Good point, George. In fact, 25 percent of the previous Gulf War veterans now have disability claims. Few Americans realize this.
Instead, the media presents us with scenes of our soldiers either readying their gear or packing it, on the phone calling home, kissing their loved ones as they're about to depart, and, of course, an occassional quote here and there about duty and all.
Does anyone else recall, from around holidays on to the close of the year, the same parents tv-interviewed, describing how proud are they that their three offspring are marching off to war. Hey, why the same family over and over?
So Bush The Bent madly summons drums of war and sifts ever fresher signals of smoke to smote a fearful haze upon Saddam's oil-rich desert land and Saddam's people, themselves victims. Yup, we're seeing the bully at his best and he's all ours, wanting us proud of him for 'doing his job.' And like the family so proud mentioned earlier, so is Bush's dad as he knows his son is about to vindicate him for coming up short before.
Anyone ever wonder what's now going on in the corporate board rooms of the oil companies where the 'we're already fat folk' invoke a whole separate game of war strategies not so much trying to figure out how to fairly distribute the soon-to-be-gotten oil, but rather who'll get the most of it for the least amount of effort? Etc., etc. and more etc. Right?
Yes, America's media is heavy corporately-owned, it's virtually entirely WASP-owned (anyone ever hear of a major black, brown, red or yellow media owner in America?) and when it comes to foreign policy this media is continually afraid it won't get the next story if it doesn't behave, so it caves in in any manner the sitting administration would like, especially when it comes to war. You know, war scoops are good ones!
So the elder Bush and the younger Bush now got it going and Cheney hasn't skipped a beat, except for a few in his heart. The old team is now the new team and the table is set for victory.
Let's add it up:
The new GOP Congress is now in place, the Supreme Court's in the back pocket and most of the federal bench is also tagging along. Whether print, television or radio, the media's in the bag. I strongly believe the elder Bush would have made the Iraqi move in a second term; he's now doing it now via his son's first. Should this tragic war happen I predict it'll be his son's last term also.
The time now, I think, is to make the media itself the story, the only viable Plan B front for preventing this war. Plan A, of course, is for Hans Blix and the entire UN inspection team to refuse to leave Baghdad in the belief that doing so would start a war. |
