Un-American?
Dear Americans,
Well, at least we know now when they think we think they've gone too far. This would be the point when they initiate damage control, get smirk-face in front of the friendliest cameras, and begin another Operation Fall Guy to finger one or more expendable order-followers. If this works for them, it will probably start a trend, and we'll all learn just how expendable most of the order-followers really are. In any event, the world is not going to forget about the photos. I was tempted to facetiously call them "shocking" were it not for the fact that they are just too disgusting and tragic to exploit the easy analogy. Besides the fact that anybody really paying attention to all this, and certainly anybody who has an understanding of American military organizational behavior, should have expected what we now know was and probably still is going on in what we now know were and probably still are Iraqi torture and death camps. War crime is just part of the American-military-corporate culture now, so why should we be surprised? Instead what surprises me is that we are now supposed to believe that the torture is "un-American", as if we were still living in the days of 'Father Knows Best'. ...As if this were still Kansas. Yeah, right. In case you've slept through it, that type of father stopped knowing best when post-modernism pinched the jumper cables onto his manhood sometime late last century. And "un-American"? Hmmm, that's a conundrum these days. Or does the word even have any meaning anymore? It certainly no longer means what it did when it actually meant something you wanted to do something about. Sorry, smirk-face, but I can only imagine the term "un-American" today in a Homer Simpson context. After all, Homer is the Sunday icon on arguably the most "American" (except in ownership) network, Fox. Let's let ole Homer tell us what "un-American" really is. No wait, even better, let's back up one to Fox's Saturday night programming and get the straight scoop from arguably the most American show of shows, Cops. Hoouhh, (everybody now) bad boys, bad boys, watcha gonna do, watcha gonna do when they come for you. Yep, Cops is sadly the best representation for the America we have today. Nothing un-American about getting entertainment from watching real police give the Iraqi treatment to a rag-tag assortment of American unfortunates (some real criminals, some just in the wrong place at the wrong time -- ring a bell?). America doesn't seem to be to disgusted when our own get a little beaten, bloodied, and shackled before any rights are even read. I bet that pretty young gal giving thumbs up in front of that pyramid of naked 'rag-heads' watches Cops, religiously. I mean Religiously. Yep, she'll teach those scumbags a thing or two about American justice, for sure. I will even give you odds that her superiors have even arranged to have the Cops theme song on the playlist for the Iraqi sleeping pleasure, set on repeat, mega-bass on. Yep, Americans are taking it to the house for the red, white and blue. Okay, not pretty. Not pretty at all.
So of course we get the damage control, and suddenly we are all supposed to think that the pitiful thumbs-up gal, this military-cultured, neo-con programmed, quintessential American is actually un-American? Can you smell what big brother smirkface is cooking? Do you want some fries or Orwelian surrealism with that?
But this may be a new level. We have known for a while that they are complete liars. But now their bit has become completely irrational on top of it. Now we are supposed to believe that a nation that invades an Iraq for the purpose of stealing oil, that bombs cities to ruins, that lays siege to the ruins for the purpose of subjugated the population that it hasn't already killed, that indiscriminately rounds up and imprisons all young men, killing those who resist; we are to expect this nation to treat its prisoners ala Sergeant Schultz? Also recall that this nation also put the faces of Iraqi officials on playing cards so they could be rounded up or killed as if it were a fun game. Can't you just imagine miss thumbs-up using that deck for a little poker with the boys? For smokes of course. Strip poker is a non-starter with that one.
But the other truth here is that now we are certain that there are no checks and balances left in the American military, to prevent this type of thing. Having spent over 20 years observing this military from inside the beast, one of those years at the Navy War College (supposedly the source of future leaders, but certainly a source of income for more than a few neo-con agents), I have seen it evolve first hand into the brutal, mindless organization it is today. Its leaders are now no more than career machines, driving a bunch of homogenous mil-spec cogs that comprise the lower ranks. It's left-brain to the extreme, completely devoid of soul. Lets hope that the fact of the torture being photographed, and those photos distributed, was due to an exception with a soul and not an exception without a brain.
The final revelation in this sad turn is that we now know that the neo-con mind doesn't think too well on the strategic level. Sure, they pretend to teach strategy at the war colleges, and preach it on the talk shows, but judging by results, we know their focus is purely on their greedy little operation, or in other words on how to fulfill their sick desires regardless of how insane the military mission may be. By focusing only on how to get what they want, and not on the morality of the war that facilitates it, they give us a military that faces perpetual war, war that cannot be ever really won, and war that only produces conditions for more war and all the evil products and sad consequences that come with it. We hear you now, Smedley. Be assured that the people behind this strategy are the same people who ultimately ordered the torture of those unlucky young Iraqi men. But here’s the kicker: they did it without even understanding the nature of the double-edged sword they were poking them with. Torturing prisoners, while seemingly operationally effective, is a strategic error every time. If the world realizes this, it will also realize that the neo-con strategic weakness is their limited minds, minds that cannot understand the highest conceptual level of war, minds that are not fit to dictate strategy, and certainly not fit to lead.
Because of this reality, expect the neo-cons to continue with their operational focus -- secure oil and subjugate at all costs, and expect more damage control when things continue to go wrong. That's what happens when you fight a war for operational objectives, against an enemy who may or may not have read Sun Tzu, but thinks on the strategic level no less. Master Sun tells us that it is always best to attack the enemy’s plans, and this is especially effective when those plans are rigid and clear, as evil plans tend to be. The Iraqis are winning, and will win this war because they are fighting against a neo-con force that is un-American.
Pete Wagner
http://gutspeak.blogspot.com/
