The mainstream news behaves as if the American mission in Iraq, as in other parts of the world, is based upon humanitarian principles of good will. They would have us believe that America is not motivated by empire but by just causes. These contrived causes are bandied about in the mainstream media with extreme recklessness. Terms like liberation, freedom and democracy, are the product of public relations firms such as the Rendon group. They have no basis in reality; and they do not fit the evidence. They are the foundation of a marketing strategy used to sell the American people products that are detrimental to their health. Selling war to the people who die in them is like selling cigarettes to a nicotine addicted public. The process is exactly the same. It is all about marketing. Cigarettes kill millions of people every year. Yet millions upon millions of people continue to buy them and suffer the consequences of their use. The same is true of war. That is the astonishing power of marketing.
In a capitalist system of government everything is based upon market values. In capitalism's twisted perception, the market is the solution to every problem; and the creator of none. Truth hardly enters into the equation at all, unless it happens to fit the desired spin. Like any kind of marketing scheme, the news is foisted upon a gullible public like any other product. The people, through lifelong exposure to the constant bombardment of the corporate marketing machine, are conditioned to buy. We buy the propaganda spewed forth by the Pentagon as readily as we buy tons of cheap junk from Wal-Mart, thinking that we actually want and need these commodities. The sale of these unnecessary goods drives millions of us into bankruptcy, while lining the pockets of the corporate CEOs. During their manufacture, millions of the world's working poor are further exploited and abused by the captains of industry. The market thrives by creating artificial wants.
Those useless commodities do wonders for the corporate bottom line. They do wonders for the war mongers running the Pentagon. But they do not serve the interest of working class people, for they are the ones who pay the ultimate cost of corporate propaganda. They are the ones who go to places like Iraq and have their lives snuffed out, their limbs and even their faces blown off. This is happening while Dick Cheney and the rest of the chicken hawks, secure in their lavish mansions, are laughing all the way to the bank. Those of us who buy into the sinister schemes spewed forth by the corporate media are the chumps left to pay the real cost of war. You see, in America the real criminals always get away with the heinous crimes they commit. Moreover, they bear virtually no risk at all because we the people are so disinterested. We fail to hold them accountable, as long as we are entertained. Even more incredibly, we often cheer them on as they fleece us and sell us wars we neither want or need. Those in power must think that we are a stupid lot. We have done so little to prove them wrong.
The real purpose of the invasion and occupation of Iraq have nothing whatsoever to do with democracy, freedom, or liberation. They have everything to do with empire building and insatiable corporate greed, like all American made wars. The people that American soldiers are killing and maiming around the world have more in common with them than those who are directing them to do the killing. I do not intend to denigrate the brave men and women who serve in Iraq and some two hundred nations around the world. They are there because they have bought the goods offered up by the superb propaganda machine for the corporate media. They are being used and exploited the way working people have always been used and exploited by those in power.
The sad reality is that these young men and women have been betrayed by those who send them into harms way. They believe they are there for the noble causes of sowing the seeds of democracy. They believe that the Pentagon and the likes of Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and George Bush care about them. The awful truth, however, is that they are nothing more than pawns in a rich man's game. Those who are calling the shots see them as nothing more than cannon fodder. See how we neglect them when they come home broken and worn. Witness how we abandon their families when they come home in body bags, mangled almost beyond recognition.
The ugly truth is that our soldiers have been betrayed by the worst imaginable kind of people. These are people who don't give a damn about them. The public is being betrayed and sold goods that will never benefit them-- but will cost them everything in the end. In their lust for power and fortune the champions of capitalism are destroying the very social fabric of our society. The truth is not only out there, it is not terribly difficult to find. But you must be willing to look in some dark places. The Internet is a powerful tool that can be used in the search for truth. Be careful, though; beholding the unvarnished truth is often not a pretty thing. It is, however, a necessary thing that will require some courage on our part.
