Exclusive! By Manuel Valenzuela, The Exploitation of the American Soldier, Part II of II: Of The Vietnam Example, Guinea Pigs and Systemic Abuse
By Manuel Valenzuela
Jan 4, 2004, 12:47
Read Part I
The Exploitation of the American Soldier: Part I of II: Of Caste Drafts and Society's Complicity, Manuel Valenzuela
There are no warlike people, just warlike leaders. – Ralph Bunche
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. – Aesop
An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics. – Plato
In peace the sons bury their fathers, but in war the fathers bury their sons. – Croesus
The poor go to war, to fight and die for the delights, riches, and superfluities of others. – Plutarch
Only the dead have seen the end of war. – Plato
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[What ‘Bring 'em on’] showed the world was that the Commander in Chief has not an ounce of compassion for the men and women that he sent into harm's way. – Dennis O'Neil, BringThemHomeNow.org, 11/19/03
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"I spent 33 years in the Marines. Most of my time being a high-classed muscle man for Big business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenue in. I helped in the rape of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street...."
- Smedley D. Butler (1881-1940) Major General (U.S. Marine Corps)
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"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it."
- Abraham Lincoln
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"No government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it."
- Samuel Johnson
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[Writer’s note: Due to the length of the second part to this series, I would suggest, for more enjoyable reading and in order to better absorb the material contained herein, reading one section at a time. Reading the entire part II might become overwhelming and is not what I aim to achieve. Part II is split into three sections and should be read as three separate articles joined together in spirit and relevance.]
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The Vietnam Example
To fully understand the epidemic that is the exploitation of the American Soldier one need look no further than the 250,000 to 500,000 homeless veterans that on any given day wonder the streets of the United States. Up to half a million veterans, mostly those who fought in the terror-filled jungles of Vietnam, have been forgotten in time, left to fend for themselves lost among concrete jungles and steel-glass canyons. Forgotten by a government that sent them across the globe to fight the evildoers of the moment, namely Communists, most men fought in ghastly battles, witnessed appalling atrocities, experienced death firsthand and saw gruesome injuries that scarred them for life.
War is hell, and soldiers do not easily escape from these flames of enveloping terror when returned home. The repulsion of what they were forced to both see and perpetrate in the name of freedom, liberty, democracy and the American way left many as psychologically fragile as fine china. For years veterans have had to deal with knowing they were part of war, that most evil of human endeavors, that brings out the worst in the human condition. Many returned impregnated with the horrible demons of what they witnessed on the battlefield, perpetually unable to exorcise the wretched memories of their testosterone-stressed-filled adventure in death and destruction.
Millions returned home after a bitter defeat, with 58,000 of their comrades devoid of their once beaming energy, packed in body bags, their bullet or shrapnel ridden corpses testament to the ultimate sacrifice that to this day has lost all purpose and whose pain still lingers in the minds of millions of young boys now turned middle-aged veterans who fought a war without meaning, in a land lost in time for an ideology that could not evolve with reality. Today the scars, both mental and physical, remain entrenched, making up to half a million once young and brave soldiers homeless indigents of unjustified hopelessness, unable to escape the awfulness of what was forced upon them by a system and a cabal of elites whose only purpose was defending their ideology, increasing and maintaining their power and enriching their pockets.
Vietnam is perhaps the best but by no means the only example of what happens when those in power are left to their own devices and unleash the torture called war onto young conscripts, confident, brave and unafraid, mostly low and working class, sent to destroy, kill and expand the power and wealth of a few exploiters of human flesh.
We only need to see how the biggest, and perhaps only winner of the Vietnam War, the military-industrial complex (MIC), enriched itself tremendously through years of warfare, death and destruction, using soldiers to carry out its assembly-line, profit-making scheme of immoral business ventures born out of the misery of millions that fattened up shareholder wealth and ingrained into government the growing and unfettered power of the MIC. Through the millions of tons of bombs dropped, instruments of war produced (helicopters, tanks, munitions, etc..) and the perpetual stream of profit from waging such a prolonged war the MIC’s power grew. Today the MIC and government are one and the same, and wars are but part of the business of making profit. This is a reality we have been made blind to.
Unfortunately, our soldiers are the mechanisms by which the MIC, the Leviathan and the government elites unleash and spread their evil wrath onto the world. Soldiers have become pawns, the instruments that pull triggers, aim weapons, push buttons and destroy infrastructure, the human brain necessary to operate the MIC’s collection of apparatuses of destruction and death. They are expendable, of course, easily replaced by the next wave of caste or government instituted drafts. War is a boom to the MIC, of huge importance to its oligarchy. There is vast profit and power to be made in war, just ask today’s defense contractors, and the biggest war profiteer in the Iraq war, Halliburton, of Dick Cheney fame.
These entities survive and prosper by manufacturing an unending flood of instruments of death, by supplying the vast resources necessary to conduct war. And the stream of these products smeared in blood must never be allowed to run dry which is why blood must continue to be spilled. Machines of war must be created, used and destroyed, only to be manufactured again and again, shipped out to be used and recycled in a vicious circle of malevolent profit making. Think about it, who really profits and gains from war? It is today but a business to the United Corporations of America, and the reason fear has been metastasized into our psyches during the last couple of years. Chasing ambiguous boogie-men, today’s version of evildoer, assures the Leviathan of perpetual war, hence perpetual profit and exploitation. Enemies must exist in order to continue building the war machine, and fear is the tool the oligarchy has created that affects our emotions of insecurity, thereby making us passive citizens following Bush and his cabal of charlatans from war to war.
Many of today’s forgotten homeless veterans struggle to survive frozen winters outside and blizzards of mental anguish inside, self-medicating themselves with drugs or alcohol, the only escapes from the permanent state of turmoil their minds live in. The horrors of war cannot be released; the human brain is too fragile and susceptible to the brutalities of man fighting man, of man killing his own kind, of being witness to the shouts, screams, suffering and death of men, women and children as they are bulldozed into the realm of lifeless cadavers.
War is that most ignoble of human creations in which lower classes fight each other to the death for the benefits of the few elite-greed-infected bastards that blink not an eye at the death and maiming of those young “plebians” they sent to war in far away lands to fight those same brothers being exploited by the powerful on the other side. In the end, victory or defeat matters not to the dead and injured who have gained nothing and lost everything, returning home to an easily forgetful government that throws veterans into the bowels of indifference, tossing away the key and washing its hands clean of the human catastrophe it created.
Sacrificed for the benefit of a few at the top, today’s Vietnam, Korean and Gulf War Veterans, and those the war has made homeless in particular, are a perfect example of the utter disregard and exploitation of the American Soldier by both government and society. Those men who are forgotten, sacrificed, thrown out into the street and left for dead, fed to the hungry wolves of misery, slowly decimated from within are the creation of the man-mad pillager of lives called warfare. In essence, their lives are sacrificed for the betterment of Leviathan’s oligarchs and government cabal of miscreants.
A government that without remorse allows those veterans who fought its battles and its wars to freeze during frigid winters and pick food out of garbage bins in order to survive is a disgrace and a monument to ineptitude. Sacrificing lives, body and mind for the perceived good of the nation our soldiers return home, to a world that has been transformed, a reality that has been altered and an indifferent government that has no more use for them. Rather, they become but a mosquito to the Leviathan and power junta, a nuisance aimlessly roaming the streets, surrendering their remaining pride in order to beg for pennies. Like ghosts they live among us, invisible at night they hide from the unkind winter temperatures in cardboard-made sleeping boxes, appearing by day on sidewalks, palms extended, watching the world they were once part of pass them by.
To survive the stresses of battle is not to survive the wars that follow, where a surviving soldier must reintegrate himself or herself back to society, family, work, finances and the life that once was. The true struggle begins, that which is stronger than any enemy: the battle with oneself to overcome what the mind cannot purge. Flashbacks of battles won and lost, of deaths seen and avoided, memories of comrades maimed and killed, stresses that are manifested from the will to survive in a state of self-preservation and the ever recurring sounds, tastes and smells of war attack the mind, making reintegration back into society oftentimes a futile and complex undertaking. The clash inside commences, that violent whirlwind that morphs together memories and stresses of war and of the life that previously existed, creating a vortex of self-destruction that leads to a veteran’s complete loss with self, and the new reality that has become his living hell. Post-traumatic stress disorder may erupt in the aftermath of war or in years subsequent, exploding out and releasing those demons that have been festering inside waiting to envelope the veteran with their claws of memories past and nightmares present.
From moral law-abiding citizen, young, energetic and full of hopes and dreams, where virtue and respect for humanity is ingrained, soldiers are methodically transformed into programmed automatons of carnage, devastators of lives and lands and efficient killing machines without remorse for the consequences of their actions. This creates a quagmire in the mind as one must shift and abandon what was once believed to be sacred, namely the value of human life, and replacing it instead with the indoctrinated duty to kill and destroy. Thus, the soldier is torn until his first battle and first kill, after which time the sacredness of human life morphs into one of self-preservation and thirst for extinguishing the enemy. The military’s lethally trained soldier has now become its cog of violence and war; the alteration from youthful dreamer to destroyer of dreams is finalized.
Many who survived did and do return to a semblance of normalcy, able to reintegrate and continue living seemingly fruitful lives. Their inner demons are minor. Yet many do not, and are forced to confront their all-encompassing mental demons without the assistance of the same government that helped foster them in the first place. And so, the exploitation having been completed, their purpose achieved, the veteran is discarded and abandoned, forgotten and left to cope with the scars of the “glorious” and “freedom fighting” war he was sent to fight. Meanwhile, those who supplied his instruments of death and destruction reap the profits, the Leviathan enriches itself and those at the top like Bush, born with a silver spoon up their ass and with no understanding or empathy for those born in the lower echelons of the caste system get to pat themselves on the back, congratulating themselves on the newfound power and riches added to their portfolio of exploitation.
That was Vietnam, a blood infested swamp of hell that resulted in defeat and in the collective destruction of millions of American soldiers, in life, limb and mind, sacrificed in the jungles of south-east Asia from which the demons of war were exhumed and returned embedded with our soldiers like a potent pathogen bent on unleashing self-destruction from within. Forgotten once brave and decorated soldiers have become, pariahs in society, walking aimlessly in their own worlds of escape, once fruitful and promising lives laid to waste, forced to loiter, beg and pick trash, fighting their inner selves and the demons of war while their government begins implementing the vicious cycle of decimation onto a new generation of young, brave and cocky men and women. This is what becomes of those who fight the wars of the oligarchy and powerful; this is the sacrifice they must make, ruining their lives, minds and futures fighting their fellow man. This is how they are repaid for their services. This is the reality of soldiers turned veterans, of the devastation of war and the effects of the violence we are capable of unleashing onto the world. The example that is Vietnam is discarded by the elite, only to be repeated today, tomorrow and into the future with each regeneration of the assembly-line we call human procreation. This is Iraq. This is us.
In the military it is one’s duty to never leave anyone behind. When it comes to homeless, injured, amputated and mentally destroyed veterans, however, it seems to be the modus operandi. It is the exploitation of the American Soldier.
Today, many experts fear the next great wave of homeless vets and psychologically ravaged citizens are in Iraq fighting for their lives. The next generation of exploited men and women is systematically being converted into mentally fatigued, overtly-stressed and physically scarred individuals that will return home with the horrors of what they have seen and done in the desolate deserts of Mesopotamia ingrained into their now fragile minds. This is the sacrifice made; this is the reality of Bush’s war.
Through the physical and mental loss of our loved ones our government declares victory. Through the devastation unleashed onto humanity Bush tries to assure re-election. Through the alteration and usurpation of our soldier’s lives and minds Bush claims triumph over evil; through their enslavement to the Leviathan and government oligarchy he claims to further assure our freedoms and liberties. In the end, evil is unleashed under our name, our freedoms and liberties are eroded more every day and we come closer to becoming the slaves and serfs of yesteryear as the war the Leviathan has spawned against us and our loved ones grows in intensity.
Guinea Pigs Dressed in Camouflage
Forced Vaccinations and Experiments
It cannot be emphasized enough how soldier lives are destroyed or seriously altered by the government and its war activities. Just recently, a court order was imposed banning the forced anthrax vaccination of troops by the military that in many soldiers was causing sickness and maladies. Brought to the courts by a group of soldiers, the court in essence found that the military was experimenting its unproven vaccine on troops who were being used as guinea pigs. The Pentagon in not deterred, however, as it has gone back to court seeking to have the ruling applied only to those who were part of the complaint, in essence seeking to continue the vaccination plan to all other members of the armed forces. Soldiers are being pressured and punished if they refuse vaccination, and many have not been told by the military of the court ruling.
Throughout the decades the military has performed such “experiments” on soldiers through vaccinations, inoculations, experiments, poking and prodding, trying to uncover the effects of chemical and biological warfare on humans. Under the guise of the Cold War, from 1955 to 1975 the government used the military to experiment on tens of thousands of soldiers, oftentimes without consent or knowledge, exposing them to radiation, biological contaminants, blister and nerve agents and psycho-hallucinatory drugs such as PCP.
These experiments, with our soldiers being used as guinea pigs, only serve to damage the well-being of military men and women in an attempt to see what the effects and damage will be if the vaccine is applied to the general population. Our soldiers are being poked and prodded, serving as an experimental group, studied over time to see what health effects manifest themselves and what dangers are to be expected, and avoided. Guinea pigs dressed in camouflage are no different than guinea pigs living in cages. Enlisted to serve in both war and as samples of experimental exploitation, the American Soldier is but a slave serving the dark interests of those who lack humanity.
A definite pattern begins to emerge over decades of abuse and exploitation of soldiers, and that is the extent by which the military will expose its own to the evils it has created with a disregard that is nefarious and criminal in nature. This pattern has not stopped, it gets covered up or stone-walled when confronted, and it continues on its pervasive pattern of criminality and indifference that like an unstoppable tank runs over the lives of so many members of the armed forces who believed they would never be betrayed by a government they swore to serve and defend. What follows are but a few examples of this systemic pattern of behavior.
Hydrogen and Atomic Bomb Testing
The exploitation of the American Soldier for the benefit of the government is an ingrained part of the system. Soldiers have been used as guinea pigs for decades, oftentimes used as subjects sacrificed for the evils of mankind. A perfect example is that era, beginning in the aftermath of World War II and continuing until the early 1960’s, when our government began testing atomic and hydrogen bombs. Soldiers would be called into these areas, such as the Nevada desert, and placed in strategic locations throughout the fallout area of the blast, oftentimes in very close proximity to the mushroom cloud that ensued. Once the experimental bomb was detonated soldiers would have to withstand the powerful blast winds and concussion, thereby being exposed to radiation levels never before experienced by man. Guinea pigs in camouflage, exposed and tested, in all likelihood studied and analyzed to determine radiation’s effects on humans.
This exploitation resulted in numerous cancers, diseases, perpetual health problems and birth defects. The progeny of these soldiers have also been made to suffer through genetic birth defects. Men from all branches of the armed forces were subjected to these tests, many larger in power than Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Numbering over 100 in the course of two decades, these tests and the ensuing health effects, many of which have taken over 20 to 30 years to develop in soldiers and their children, have also affected citizens living downwind and in close proximity to the tests. In total about 900 bombs were detonated in the Nevada deserts from 1950 to 1963, unleashing 178 times more radioactive fallout than the accident at Chernobyl.
For years the Pentagon and government have stonewalled, withheld, suppressed and covered up attempts at uncovering and exposing these truths. Over 300,000 military men and women and 100,000 civilians were used as guinea pigs during the course of the tests. For soldiers, to try and decline forced participation meant court martial, dishonorable discharges, treason and jail. For all involved, it has meant a life of suffering at the hands of the government. Meanwhile, the exploitation of the American Soldier continued.
Agent Orange
The Vietnam War provides us with another example of criminal exploitation of soldiers by our government leaders with that famous herbicide chemical named Agent Orange. Sprayed by C-123 cargo planes over the conifer jungles of Vietnam where American troops abounded in order to defoliate and clear the thick green cover of foliage and flora that offered protection to the Viet Cong, the chemical was oftentimes inhaled and absorbed by soldiers, both American and Vietnamese, penetrating their lungs and/or skin and disseminating throughout the body. Up to 19 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides were dispersed from 1961 to 1971. Agent Orange was poison, designed to kill plant life in order to facilitate the further destruction of Vietnamese land and people. American troops were exposed to this devil’s concoction and the results were disastrous.
Upon returning home, Vietnam veterans began dying of disease, most notably cancer. To this day, those still alive suffer horrendous pain from the aftereffects of Agent Orange, the chemical the military unleashed onto its own. Children of soldiers exposed have been born diseased or deformed. Hundreds of thousands were exposed over the course of a decade, never imagining that the chemical they thought was helping them survive would later decimate and destroy their lives, and that of their children.
Agent Orange’s effects have not been relegated to American Soldiers, however. Vietnamese soldiers have suffered the same diseases, have died in larger numbers, and their children continue to suffer the consequences of American indifference. Absorbed into the countryside, the herbicide has filtered into soils and water tables, devastating farming and large populations. Vietnamese children have and continue being born retarded, deformed, sick and dead. In Vietnam, Agent Orange has become a WMD, and it has ruined both lives and land to this day.
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