by Christine Barie (artist) & Kathie Malley-Morrison
Tag: George W. Bush
Stoking Fear: We Must Remember How the Iraq War Was Sold, Part 1
by Roy Eidelson
History shows that fearmongering has long been a standard tactic used to rally public support and acquiescence for military interventions that are both unwarranted and unwise.
“Voice or no voice,
the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy.
All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the
pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works
the same way in any country.”
— Nazi propagandist Hermann Goering
It was 16 years ago, on March 19, 2003, that U.S. forces began a misguided and illegal “shock and awe” military assault on Iraq. The enormous costs of that invasion and subsequent occupation are all too clear today. Thousands of American soldiers and coalition allies were killed and many more suffered horrific, debilitating injuries; among the U.S. casualties, a disproportionate number were underprivileged youth. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians died, and millions were driven from their homes. To this toll we can also add the emergence and growth of the monstrous Islamic State (ISIS). And our Iraq War expenditures—past, present, and future—total trillions of dollars, a massive drain on crucial domestic programs for those in need.
Many painful lessons can still be drawn from this devastating war and its ongoing aftermath. Among them, the tragedy represents a distressing case study in the manipulative use of fear—what I call “It’s a Dangerous World” appeals—by disingenuous leaders who insist that disaster awaits if we fail to heed their policy prescriptions. Unfortunately, dire warnings from influential figures can short-circuit our critical thinking and propel us toward action even before we’ve examined the evidence or considered the consequences and alternatives. Psychologically, we’re soft targets for these tactics because, in our desire to avoid being unprepared when danger strikes, we’re often too quick to conjure catastrophe—the worst outcome imaginable—regardless of how unlikely it may be.
These “It’s a Dangerous World” appeals were employed by the George W. Bush White House throughout the Iraq War. They began with repeated claims months before the invasion that Saddam Hussein—the country’s brutal dictator—had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
In August 2002, for example, Vice President Dick Cheney told attendees at the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Nashville: “There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.”
Two months later, President Bush presented this frightful image to an audience in Cincinnati: “Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof—the smoking gun—that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
And Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was unequivocal at a December 2002 Department of Defense news briefing: “Any country on the face of the earth with an active intelligence program knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.”
It didn’t matter that these claims were all untrue; they were effective nonetheless. As White House officials had hoped, their warnings and alarmist predictions succeeded in persuading most Americans of two things: Iraq’s dictator had WMDs, and “preventive” military action was therefore necessary. Indeed, Bush knew he already had won over a majority of Americans when he sat before the television cameras in the Oval Office 16 years ago and announced that U.S. forces had invaded Iraq.
TO ENGAGE OR NOT TO ENGAGE – THAT IS THE QUESTION
by Stefan Schindler
Part One: YESTERDAY’S STORM AND TOMORROW’S RAINBOW
There is nothing stable in the world; uproar’s your only music. – John Keats
Fifty years after President Eisenhower launched a multi-trillion dollar arms race with the Soviet Union, the Cheney-Bush Administration (in a version of “the boy who cried wolf”) saw fit to shout the greatest and most dangerous lie in American history, claiming that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and repeating – day after day, week after week, in the post-9/11 rush to vengeance and preemptive war – “Mushroom cloud! Mushroom cloud! Mushroom cloud!”
Thus did Cheney-Bush – and their cabal of Gingrichian sycophants, aided by a cheering mainstream news media – bring to fruition the nightmare envisioned in Bob Dylan’s 1963 tour de force, “Masters of War.” Dylan sings, and the lyrics still resonate:
You’ve thrown the worst fear / that can ever be hurled:
fear to bring children / into the world.
In the dawning of the year 2019, it remains to be seen whether President Donald Trump will also escape punishment for his narcissistic and multitudinous lies, for his continuation of American militaristic violence, and for his Reagan-Cheney-Bush-like crimes – economic and ecological – against the American people and the planet.
In what Gore Vidal called “The United States of Amnesia,” the Orwellian ignoration of the citizen population continues unabated. For example:
I go to the store and buy some stamps. The clerk hands me a packet. Each stamp has an American flag on it. In the lower left hand corner of each stamp is written “USA Forever” – a truly insidious slogan. Nothing lasts forever. Not a season; not a life; not an empire. George Carlin said: “That’s why they call it the American dream. You have to be asleep to believe it.”
In 1821, John Quincy Adams warned that America should not go abroad “in search of monsters to destroy,” for in doing so, “she might become the dictatress of the world, [but] she would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.”
In the late 1890s, Mark Twain witnessed America’s imperial acquisition of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines in the Spanish-American war. Twain responded with an observation not taught in school: “America’s flag should be a skull-and-crossbones.” Then he added: “America cannot have an empire abroad and a Republic at home.” Adams and Twain understood that empire and democracy are mutually exclusive.
Lyndon Johnson said in 1964 that he did not want “a wider war” in Vietnam, even as he was lying about events in the Gulf of Tonkin and planning the invasion that President Kennedy refused to launch. Richard Nixon said he would bring The Vietnam War to an early end with “peace and honor,” yet disgraced himself with a heartless disregard for peace and an utter lack of honor, becoming the first American president to resign from office.
Due to the lies and depredations of Johnson and Nixon, the American people grew increasingly suspicious of their political leaders. That distrust deepened into cynicism when President George W. Bush’s claim – that Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction,” which he then used as a pretext for war – proved to be an outrageous lie. And now, alas, Donald Trump inhabits the White House, proving once again that a Nixonian neurotic and Bush-whacking ideologue can become the most powerful and most dangerous man in the world.
Yet all is not lost, not hopeless, not without redemptive possibilities. Despite the forces of obstruction, the American landscape is filled with a multitude of brave, inquisitive, vocal, active, dedicated justice-seekers and peacemakers. They recognize that they are not alone, that solidarity is our only hope, and that their collective voice indicates something like A Renaissance of The Renaissance. They – We! – know who Tom Paine was, and why he wrote “Common Sense” and “The Rights of Man.”
We know that John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were killed for their courage of conscience; and because we refuse to let their lives and deaths be in vain, we carry the torch they lit for a sane and better world. We dare, with John Lennon, to Imagine. We know that there are millions around the world who feel the same, and who are also doing their part to bequeath to a new generation the world of peace and beauty they deserve. Accordingly, we shall not despair; we shall not relinquish hope; and we shall indeed do whatever is necessary to restore America’s tarnished ideals to their once and future glory, for the sake of all humanity, and for Mother Earth and all her blessings.
Stefan Schindler
…………………….
Stefan Schindler is the co-founder of The National Registry for Conscientious Objection; a Board Member of The Life Experience School and Peace Abbey; and author of America’s Indochina Holocaust: The History and Global Matrix of The Vietnam War. His forthcoming book is entitled Buddha’s Political Philosophy.
Remembering JFK: Voices from a Smoldering Grave
MEMORIAL PROSE POEM
by Anthony J. Marsella
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), President of the United States of America
I.
I cannot rest, My spirit rages; Incomplete truths, lies — remain. My grave smolders!
I seek escape, From casket, eternal flame, defamation, Contrived by scrupulous minds, Penned by stained hands.
Conspiracy! Protection for villains, Safety from condemnation. I was assassinated!
A grievous, immoral, illegal act! Complicit forces: Government, military, corporations, criminals! No remorse, forced tears, false sympathies; “Your Daddy was a great man, Caroline!”
Fear of contention: End wars, reduce military, Prosecute criminals, Restore national identity!
Accept faults, Confess errors, Compensate victims, On your knees, America!
Democracy disguised! Secret State, Shadow State, Deep State, No State; Cabals, factions, sects, cliques, clans, tribes, Parties! Plots, plans, intrigue – cowards –conspiracy!
II.
In death, I remain: Timeless beacon, Truth image, of truth, Hope symbol!
Evil continues! Relishing roles, Celebrating deceit, Valorizing schemes.
Know this: From each grain of earthydust, I will continue to speak, Silence impossible!
III.
What madness possesses you? What fury grips your mind? What passions drive you, Justified betrayal!
You kill your own, Oblivious to consequence, Hardened to suffering, Grinning demon in morning mirror!
Patriot Act, DHS, NSA, FBI, CIA, DEA . . . Acronyms cover vile purpose. You crave dominion; My God, you are evil!
My assassination insufficient? Family deaths: Brother? Son? Lovers? Each death whetting appetites, Pleasuring for more?.
Plausible deniability! Cover: National Security! No fear! No constraint. No limit to menace.
IV.
Eisenhower saw, warned, escaped. Shocked by knowledge and participation, His image now safe! Kansas!
Johnson burdened by graves he dug! Carter repentant for Christian compromise . . . Reagan, smiling, failing, vomiting. Nixon, mad with paranoia.
Clinton caught by semen splashes, 1. H. W. Bush enamored with elites, oligarchy, Skull & Bones; 2. W. Bush, “You are with us, or against us.” He is both! Obama, election promises, lived lies!
These our leaders! Cry America! Shout enough! They please: War machines, coffin makers, gold collectors!
Libraries, shrines, sacred places to preserve names. Marble slabs inscribed words, images, reputations. Keep alive presidential cults, designed to mollify, Penance for sin! Atonement for lies!
I claim no special sanction, Beyond my mapped death! Dismiss me if you will, Flee, if you wish, from hypocrisy!
Know I walked corridors of power, Know I stood amid whispered gatherings, Know I tolerated secrecy; For this, I suffer in death!
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa. “Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you . . . “ I learned, too late, lessons of betrayal, I learned, too late, trials of victimhood.
No longer! I speak now for those killed, Home and abroad, young and old, Across time and place. Memories cannot be bought!
V.
Fascism thrives! Who won? Homeland, Fatherland, Empire, Kingdom, Amerika! Uber Alles! Deaths in vain! Surveillance, archives, fusion centers!
Drones, robots, androids! You defile warriors! You dishonor soldiers. You glorify war, dismiss death!
I am cold in bone and body, Shriveled from age and decay, Scattered dust on coffin floor, Guarded by impervious flames.
Like John’s Brown body, I smolder in my grave, When will it end? We are fodder!
Words rise from flames: You command, kill, destroy for naught; Ask John Brown’s Body! “. . . Truth goes marching on!”
Anthony J. Marsella
November 22, 2017