICE TO THE WORLD . . .

Beware!  We are a nation of relentless savagery!

Then again, a lot of countries already know that.

---

I've said this many times before and I'll keep saying it until people get it . . .
Peace will not come from the top.  There are too many incentives and rewards in our corrupt corporate kleptocracy to keep the wars going and the wheels of the defense industry churning out more mechanisms of death and destruction.

It is only when we everyday citizens finally have had enough of the carnage, enough of the military waste, enough of the chest-beating imperialism which makes us less safe, enough of the empty rhetoric which claims to embrace the noble virtues but is just more deception in the name of war and imperial conquest, it is only then that America will turn around.

Maybe there are detailed plans out there somewhere to mobilize the good decent citizens of this country.  I haven't personally seen any.  So here is mine.  Yes, it is outside-the-box, some would say radical, extreme.  But if we are the nation we claim to be in the world and in the eyes of God, isn't cruelly and senselessly dropping 26,171 bombs on mostly innocent people extreme and radical?
My plan demands very little of us individually.  We don't have to march on the capital or mount a revolutionary insurrection.  Despite that, it could make all the difference in the future we leave to our children and our children's children.  All that is really required is that we listen to the voice of reason and stand strong.

At least take a look.  Open your mind up to the possibility of a future without the madness.  Of a future without endless war.  Of a future when our hard-earned tax dollars don't go to fund the relentless savagery of a military gone mad.

 

The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World is now available both as an ebook and deluxe paperback at all of the usual outlets . . .

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[ This originally appeared at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]


A Nation of Relentless Savagery

This Is War

1992 © Kenneth Jarecke (Contact Press Images)

Until recently, this photo was never seen in the U.S.
It's a soldier making a last desperate attempt at climbing out of a
military vehicle after it had been hit by an incendiary bomb. This was
during Desert Storm in 1991.

This is the side of war our leaders don't want you to see. For us they want it
to be all about waving flags, marching bands, grandiose speeches,
stars-and-stripes lapel pins.

Remember Bush's order that there be no reporting of coffins flown in from 
Afghanistan and Iraq containing the remains of our dead soldiers?

But this photo is what war is really all about. That scorched corpse could be
your son or daughter, one of your grandchildren, an uncle, cousin,
nephew or niece, that freckled neighborhood kid that used to ride by on a
bike.

When our politicians speak about some new crisis that requires our military
intervention, some challenge to our national interests or terrorist
threat to the homeland, then with the appropriate somber expressions and
deeply furrowed brows reel off patriotic slogans and chest thumping
battle cries that beg for our bravado and self-sacrifice, they want you
to imagine proud soldiers in clean pressed uniforms, glorious fireworks
reflecting in the pool of the national mall, the flag majestically
waving in the background atop the White House, they want you embracing
that triumphant feeling of being a citizen of the greatest country in
the world. They most certainly do not want you thinking about that
photograph.

Sure, our leaders claim that they want to avoid at all costs sending our brave
soldiers into harms way. They claim to value every young man and woman
in uniform as they do their own children __ though for some reason their
own kids never get sent into battle.

They claim the decision to wage war, even to commit our troops to  "limited
engagement", is a very serious one, that putting "boots on the ground"
is something we do only when every other conceivable option has been
duly explored, considered, weighed, exhausted.

Warning! When you hear any of this talk about war as a last resort, be VERY
AFRAID. Because it means the bombs are about to drop and the bullets are
about to fly. Last resort is now pure cover, a charade, just one
component of a PR game to tenderize public opinion, just more cynical
role play to get people ready for the slaughter.

When our leaders say they hate war, be VERY ANGRY. Because their actions betray
their love __ their worship! __ of military power.  Just look at their
priorities.  Just look at the national budget. Just take out a world map
and try to identify the 1000+ military bases
the U.S. has in over 140 countries across the globe. If they really
wanted peace, these would be Peace Corps camps, not military
installations.

When they talk about "humanitarian war" and "R2P" __ responsibility to protect __
LAUGH, then CRY. Because any humanitarian concern is not about you. And
when you're getting your ass shot at, the only reason they want to
protect you is so you can shoot back.

On the increasingly rare occasions, when our leaders do give their token nod to
promoting peace in the world, be INDIGNANT __ be OUTRAGED __ at the
blatant hypocrisy. Why, our Nobel Peace Prize winning president even
used his award acceptance speech to make the case for "necessary wars".

Let's see . . . necessary wars. When I was in college, it was Vietnam. Commies
would take over the world if we didn't stop them. Then we had to stop
Saddam Hussein from taking over Kuwait, even though 9 out of 10 American
thought Kuwait was a tropical fruit. Then, of course, we had to bomb
the shit out of Afghanistan to catch Osama bin Laden, though he strutted
around the caves and continued to make threatening videos for the next
eight years. Then, we really had to get Saddam Hussein, this
time before he dropped an atomic bomb on Baltimore or Orlando, even if
he didn't have one and if he did had no way to lob it further than the
Sea of Galilee. Then there was Libya because we had to get rid of that
pesky Gadaffi. And Syria because . . . well, just because. And of
course, we've been having  a regular hissy fit about Iran for decades
now, so they're high on the hit list. And now we have the Ukraine, for a
lot of reasons, including Snowden, and Putin's making Obama look like a
warmonger, which frankly is not that hard, and the BRICS, and the
abandonment of the dollar, and the deranged neocons running amok in the
State Department, and the piles of military hardware which we're
bankrupting the country to buy __ after all, you can't just leave that
stuff laying around, because it's dangerous, so it's imperative we use it. Hell, 
let's throw some ordnance at the Russkies, and the Chinese . . . and . . . and . . .

Whew! All these "necessary wars" are exhausting!

As anyone who reads my blogs knows, I have never recommended any 
organization and directed readers to support its activities. There are hundreds __
thousands __ of good, hard-working, well-meaning, probably extremely
worthwhile groups out there trying to make a difference. My reluctance
stems from observing that despite their best efforts, not a lot seems to
be getting done.

But now, since time is running out and this might be our last best hope, I'm going to break tradition.

Please go to the website for World Beyond War. One of the founding members and its current director is a man I greatly respect and admire, David Swanson, who I've written about before. There is much more on the web site itself but here is a quick summary of their agenda:

• Creating an easily recognizable and joinable mainstream international movement to end all war.
• Education about war, peace, and nonviolent action -- including all that is to be gained by ending war.
• Improving access to accurate information about wars. Exposing falsehoods.
• Improving access to information about successful steps away from war in other parts of the world.
• Increased understanding of partial steps as movement in the direction of eliminating, not reforming, war.
• Partial and full disarmament.
• Conversion or transition to peaceful industries.
• Closing, converting or donating foreign military bases.
• Democratizing militaries while they exist and making them truly volunteer.
• Banning foreign weapons sales and gifts.
• Outlawing profiteering from war.
• Banning the use of mercenaries and private contractors.
• Abolishing the CIA and other secret agencies.
• Promoting diplomacy and international law, and consistent enforcement of laws against war, including prosecution of violators.
• Reforming or replacing the U.N. and the ICC.
• Expansion of peace teams and human shields.
• Promotion of nonmilitary foreign aid and crisis prevention.
• Placing restrictions on military recruitment and providing potential soldiers with alternatives.
• Thanking resisters for their service.
• Encouraging cultural exchange.
• Discouraging racism and nationalism.
• Developing less destructive and exploitative lifestyles.
• Expanding the use of public demonstrations and nonviolent civil resistance to enact all of these changes.

Is it naive to think that the human race can rise above its long history of savagery?

Noam Chomsky says we are a "strange species which attained the intelligence to discover
the effective means to destroy itself, but __ so the evidence suggests
__ not the moral and intellectual capacity to control its worst
instincts."

Let's hope he's wrong.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

The ‘H’ Word

 

It used to be imprudent or just plain vulgar to say the 'F' word.

Now we just say it . . . fuck.

It's such common parlance, so acceptable, it's become the language of diplomacy,
as with the policy declaration by Deputy Secretary of State Victoria 'F**k the EU' Nuland about the crisis she and her neocon friends precipitated in the Ukraine. 

But I'll tell you a word we don't dare say anymore.

You know the one . . .

The 'H' word.

Sometimes it's written as 'h*pe' or 'ho*e'.

We used to actually use the word often. It was on everyone's lips.

 

But after President Obama __ or I should say Brand Obama __ and the
corporate lapdog Democrats made it central to their 2008 and 2012
campaigns, then turned it into both the brunt of cruel jokes and the
poisonous pill of despair, it became as popular as leprosy, not even
whispered anymore in polite company.

Who wants to cry in public?

They sure got us all wide-eyed and teary-eyed with all those 'H*pe and Change'
bumper stickers and campaign posters. People started believing things
would turn around and America would get back on track, after eight
tortuous years immersed in the stupidity, boorishness and arrogance of
George W.

Then this phalanx of feel-good experts and spin doctors responsible for the
propaganda juggernaut we experienced __  especially during the heady
days running up to the 2008 election __ took the faith and good will,
the higher aspirations of the American public and threw them in the
toilet, took several healthy dumps on our heartfelt desire to embrace
the American Dream. They even continue cynically to this day to peddle
fresh variants of their snide charm-offensive h*pe-and-change
trash-talk, assuming the public is none the wiser, and still thirsty for
the arsenic-spiked lemonade of their duplicity.

This is shameful on so many levels. After the horror of George W. and his band
of blatant liars, the ignorant, delusional, self-serving oligarchs who
mockingly led us into a false war, bankrupted the economy, reversed
fifty years of progress toward becoming a humane and sane society, we
had all but given up. Then the sun burst through the storm clouds of our
collective misery and revulsion. People were so engorged with h*pe,
many even heralded Obama as the new Messiah. Okay. Okay. That was over
the top. Yet not just America, but the entire world was at his feet,
expecting this man who spoke with such eloquence, such passion,
sincerity, intelligence, to deliver on the noble promises contained in
his books, Dreams From My Father and Audacity of Hope,
given in soaring oratorical performances at his campaign rallies, in
his inaugural address, and any number of speeches given during the first
few months of his presidency __ most notably the one delivered June 4,
2009 at Cairo University titled "A New Beginning".
Many of us, arguably an overwhelming majority, naively thought this
heralded a new age built around peace and prosperity spanning the entire
globe, and the ascendancy of justice and respect for others.
And what do we have?  You know . . .

Mr. Nobel Peace Prize has proven to be more trigger happy than the sneering
gun-slinging Texan he replaced, Mr. Transparency is far more secretive
and presides over a regime that spies on everyone, the jails
are bulging with more and more people of color __ but none of the
bankers and financial predators who crashed the world economy in 2008 __
the rich just get richer, the poor get poorer, the banks are looting
the treasury, corporations are out of control, fracking is out of
control, global warming is out of control, wealth inequality is out of
control, poisoning our food, air and water are out of control, the
police are out of control, the imperial neocon warmongers are out of
control, the military is out of control, maybe everything is out of control.

Or more accurately, it's in control of the wrong people.

So now the 'H' word is a very dirty word. It's too charged with treachery, the
violation of the best intentions and wholesome expectations of a lot of
very good but obviously gullible people. No one dares utter it without
everyone within earshot going into convulsions of indignation or crying
fits of despair.

There is, however,  another 'H' word I'm hearing more and more these days . . .

Hypocrisy.



[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]