And the Beat Goes On

100-0! That’s right…that’s the Senate vote on giving Bush another 70 billion dollars for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. That will bring the total up to 510 billion dollars spent on the killing fields.
“Senate gives Bush his law on detainees” is the headline on page 35A of the Rocky Mountain News. So the previous torture and illegal actions of our government toward detainees is now exempt from prosecution and people like George W. Bush are allowed to exercise “flexibility” in his interpretation of the Geneva Convention standards. This will allow him to use torture that would be classified as a crime in any international court.
Andrew Sullivan of the London Times says it all: “Torture does not become less evil when it is renamed ‘coercive interrogation’……These are precisely the kind of Orwellian word games that repressive regimes throughout history have used to excuse their brutality”.
Award winning cartoonist Ed Stein also captures the state of the union with his cartoon today, September 29, 2006. The cartoon shows a man and woman at the gravesite of the Constitution. The woman carries a bouquet of flowers. The headstone simply says “Constitution of the United States 1788-2006” The male figure is shown saying “It died during torture”.
Earlier this week the intelligence (?) community’s analysis was finally released by the tyrant, Bush. It stated the obvious that most grade schoolers could have determined; the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has not decreased terrorism or the threat of it….it has “fueled” terrorism.
History has shown preemptive wars of aggression and illegal goals create a backlash. Ward Churchill quoting Malcolm X would say the “chickens have come home to roost”.
Did it really take the release of NIE’s report to come to this conclusion? Why haven’t the cowards known as Democrats been shouting this from the roof of the Capitol? Why have they waited until now to slap their foreheads in sudden epiphany of the truth?
If we could encapsulate the last month of politics surrounding the war, torture and the effects of the war on terrorism we’d see the cowards in D.C. at their cowardly best.
The Republicans had an alleged “rebellion” against their leader, Bush, when they argued against the approval of the legislation they just finished approving. Huh? They had a rebellion but gave the dictator everything he wanted? If this were some junta in a third world country we’d be whining about repression. Come to think of it; this is a nation taken over by a junta in the year 2000 and reaffirmed in 2004.
Of course the “rebellious” conservatives were those facing difficult questions from their constituents about the war and its costs to them. So a one day symbolic gesture of having courage was needed. They showed the folks back home just how courageous they can be.
After the 100-0 vote for the funding of the war, Mr. Democrat, Ted Kennedy, spouted on about “America is in deep trouble in Iraq. The continuing death and violence are ominous”. Genius! This is a perfect example of having it both ways by saying the obvious and doing the devious.
It seems Kennedy and the Democrats might have reached the conclusion long ago this nation is in deep trouble. Waiting until public opinion caught up with the ugly reality in Iraq demonstrates the disgraceful leadership of these elitist cowards. And still as another election approaches, they refuse to stand on principal and morality. Instead they give the Machiavellian regime of Bush a unanimous approval to fund more death and destruction fearing attacks of the sinister dirty tricks experts trained by Karl Rove.
While the elite finish up their business until after the election, mothers and fathers across this land fear for the safety of their sons and daughters trapped in the cycle of deployment to and from the illegal war. Others worry about getting treatment for traumatic injuries to body and mind suffered in the carnage. They’re now finding out the truth of the military at war. The lowly combat infantryman and enlisted troops are considered “throwaways” by people like Rumsfeld and Cheney.
The elite provide gratuitous and patronizing words of support for the troops but their actions and inaction show the liars and cowards they really are. Bob Dylan wrote a masterpiece about these “Masters of War”. “Even Jesus won’t forgive what you do…” sings Dylan. His words ring as true today as in the 60’s when he first sang the song. The sellout of the American government to the military industrial complex only becomes more obvious every day.
This all leads me to wonder about a peace movement that thinks the Democrats need to win to “change” things when it has become so blatantly clear the elected of both parties are corrupted and long ago sold out the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and We, the People. Front groups like UFPJ have heavily influenced peace groups all over the country to call and visit the cowards of the Beltway in efforts to have them advocate for changes in the government.
I have to ask those who have followed the tactics of petition, letters, emails and personal visits if they think they’ve caused any changes to occur? I see good people taking the time to follow the strategies of the front groups with little success. It seems we’ve convinced ourselves we can play by the rules dictated by the ruling class and effect social changes that will dramatically alter the fabric of this nation.
The rules of the ruling class are stacked against significant social change. Putting our hopes in having fair elections is meaningless if those elected are just more of the same corrupted elite who will protect their status at all costs.
Continuing with organizational structures that perpetuate status quo membership in a movement lacking racial and ethnic balance is a failed tactic. Continuing to shut out the young people who will carry the burden of the billions and trillions of dollars deficit this nation has is only prolonging lack of progress. A sexist, homophobic, racist and ageist coalition of people wanting peace and justice doesn’t worry those in power.
Hip hop culture, Iraq veterans, high school students, black activists, immigrants that are economic refugees from impoverished nations, Native Americans, Hispanic, Chicano, Latino, Latina, GLBT and marginalized communities are missing from the American peace movement. The talent, the beauty and possibilities of these brothers and sisters are needed to create the “revolution” that will transform this nation.
The environmental movement continues to take limited roles in peace and justice movements while the planet is on the verge of extinction from human caused pollution, neglect and greed. Some speculate it will be environmental damage that leads to the end of humans well before we manage to do it with our wars. Indigenous peoples have prophesized the year 2012 will have a cataclysmic event changing the world as we know it. While there is no certainty of this being true there is a certainty the climate changes will continue at an ever increasing rate as ozone and polar caps change dramatically.
Clearly the time for becoming citizens of the world before allegiance to imperialistic and nationalistic governments has arrived. Loving our country means we recognize the needs of the entire world. Sharing, negotiation and non-violent conflict resolution will be necessary for human survival.
The potential and possibility of this happening is the young brothers and sisters. Their stake in the future is far greater than my generation’s stake. Their voices need to be heard. We can no longer dictate tactics to them or all the other groups missing from the movement.
The philosophy of not upsetting the oppressor is delusional. Tactics of disruption and confrontation will be needed. Worrying about semantics, images portrayed by mainstream press and fitting in with the establishment to gain their cooperation is nonsense. Outrage, anger and resistance toward continued oppression and injustice is absolutely necessary and long overdue.
Words and their meanings vary from community to community and person to person. A free society doesn’t attempt censoring words or ways of expressing thoughts because they don’t fit for all people. The idea of a chant first yelled during the Vietnam War now being unacceptable is ridiculous.
I’ve been part of two different scenes of attempted censorship over the past year within the peace community. On both occasions the way the dissent was expressed didn’t meet with the standards of the dominant group. At one event those who failed to meet the expectations of an “insider” group of people were publicly chastised over a megaphone. The leader told others they had been at the site longest as if that gave them status above others.
The other occasion also included a megaphone. The old Vietnam War chant was done with a megaphone borrowed from a group who objected. The megaphone was returned without argument but the person responsible for it felt a need to lecture those who had initiated the chant. Almost a year later this incident seems to be a topic of concern for some in the leadership group of a state coalition.
Both of these incidents are examples of hierarchy attempting to dictate rules and standards for all. And then the hierarchy does the typical comment of “you’re free to say or do what you want” to deflect their attempts to be in charge and in control.
And the beat goes on and on and on. Soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen die and die and die. Iraqi children, Lebanon’s children, Israeli children, Palestinian children and Afghan children die and die and die. And the “masters of war” continue unpunished for their crimes and still in power while any opposition remains splintered and co-opted.


Wm. Terry Leichner, RN

http://visopeace.blogspot.com