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A War Casualty: The Truth

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You’re doing a heck of a job Davie, you too Crock. (“Whisper to the people;  “’Ol Crock, he’s a good man, he just doesn’t understand that you have to tell the Iraqi’s what they want to hear, instead of scaring them with negative stuff”, wink, wink, nod, nod).

That “report” was the whole ball of wax. The United States of America is making “progress”. We have been making “progress” for a long time now. I guess you could say we are a “progressive” nation. I guess you could say anything. Most people involved in the decisions of this war have done exactly that, said anything and everything. The amazing part of this is that anything that has been said about our efforts in Iraq has already been said and it hasn’t made any difference at all. This war is what it is and any effort to change the reality of the war makes no difference at all. You can’t change reality by denial, no matter how you package it. Someone should just come out and tell George that “progress” isn’t being made by simply saying so.

Can you believe that I have been reduced to writing about something that any child should have learned as one of his or her first lessons in morality? Why do I feel compelled to write this? I imagine that the reason I feel that I should is because it is glaringly obvious that GWB doesn’t understand the difference between reality and fantasy. Reality hasn’t been an icon of the Bush Administration since the beginning, but actually witnessing a four-star General rearranging facts and figures to paint an assessment of an occupation that is tenuous at best, into something it is not, reminds me of old Superman comics and the “Bizarro World” issues.

That small minorities of Americans believe the reports and the propaganda doesn’t surprise me. You will always have those that will defend the President on the principle that he is the President and should have the support of the people. The same goes for those that disagree with him because he is from a different political party than they are. The part of this entire debacle that is unfolding, isn’t the people that agree or disagree with the report, it is the way that the mainstream media gives the statements made by Crocker and Petraeus weight by failing to question their assertions.

Frankly, I am embarrassed by the need to write this. I am embarrassed by this need I feel to actually ask the major news venues why they are treating this “report” as if it were “news”. I am also mystified over the major networks treating this “dog and pony show” as something that has any degree of veracity. This reminds me of the day that Colin Powell committed moral suicide with his Powerpoint Presentation at the United Nations.

Why is it that seemingly intelligent and otherwise moral people will allow themselves to be used by this President? What makes someone whom has spent his or her entire life in public service commit seppuku in plain view of the entire world? Is it all about money? Is it about power or conviction? How could anyone hold the conviction that occupying Iraq is important enough to flush his or her entire life’s work down the toilet? Looking at this from the opposite perspective, could I be so wrong in my opinion that being in Iraq is morally reprehensible and against every moral precedent that we hold dear? I have never seen anything like this. I remember Vietnam as if it were yesterday. The arguments made then were as ridiculous as the ones made today, but even the networks in that time reported both sides. The reporting might have been skewed, but the anti-war side did get more than video clips of arrests.

If this is the case, if we are not being shown both sides of the story, then why are we fighting in Iraq? It can’t possibly be for freedom. If we were a free people we would be getting both sides of the war debate. Bush says we are fighting for our “freedom”. How can we fight for something that we don’t possess? Since the beginning of this “war”, it has been the freedom of American citizens that has been under attack. Since the first plane flew into the WTC, our rights have been steadily taken away from us. What purpose does that serve? The American people seem to be willing accept this, yet we protest the erosion of democracy in Russia and China. Why?

The media outlets, in order to get their license to operate, must devote a portion of their airtime to the “public good”. This was at one time strictly enforced. I believe that it should be enforced again. Time should be given to the anti-war movement.  The MSM is not giving both sides of the argument. The American people should also start paying attention. If people ran a business like they run this country, they would be filing for bankruptcy.

The General and the Ambassador should be ashamed of the things they have told the American people. We are not making “progress”. How can you possibly make progress in an occupation? American forces will occupy Iraq until we decide to end the occupation. We are not fighting for their freedom, nor are we fighting for ours. We are there so that we project American power in the Middle East. The rest of the administration’s rhetoric is nonsense.

Until the MSM, politicians, the administration and everyone else starts talking in plain terms about the situation, we will continue to skirt this issue and this needless occupation of a sovereign state will continue. We didn’t “surge” we escalated. We aren’t fighting a “war” we are continuing an occupation. We are not fighting for anyone’s freedom, we are fighting for an American presence in the region. The terrorists are not going to “follow us home”: they are already here. They live in the White House.

This is the way I see it.


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Tim Gatto is Ret. US Army and has been writing against the Duopoly for the last decade. He has two books on Amazon, Kimchee Days or Stoned Colds Warriors and Complicity to Contempt.

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