| WEAR RED ON FRIDAYS IN SUPPORT OF OUR TROOPS:
MORE MANIPULATIVE NONSENSE |
| My sister recently forwarded me a piece of e-mail that was sent to her from a friend. The e-mail suggested that we all wear red on Fridays as a show of support for our “heroic troops in Iraq.” In response, I pointed out to my sister that if she really wanted to support our troops, she’d stop buying into this kind of manipulative nonsense. If we all wore red on Fridays to support our troops, every neo-con in the country would spin it as proof positive that, “regardless to what the polls say, deep down inside, the vast majority of the American people support the war in Iraq”—the very war that’s killing our young people, and destroying their families.
The neo-conmen and chicken hawks of this world stay up all night trying to conjure up little schemes like this. They need a constant flow of nonsense to try to drum up support for this illegal war. They’d do, or say anything to keep this war going for just one more day, because with every day that passes, their cash registers go “Ka-ching.” With each day that passes, they pocket more money than any of us will see in our entire lives—300 million dollars a day. And much of that money is going to Halliburton, the company in which Cheney served as CEO before becoming Vice President. No other company was allowed to bid on the contracts when we went to war in Iraq, and two years ago the contracts were estimated to be in excess of 11 billion dollars. There’s nothing that takes place in Iraq that Halliburton doesn’t have it’s hands on—from feeding the troops and providing “security” for the most awesome military force that ever walked this Earth, to repairing everything that we blowup. If ever there was a sweetheart deal, this is it. But what is at least as unconscionable as this mercenary war itself, is the fact that they use the very victims that they’re sacrificing for their avarice and greed--our beloved troops--as human shields against criticism of their motives. That’s why with every speech that Bush gives on this war he’s either verbally wrapping himself around our troops, or using the troops as a backdrop at some military base. These neo-cons have been expert in confusing issues before the American people—after all, they’re businessmen, so they bring they’re marketing expertise with them: If you happen to be anti-Bush, they say you’re anti-American; if you’re against the war, they say you’re against the troops; and when they want to suspend the United States Constitution, they call it “The Patriot’s Act”—which is to say, if you’re against it, you’re unpatriotic. But just one moment of uncluttered thought on the part of the American people would unravel their entire game. Because for them to say that coming out against this war is undermining the troops, one must also say that coming out against gang activity is undermining our young people—both are needlessly placing the lives of our youth in jeopardy. And further, just ask yourself, were the German people who were against Hitler, and hid Jews from the Nazi death camps during WWII unpatriotic, or were they the ultimate patriots? After all, a patriot is not one who blindly follows party lines or the demagogic whims of an individual, but one who is loyal to the ideals upon which the nation was founded. |
| CONTINUE |