Turning the Power Off
Stars, Stripes,
War and Shame
By MISSY COMLEY
BEATTIE
30/08/08 "Counterpunch"
-- - The Pentagon says “only” five civilians were killed
Friday, a week ago, by US aerial bombardment. According to
Afghan officials and a United Nations report, 90 Afghan
civilians died, 60 of whom were children.
Just days after this carnage,
the Democrats, so many dressed in red, white, and blue, opened
their convention in Denver. In the wake of the barbarity in
Afghanistan and the continued suicide bombings in Iraq, the
revelry and flag waving in Colorado seemed inappropriate. Sure,
I understand that hope was and is in the air, but I reached for
the remote and powered off.
Thursday night, I tuned in to
hear a sweet, young voice, pledging allegiance to the flag of
the United States of American. “With freedom and justice for
all.”
Freedom and justice are concepts
we can no longer take for granted. They aren’t guaranteed by
stars, stripes, and platitudes. The truth is that George and
Dick have sucked the life out of our Constitution, aided by
Congressional Republicans and Democrats as well as too many
among the electorate who are guilty by reason of fear or
complacency.
The events of 9/11 sent masses
rushing to either purchase or dust off their Bibles and
reference scripture for guidance and to to justify “an eye for
an eye.” Never mind that we leveled a country with no link to
those who used our commercial airplanes as weapons. The attack
on our soil provided the neocons the excuse they needed to
implement their plan for domination of Earth’s bounties. Add to
this the groupies convinced that George Bush was chosen by God
to be president at this particular time of crisis. That Bush
himself believed this should have been a red-flag warming that
the path he demanded we follow would lead us, not to an Eden of
security and prosperity but, to a miasma of endless conflict and
contempt from most of the world.
The warmongers forgot the song
learned in childhood:
“Jesus loves the little
children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow,
black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves
the little children of the world.”
The lyrics crawl through my
consciousness as war rages on and candidates for the highest
office in our land spar in their own war of words for the power
prize, which is the authority to declare war. To John Bomb Bomb
McCain, war is something about which to joke, promote, and
accelerate. He reminds us repeatedly of his years as a tortured
prisoner of war. Yet he never mentions the targets whose eyes he
didn’t see--all those Vietnamese peasants, men, women, and
children, whose bodies he melted. For Barack Obama who opposed
the invasion of Iraq but, without fail, has voted to fund it,
the prudent foreign policy strategy is to send more troops to
the “right” hotspot, Afghanistan. Russia must love this.
Monday is the beginning of the
Republican version of Denver. When McCain, who seems to have a
"thing" for beauty queens, speaks, we’ll probably hear about
that trip he’s going to take to the “gates of hell.” Also, he’ll
offer the usual “we’re fighting them over there so we don’t have
to fight them over here,” and “if we leave too soon, they’ll
follow us home,” and that we “must achieve victory.”
But no one is defining victory,
so allow me: Victory is pledging allegiance to peace.
Imagine if we had a candidate
who said:
So much of the history of
our country has been sanitized. The truth is that we have
battled unnecessarily, illegally, immorally. We have sent
our sons and daughters to die, to return maimed, to sustain
traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder
while destroying the lives of those we call the enemy, the
other. We have invaded for resources that we call our
“interests” and for superior positioning. Just to show we
can. Just to show our might. Not to defend ourselves. I say
no more. Not on my watch. As your president, I pledge
allegiance to the people. I pledge allegiance to peace.
Actually, we do have aspirants
who have said as much. Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney
certainly are transformational choices. Bob Barr, the
Libertarian, gets it, too, when he says that war “should be the
last rather than the first resort.” But our corporate media give
them little credibility and even less airtime.
So, we wait. Some wave their
flags and hope while others feel despair and shame at what
continues to be done in our names.
Missy Beattie
lives in New York City. She's written for National Public Radio
and Nashville Life Magazine. An outspoken critic of the Bush
Administration and the war in Iraq, she's a member of Gold Star
Families for Peace. She completed a novel last year, but since
the death of her nephew, Marine Lance Cpl. Chase J. Comley, in
Iraq on August 6,'05, she has been writing political articles.
She can be reached at:
Missybeat@aol.com
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