I celebrate this 4th of July with an upside-down flag.
Instead of celebrating the lies that I've been told to believe, I've found it's healthier for me to mourn the ideals I once thought were central in the functioning of my government. I mourn the men and women who have used their agency to support their government under the guise of humane purpose, only to be betrayed unto death by expediency.
Americans don't live in a democracy. We don't even live in a representative republic. We live in an oligarchy, our government, our choices are determined by those with the money to afford lobbying and superpacs. Candidates are only affordable to those that can afford to buy them. A popular vote is meaningless when the choices are rigged. The nominating conventions are just as corrupt as loyalty is secured with promises of x, y, and z for state/district/constituency. Our political process is merely a contest to see who can outspend the other.
Independent analysis is required on the part of each voter, and unfortunately, most of us don't practice that capacity, if it's available to us. Our education system teaches us how to push buttons. It teaches us what to think, not how to think, or how to process the premise of a statement or question. For the most part, we are merely empty stomachs ever seeking what looks most delicious.
I mourn the murdered civilians of 9/11, Columbine, Fallujah, and Ramadi. I mourn the dignity I once attributed to leaders in this country. In the past 18 years men like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush Jr., Trump, McConnell, and Bremer, have consistently displayed a childish obsession with winning over and against the only means by which we can come together, in compromise, aka, governing.
The incompetence of these men speaks to our own incompetence in identifying lies, and calling them out. In 2003, Paul Bremer dissolved all of Iraq's institutions without first establishing new ones to take their place. How were people supposed to get water when the pipes were all blown to hell by 1,000 lb. bombs and cruise missiles..... in the desert... without any kind of organization? He didn't seem to care. How many American and Iraqi people died as a result of the ensuing chaos? Paul Bremer is far more responsible for American casualties in Iraq than any Iraqi.
One fundamental thing Americans typically fail to do is imagine the circumstances of those they're attempting to 'free'. Dismantling the only local security force probably wasn't a good idea, but Bremer did it unilaterally. Local security is a great thing. They know the language, culture, and the peculiar but highly important habits of the people. It seems that only recently, American military personnel are starting to appreciate the terps, the interpreters that risk their lives by working with Americans, as this has to be a local bullseye of sorts. Even when locals are trying to rip you off, you know that they're interested in your self interest as long as you can keep the currency flowing. This problem is eliminated or reduced if American personnel take it upon themselves to learn the languages and cultures of those they'll be surrounded by.
During the invasion of Iraq 2, the British were given the task of taking Al Basrah, a city of 2 million people. The allies expected high casualty rates due to the urban setting of the battle. The two British officers responsible for carrying out the operation quickly realized that there were local security forces that would aid them in their tasks. Not only did this reduce the threat of British casualties but it enabled the fedayeen to take part in the liberation of their home city. The Brits would take on the heavier elements present within the city while the local fedayeen took on the city's infantry defenders, directly and guerrilla style.
The intelligence gathering and fighting of the local fedayeen enabled the Brits to accomplish their objectives with only 2 casualties over the course of three weeks. Casualties for the local fedayeen were higher, but the destruction of Saddam's tanks and armored units that had given them so much difficulty in the past, perhaps enabled them to imagine a different future.
Back to Bremer... an appointee, he never went through a confirmation process as to whether he had a clue or not, dissolves the water company, and the Iraqi republican guard...
You're an Iraqi. You just got robbed at ak47 point by looters. The one guy on the Iraqi Republican Guard that had been some kind of stable security for the neighborhood is … gone.. and as the days go on, the Americans provide only token support, a small amount of water for you and your children, and are assholes. You're in your mid 40s, and you remember how much better you felt about yourself when you were a fighter. You hear of the benefits for those willing to fight... as time goes on the decision to fight these assholes that (stupidly) took your water (in a desert) and your dignity gets easier and easier.
I mourn the fact that we trained Bin Laden, and that we betrayed countless individuals throughout these last 60 years in the name of our self interest. During the first Iraq War, Bush Sr. promised anyone that rose up against Saddam both military and humanitarian support. They rose up, we left, and they were slaughtered. This betrayal set the expectations for Iraq 2 in the minds of many Iraqis.
Many Americans don't allow themselves to see these fundamental causes to our more recent woes. Pearl Harbor was by most accounts, if not all, unwarranted. Japan's motivation was fairly classic, blunt, and easily countered. Our response, No Japan, I'm sorry, you can't have the Pacific Ocean and all of it's relevant natural resources (rubber, chromite, airbases). Unfortunately for those that lost their lives in the towers, my government was far more complicit in the chain of events that led to the 'surprise' attack on 9/11.
The economic system that begat 2008's losses is still firmly in place, having barely ever gone. So we're already set us up for further economic disaster.
After WWII we had this whole infrastructure to build weapons, and nothing to fight. So, like two publicity whores longing to gain the upper hand, Truman and Stalin started this whole good/evil narrative that locked us into a psychologically terrorized state for … 70ish years and counting, Jesus would probably have just turned away saying whoever is without sin, cast the first nuke.
Israel, and many countries in Africa became venues for US and Soviet arms dealers. Not even the mass murder of civilians in movie theatres, busses, planes, at concerts, not even the murder of children in schools, has checked us in this ambition.
Rome wasn't different. If anything they were more violent, less humane. Rome's greatest physical legacy is probably their roads. These were built to facilitate the logistic trains their armies required to keep spreading the realm. Perhaps, America's greatest legacy is going to be a car-15 assault rifle, just another logistical means of dealing out death.
Happy 4th!
The greatest threat to this country is its wealth and how its wealth involves itself in our political process. Jesus said we'll always have the poor. Ok, fine. Corruption we'll always be around, but, we can strive to be less corrupt. We can look at the past, see destruction or failure, and try to do things differently.
Or, we can just keep saying "'mericuh!" like thoughtless idiots, while the world plots our demise.
Instead of celebrating the lies that I've been told to believe, I've found it's healthier for me to mourn the ideals I once thought were central in the functioning of my government. I mourn the men and women who have used their agency to support their government under the guise of humane purpose, only to be betrayed unto death by expediency.
Americans don't live in a democracy. We don't even live in a representative republic. We live in an oligarchy, our government, our choices are determined by those with the money to afford lobbying and superpacs. Candidates are only affordable to those that can afford to buy them. A popular vote is meaningless when the choices are rigged. The nominating conventions are just as corrupt as loyalty is secured with promises of x, y, and z for state/district/constituency. Our political process is merely a contest to see who can outspend the other.
Independent analysis is required on the part of each voter, and unfortunately, most of us don't practice that capacity, if it's available to us. Our education system teaches us how to push buttons. It teaches us what to think, not how to think, or how to process the premise of a statement or question. For the most part, we are merely empty stomachs ever seeking what looks most delicious.
I mourn the murdered civilians of 9/11, Columbine, Fallujah, and Ramadi. I mourn the dignity I once attributed to leaders in this country. In the past 18 years men like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush Jr., Trump, McConnell, and Bremer, have consistently displayed a childish obsession with winning over and against the only means by which we can come together, in compromise, aka, governing.
The incompetence of these men speaks to our own incompetence in identifying lies, and calling them out. In 2003, Paul Bremer dissolved all of Iraq's institutions without first establishing new ones to take their place. How were people supposed to get water when the pipes were all blown to hell by 1,000 lb. bombs and cruise missiles..... in the desert... without any kind of organization? He didn't seem to care. How many American and Iraqi people died as a result of the ensuing chaos? Paul Bremer is far more responsible for American casualties in Iraq than any Iraqi.
One fundamental thing Americans typically fail to do is imagine the circumstances of those they're attempting to 'free'. Dismantling the only local security force probably wasn't a good idea, but Bremer did it unilaterally. Local security is a great thing. They know the language, culture, and the peculiar but highly important habits of the people. It seems that only recently, American military personnel are starting to appreciate the terps, the interpreters that risk their lives by working with Americans, as this has to be a local bullseye of sorts. Even when locals are trying to rip you off, you know that they're interested in your self interest as long as you can keep the currency flowing. This problem is eliminated or reduced if American personnel take it upon themselves to learn the languages and cultures of those they'll be surrounded by.
During the invasion of Iraq 2, the British were given the task of taking Al Basrah, a city of 2 million people. The allies expected high casualty rates due to the urban setting of the battle. The two British officers responsible for carrying out the operation quickly realized that there were local security forces that would aid them in their tasks. Not only did this reduce the threat of British casualties but it enabled the fedayeen to take part in the liberation of their home city. The Brits would take on the heavier elements present within the city while the local fedayeen took on the city's infantry defenders, directly and guerrilla style.
The intelligence gathering and fighting of the local fedayeen enabled the Brits to accomplish their objectives with only 2 casualties over the course of three weeks. Casualties for the local fedayeen were higher, but the destruction of Saddam's tanks and armored units that had given them so much difficulty in the past, perhaps enabled them to imagine a different future.
Back to Bremer... an appointee, he never went through a confirmation process as to whether he had a clue or not, dissolves the water company, and the Iraqi republican guard...
You're an Iraqi. You just got robbed at ak47 point by looters. The one guy on the Iraqi Republican Guard that had been some kind of stable security for the neighborhood is … gone.. and as the days go on, the Americans provide only token support, a small amount of water for you and your children, and are assholes. You're in your mid 40s, and you remember how much better you felt about yourself when you were a fighter. You hear of the benefits for those willing to fight... as time goes on the decision to fight these assholes that (stupidly) took your water (in a desert) and your dignity gets easier and easier.
I mourn the fact that we trained Bin Laden, and that we betrayed countless individuals throughout these last 60 years in the name of our self interest. During the first Iraq War, Bush Sr. promised anyone that rose up against Saddam both military and humanitarian support. They rose up, we left, and they were slaughtered. This betrayal set the expectations for Iraq 2 in the minds of many Iraqis.
Many Americans don't allow themselves to see these fundamental causes to our more recent woes. Pearl Harbor was by most accounts, if not all, unwarranted. Japan's motivation was fairly classic, blunt, and easily countered. Our response, No Japan, I'm sorry, you can't have the Pacific Ocean and all of it's relevant natural resources (rubber, chromite, airbases). Unfortunately for those that lost their lives in the towers, my government was far more complicit in the chain of events that led to the 'surprise' attack on 9/11.
The economic system that begat 2008's losses is still firmly in place, having barely ever gone. So we're already set us up for further economic disaster.
After WWII we had this whole infrastructure to build weapons, and nothing to fight. So, like two publicity whores longing to gain the upper hand, Truman and Stalin started this whole good/evil narrative that locked us into a psychologically terrorized state for … 70ish years and counting, Jesus would probably have just turned away saying whoever is without sin, cast the first nuke.
Israel, and many countries in Africa became venues for US and Soviet arms dealers. Not even the mass murder of civilians in movie theatres, busses, planes, at concerts, not even the murder of children in schools, has checked us in this ambition.
Rome wasn't different. If anything they were more violent, less humane. Rome's greatest physical legacy is probably their roads. These were built to facilitate the logistic trains their armies required to keep spreading the realm. Perhaps, America's greatest legacy is going to be a car-15 assault rifle, just another logistical means of dealing out death.
Happy 4th!
The greatest threat to this country is its wealth and how its wealth involves itself in our political process. Jesus said we'll always have the poor. Ok, fine. Corruption we'll always be around, but, we can strive to be less corrupt. We can look at the past, see destruction or failure, and try to do things differently.
Or, we can just keep saying "'mericuh!" like thoughtless idiots, while the world plots our demise.
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