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By: Eric Feathers
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| Thursday, 2-Nov-2006 12:00 |
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My Country is at War (Again)
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This is the beginning of a new chapter in the ongoing chronicle of my life. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I returned to San Francisco after living in Brazil for more than 7 years.
The move was filled with doubt and trepidation because a lot can happen in 7+ years and it did. My family has changed in the wake of two deaths; my career, photography, took a radical turn then accelerated with digital technology, leaving me in a desperate race to catch up; and finally my country was irreversibly altered by a muderous attack and subsequent related events. My country is at war. The president has launched two unsuccessfull military invasions and the American people appear to be in denial.
Since the September 11 horror show, I have been glued to CNN International, the online London Times and New York Times. I've seen Michael Moore's controversial film, "Farenheit 911," and I've had a number of emotional conversations with Americans, Brits, Isrealis, Australians and Spaniards, not to mention South Americans. Among all of these sources I can say, without hesitation, that the general consensus is that the U.S. president is a blundering fool who is provoking more violence. At this point I have to get out my soap box and vent my personal feelings about the commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces, before moving on to express my disappointment with the American people.
First of all that man never should have set foot in the White House - suspicious election - to close to call - Do over! Do over! His re-election? I have to take issue with the voters. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." said the people to the president.
A military invasion of Afghanastan made sense to me. After all it was the U.S. who armed the Taliban against the "Big Red Threat" of the Soviet Union so DISarming was like a moral obligation to the region. (Better late than never.) And while you're there do something about the al Qeda military training camps would ya? Osama Bin Laden? I suspect he's back home in Saudi Arabia or holed up on some Indonesian island. In either case he's probably armed with cel phones, internet connections and credit cards. This campaign was a dismal failure. 5 years later the Taliban is participating in Afghan politics, Bin Laden can't be found, al Qeda has moved operations to Pakistan and Iraq and the opium trade which finances the Taliban and furnishes heroine to Europe and the U.S. has reached an all-time high! Invading Iraq against the consensus of th U.N. was the work of a madman hell bent on world domination. A peaceful solution to the "Saddam Hussein problem" was already in place; economic sanctions weakened their economy, the no-fly zone kept their airforce grounded (missles too) and the U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq all held the "menace" at bay. The Bush agenda was clearly fabricated from paranoid dillusions or his thirst for Iraqi oil. He didn't have any real evidence of the existence of weapons of mass destruction or any terrorists operating in Iraq. On the contrary, the largest stockpile of WMDs in the world iis in the U.S. and Saddam would never tolerate terrorists in his country. In fact, one of "America's Most Wanted Terrorists" was in an Iraqi prison but Bush wouldn't pay Saddam the million dollar reward (sanctions) when he tried to turn him over. Before I get down from my soap box I want to remind the president and his followers that Hans Blix, the scientist leading the U.N. weapons inspectors was quoted as saying, "Global warming is a much bigger threat to the world than Saddam Hussein." Another reminder: well before the U.S. led invasion of Iraq, North Korea was moving ahead with its nuclear ambitions and Sudan was already suffering from years of "ethnic cleansing." Why did the U.S. president choose to ignore the clear and obvious crises in persuit of his hallucinations AND why did people let him?
It's been 5 years since the World Trade Center was razed and there are many people who believe that our country is safer and more secure due to the U.S. military invasions in the Middle East. Huh? Was anyone paying attention to Hurricane Katrina? Millioins of dollars spent on "Homeland Security" to protect American shores from disaster and destruction, for what? Hell, the whole world saw that one coming and where was the emergency response? ("Homeland Security" is a new name for "Big Brother," don't kid yourself.) You better keep your prescriptions filled because if your meds wear off you might get a glimpse of reality. Check the daily body count and evaluate the loss of precious resources to the tune of one and a half million dollars a week. Yes, I'm wagging my finger at the American people. I've been in California only a month now, quietly observing and noting the changes in the land where I was born and raised. I arrived in San Francisco during "Fleet Week," when the U.S. Navy fleet sails into the Bay and docks here to give the sailors and pilots a little R&R, rest and relaxation. The "Blue Angels" put on a show of their precision flying and the bars and massage parlors filled up with horny sailors. I don't know if it was by design or by coincidence but I also South Korean sailors on shore leave in SF. They were much better behaved than our own. They bowed as Korean women on Market Street handed them flags of their homeland along with U.S. flags. I also saw a pathetic war protest of a few thousand people each with a different axe to grind.
One night in a North Beach bar I heard a naval officer proudly proclaim, "The Middle East is my life. I've been there four times." When he raised his glass to take a drink I saw his wedding band and my heart went out to his wife. In a conversation with a friend recently she told me of her daughter's divorce from a veteran of the war in Iraq. After living on base in Hawaii agonizing over the welfare of her husband overseas he finally returned uninjured but not without emotional scars. He refused therapy for his irrational and erratic behavior and the poor girl concluded that she couldn't stay married to an abusive husband that she really didn't know.
I hope the people I see driving SUVs and Hummers, Governor Arnold's car, a gas guzzling vehicle designed for military use that even comes in a limo style; will stop and think about all the blood and tears that are shed to keep their gas tanks full. My country is at war. Again.
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