Won't Get Fooled Again

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..."

Of course, this is just a song by The Who; it doesn't apply to us, now. Just because our new President is the son of our old President... um... Really, the situation is entirely different. The first Bush took us to war with Iraq, but the second Bush's war is with, well, Iraq. The reasons are completely different, though. The last time our military actions were to defend the freedom loving people of Kuwait (who still live under a monarchy, have little democracy and women can't vote or drive a car.) This time, it's a pre-emptive strike against terrorism and to bring democracy to the poor deprived people of Iraq (where women can vote, drive and attend university.)

The point is this - There is really no separation between the wars, it is a continuation of the same one. In fact, it's really a continuation of the same conflict from the last century. We thought the end of the Cold War signaled an end to the whole cycle, but actually, we've just enjoyed a media blackout on world conflicts while we were all busy collecting stock options. Now, that the economy's trashed, it's time to get back to the global class war. You know that's what it is, right? It's just changed its tune to 'religion' to get the people who were slacking off in the last century involved again. If we're lucky, we can get a whole new series of Crusades going. You know, where the western European Christians invade the Holy Land to free up sacred sites for new tourist attractions. The leaders of the Crusades in the Middle Ages knew what they were doing - gaining access to lucrative spice trade routes. This was all before petroleum, of course. Oh, they did want to spread the word of God, too. Jerusalem under the rule of Saladin was a horrible place where Jews, Christians and Muslims were allowed to worship in peace and tolerance. The Crusaders exterminated Jews, Muslims and even Armenian Christians where they conquered, making the birthplace of Christ safe for God and blonds. The great hero, El Cid, drove out the Muslim Moors from Spain, and things were pretty nice there until the Spanish Inquisition when they started torturing Jews and forcing them to convert or die. There wasn't a Jew left on the peninsula by the Renaissance. Wonder why Muslims are suspicious of us? Read a history book.

I love it when our forefathers are trotted out to represent our 'Democratic Ideals.' You think they would approve of involvement in foreign wars? That was one of the reasons they revolted in the first place! Look up The French and Indian War. It's where George Washington made his mark in the British Army... by losing battles. That's why they weren't afraid of him. It's just lucky for us he stepped up to the plate - by inviting foreign generals to help after losing the first battles of the Revolutionary War. You think Thomas Jefferson would have approved? He didn't even approve of cities! He envisioned America as a completely agrarian culture where gentlemen farmers tilled the soil by day and discussed philosophy and politics by the fireplace at night. Of course, his idea of tilling the soil was riding his horse into the fields to check on the slaves, then slipping into the shed and ploughing Sally Hemmings. Well, he did write the Declaration of Independence, and that does mitigate certain factors. Oh, and he invented the dumb waiter. Maybe, some other stuff...

Where was I? Oh yeah, war. Class war. It's always the haves against the have-nots. In this case, it might be the haves against the want-lots. They have the oil; we want it. It always burns me up how the blatantly obvious is ignored in this country. If Enron had been a foreign country, we would have bombed it out of existence by now. Too bad that Iraq isn't a corporation, then they could just send lobbyists with big contribution checks instead of lame diplomats. The Chinese got it right, and they're communists, for god's sake! If the Iraqis threaten us with weapons of mass destruction, we attack. What do you call what modern corporations have done to our economy? Those guys will get off with a slap on the wrist, but Saddam Hussein deserves to be deposed and killed. Everyone is asking themselves what we have done to earn the hatred of people in the Third World. Obviously, the common American has done nothing. It's the actions of our corporate leaders around the world that have created this current global crisis. You think they've been naughty here, imagine what they did to people in parts of the world where there is no SEC or EPA or regulations of any kind. Ever heard of sweatshops? Slave labor? A lot of it is your tax dollars at work. If you ask me, our government should concentrate on the domestic terrorists like Ken Lay and Dennis Kozlowski, and then Al-Qaeda would forget all about us. If we did a little policing at home, we wouldn't have to police the world.

I admit that a lot of these problems in the Middle East stem from Israel. We tip toe around it, but we only offer them tentative support. It'll never be more than that, because let's face it, they haven't got any oil. If they did, you think they wouldn't be the 51st state already? Iraq's a better choice all around; we don't have to pretend to be friends. Until after the war, that is. It'll be just like Cuba after the Spanish-American War. Why isn't that a state again?

Hasta la victoria siempre,

TVD

--- 10/28/02

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