|
While
growing up in Kansas, a neighbor once asked if I knew why dogs licked
themselves. The grinning farmer hooked his thumbs in his overalls
and said, "Because they can, boy, because they can." In a tragic way
that answer applies to much of the obscenity in this world. It is
why settlers slaughtered buffalo and Indians on that beautiful Kansas
prairie. It is why terrorists took down the World Trade Center and
why battered Toyota pickups are scurrying about the Iraqi desert,
picking up bloated bodies. Where ugliness is involved, reasons are
not immediately visible.
For a good fifty years, arms merchants and generals whispered "spreading
communism" into our ears then watched us tremble while we got out
our checkbooks at budget appropriation time. Like everyone in that
budget, they had programs to sell. When the Viet Cong started slipping
into South Vietnam, they told us about the "domino theory". If South
Vietnam was lost to communism, the rest of Southeast Asia would topple
like a row of dominoes. We sent troops in and for years we watched
nightly briefings where stiffly erect generals told us how we were
winning the war and the hearts and minds of the people.
More than a few of our sons were lost but we kept winning until one
day our generals mumbled something about peace with dignity and scrambled
on to helicopters and came home. The embarrassing part is that in
the decades since then, Vietnam has not tried to spread anything beyond
its borders. The "domino theory" was just a pitch.
Fear of communism lost its marketability and we began to hear about
"weapons of mass destruction". The danger inherent in these doomsday
pitches however, is that occasionally we elect administrations simple
enough to believe them, and callous enough to answer in kind.
By the skin of it's teeth, the religious right was in power when,
for whatever reason, murderous fanatics commandeered airliners and
flew them into the World Trade Center. The fateful elements of disaster
were pushed together and again we found ourselves at war. None of
us really expected this last one. Saddam had caused trouble, but not
terrorism and not with us. Of the two deadliest acts of terror in
our country, one came from within and was done with farm fertilizer,
and those airliners were commandeered with pocketknives. Fertilizer
and knives are not exactly weapons of mass destruction and Iraq had
nothing to do with either, but once again B-52s took to the air.
"Target of opportunity", the phrase that was used to describe the
opening salvo pretty much sums up "Operation Iraqi Freedom". "No fly"
zones and inspectors on the ground guaranteed that Iraq posed no threat,
but the hapless country was ruled by an unsavory tyrant, and oh yes,
then there was the oil. Iraq was sitting on the world's second largest
oil reserve and the combination qualified this unfortunate nation
as a "target of opportunity".
Embedded journalists covered the war and we got to see it in "real
time". It lacked the rehearsed polish of WW2 newsreels but the reporting
was the same; America's brave effort to liberate an oppressed people
coupled with tales of their depravity. The segments finished with
pictures of grieving families back home and lots of flags. The "video
game" aspect of our killing machine was new however; nose-cone views
of targets, horrendous explosions, and great clouds of dust and debris
and vaporized body fluids.
Among those objecting to our world vision we were told would be the
elite "Republican Guard" and we expected a hard fight from them. When
informed that ordinary citizens were also resisting, we told each
other that families were being held hostage and would be killed if
the fathers didn't fight. It's not impossible to imagine the part
about hostages, but it does stretch credulity to believe that anyone
threatening children would ever hand their father a gun.
The missing truth forty years ago was that Vietnam was involved in
a civil war when with the acquiescence of our media, we allowed arms
merchants and generals to turn it into a bloodbath. Afghanistan and
Iraq now share the same tragic fate. They still face civil war and
there are people who would not see this as a bad thing. To them, American
interests are furthered by destabilizing unfriendly governments. It
keeps them weak and our hands stay clean. History is replete with
these incursions. We openly promoted insurrection in Iraq after the
Gulf war, we just didn't give the rebels enough support to ignite
it.
We were told that we went into the Mid-east this time to "combat terrorism,
to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, and to establish democracy",
but like "dominoes" these reasons show little promise of standing
up. We left Afghanistan in anarchy. We allowed Iraq to be looted and
will probably let it fall into chaos and repression. We have not found
terrorist weapons and in the search, we littered the desert with bodies
and turned another generation of our children into killers.
We were not backed down or escalated up to this disaster. It was not
required by treaty or compassion. Despite the Arab world's proud history
of throwing out invaders, and against the wishes of most of our allies,
in a dangerous world we made virulent new enemies, increased the threat
of terrorism, lost old friends, and yet our leaders are slapping each
other on the backsides. Why?
It's hard to imagine it was just oil buddies and arms peddlers and
construction cronies. There's a higher cause somehow involved. Like
terrorist acts, anything this horrific has the feel of extremism;
world domination or fundamentalist fervor; ideas so sick they have
us wishing it was just money.
Whatever it is, it won't last. America is too diverse to remain fascist.
Fear can't be maintained forever. Even McArthy was only able to operate
unchecked for three years. Our leaders may make it through the next
election, but their advisers can't be with them 24/7. Someone will
slip and expose himself as a snake handler and the very media that
they now so skillfuly manipulate will pick their bones clean.
America will be returned to its greatness. The world will be given
a chance to repair, and history will reveal why B-52s are sent to
pound tiny countries into submission. In the meantime all she will
say is, "Because they can, boy, because they can."
| comments
on this article? |
|
|
Merle
Borg is a builder and lives in San Diego.
|
