HOW BRAVELY COWARDS WAGE WAR

A popular movie catchphrase from the Blaxploitation era of the 1970s proclaimed: “The Mob wanted Harlem. They got SHAFT.”

In today’s America there is a similar catchphrase: “The people voted for change in the last election. They got the SHAFT.”

This reality lends credence to the late Che Guevara’s theory that democracy is simply an illusion designed to quash the impetus for meaningful social change. As long as the masses are duped into believing that the electoral process is capable of replacing an unjust government with a just one, they will forever be oblivious to the fact that usually they are simply substituting one evil for another.

Unfortunately even the electoral frauds of 2000 and 2004, which cogently demonstrated how easily the “democratic” system could (and can) be corrupted by the rich and powerful, did not arouse enough Americans from their slumber. The result has been almost seven years of ineptness, mendacity, criminality and militarism orchestrated and endorsed by incompetents, hypocrites, cowards and liars, many of whom refused, and still refuse, to risk their lives in the wars they’ve instigated and supported.

Naturally, America’s corporate-controlled media have played their own deceitful role in these endeavors. In fact, to call these media bottom-feeders and vultures would be an insult to creatures that are by nature bottom feeders and vultures. After all, such creatures have no choice but to be what they are. By contrast, the corporate-controlled media have such a choice, but they incessantly use it to promote their political agendas, instead of informing and serving the public.

Recently, for example, the television network NBC (owned by corporate giant General Electric), the same network that refused to air advertisements for the documentary Shut Up and Sing—a film that examined the ostracism and threats directed against The Dixie Chicks after the group’s lead singer criticized George W. Bush during an overseas concert—aired the season premiere of its increasingly insipid medical “drama” ER.

In this episode, a carryover from the previous season’s “cliffhanger,” which had ended with pro-peace and pro-war groups violently clashing, a woman being treated for burns told medical staff she had been trying to save an American flag that had been set on fire by pro-peace demonstrators.

The subliminal message? Anyone who desires peace is an unpatriotic flag burner.

In another segment on the same episode, a lifelong peace activist, who had also opposed the war in Vietnam, murdered the man whose actions had instigated the clash between the protesters.

The subliminal message? Those who want peace are really violent murderers at heart.

Then there was the “news” anchor on ABC television’s World News Now (owned and operated by the Disney Corporation) who implied that singer Barry Manilow was a “hater,” because he refused to be interviewed by warmongering coward Elisabeth Hasselbeck on television’s overrated cackle-fest known as The View, which (Surprise! Surprise!) also airs on ABC.

And one should not forget Clear Channel, the owner of over thirty television stations and more than a thousand radio stations in the United States. Suspected of organizing a boycott of Dixie Chicks songs on country music stations, Clear Channel has no compunction about airing the sophomoric rants of a hypocritical, draft-dodging, former drug addict named Rush Limbaugh. Ironically neither does Armed Forces Radio.

Limbaugh, who received a deferment to avoid military service during the Vietnam War, supposedly because of a cyst on his buttocks, recently stirred up controversy by describing some of those serving, or who have served, in the Iraqi war as “phony soldiers.” Not surprisingly, Clear Channel executives rushed to Limbaugh’s defense, and a Congressman from Georgia actually introduced a resolution commending him for his comments.

Yet even though Limbaugh and his ilk persistently lament the alleged omnipotence of a “liberal” media, the response he received for his comments paled in comparison to that received by the organization MoveOn.org. After a MoveOn ad appeared in the New York Times labeling Bush lackey General David Petraeus “General Betray Us,” the United States Congress, by a vote of 341-79 in the House and 72-25 in the Senate, passed a resolution condemning this ad.

How noble and ethical this Congress must be!! After all, no government official would ever lie about war, or the reasons for starting one.

Just look at all the weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that were found after George W. Bush (who used his family’s wealth and influence to avoid combat service in Vietnam) and Dick Cheney (who received five separate deferments to also avoid serving in Vietnam) launched their illegal invasion of Iraq.

Oops! They didn’t find any.

Still there was that nasty link between Saddam Hussein and the horrific events of 9/11.

Oops! There wasn’t any link.

Well, at least America is bringing “democracy” to the Middle East.

Oops! Alan Greenspan now says the Iraqi invasion was really launched to gain control over that country’s oil reserves.

Nevertheless there is good news on the horizon. George W. Bush and his Afghan puppet Hamid Karzai recently boasted about the progress that has been made during the “intervention” in Afghanistan.

Oops! A United Nations report has described “the security situation in Afghanistan . . . as having deteriorated at a constant rate through 2007.”

Fortunately, American history has shown that using lies to start or escalate wars is an aberration.

Oops! Former president Lyndon Johnson lied about the Gulf of Tonkin incident to escalate the war against Vietnam.

Still Americans were told the truth about the situation in Vietnam after the escalation occurred.

Oops! According to reports, General William Westmoreland, who commanded military operations in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968, underestimated the strength of the enemy in order to maintain domestic support for the war.

Yet, while liars frequently thrive and proliferate in American society, those who speak the truth are often pilloried, and in some cases forced to apologize for their honesty. Thus the lies find the sunlight, while the truth remains mired in darkness.

This is why it was refreshing to discover that MoveOn.org chose to stand by its Petraeus ad. And who knows? Perhaps a few years down the road the myopic hypocrites in Congress, who can assess nothing except in terms of political gain, may be the ones condemned for failing to see the truth.

Meanwhile Americans should remember the lesson taught by Limbaugh, Hasselbeck, Bush, Cheney and others of their ilk: That cowards can “bravely” wage war when their own lives aren’t at risk. Such “bravery” is also why the “Support the Troops” mantra chanted by so many warmongering cowards actually translates into “Exploit the Troops.”

Perhaps the most recognizable passage in the New Testament is THE LORD’S PRAYER. Yet many so-called Christians forget or ignore the message that led to Christ’s recitation of this prayer: Those who conspicuously trumpet their “good deeds” and “righteousness” for the world to see are neither good nor righteous. They are simply hypocrites seeking mortal praise for their self-serving deeds.

Ask yourself this question: How often have warmongering politicians, pundits or celebrities gone to Iraq under the guise of “supporting” or “entertaining” the troops, only to exploit their visits after returning home? “Buy my CD because I sing about the troops; Buy my DVD and watch me entertain the troops; Tune to my television show because this week I’m posing for pictures with the troops; Vote for me because I’ve shown my ‘patriotism’ by visiting the troops.”

So until Rush Limbaugh stops denouncing “phony soldiers” and displays the gallantry to become a soldier himself, until the only “view” people have of Elisabeth Hasselbeck is in military fatigues as she begins combat duty, until Toby Keith actually serves his country in the armed forces instead of enriching himself singing about “American Soldiers,” until “Kid Rock” proves his “bravery” on the battlefield instead of sucker punching Tommy Lee at an awards show, until George W. Bush has the intrepidness to say “bring it on” to an enemy standing a few feet away, and until Dick Cheney stops killing defenseless animals in caged hunts and faces an enemy who can shoot back, the true “phony soldiers” will be those who demand risks and sacrifices from others they’ve never had the courage to make themselves.

Warmongering cowards are the most unpatriotic of all Americans, and if the nation had only their kind to depend upon in times of crisis, the United States would still be a colony of England. Yet sadly, as long as these cowards and hypocrites are given the power to wage war, the platform to exploit it, and the ability to silence voices of peace, truth and justice, war will continue to exist.

David R. Hoffman, Legal Editor of Pravda.ru
This appeared as Two Part Article in Pravda.ru