Preemptive, Pie-Hole Policy Not and Option
By Sheila Samples
"They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to
die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor
fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good
reason."~~Ernest Hemmingway
My friend Bernie says anyone who believes that George W. Bush's war on terror isn't a miserable, howling failure is surely a member of the media, a perp over at the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), or has had "the lobotomy." Bernie says if Bush manages to screw up another election, the second thing he's going to do is hit us with a full-blown draft.
"The second thing?" I asked. "Okay
-- since Bush always screws up everything he touches -- I'll bite.
What's the first thing?"
"Iran!" Bernie snorted. "Don't you pay attention?
The articles have already been written. The graphics are loaded. The
media is just waiting for Bush to give 'em the signal so they can
write the headlines and fill in the date and time of the attack.
Then," he grinned, "Hi-ho, hi-ho -- it's off to war we
go..."
Bernie could be on to something. Anybody even remotely familiar
with the totally mad ravings of the Machiavellian Michael Ledeen for
the past two decades, or the sheer inhumanity lurking behind the
chilly smile frozen on the warmongering face of Bill Kristol, editor
of Rupert Murdoch's neoconservative Weekly Standard, knows
that Iraq was only the beginning of a struggle with the "terror
masters" of evil -- a war that Ledeen cheerfully announces will
"go on forever."
"I've been watching Ledeen for years," Bernie said,
"ever since the '80s, when he weaseled his way not only into the
National Security Council and the Pentagon, but into Alexander Haig's
brain over at State. Now, he squats in the 'freedom chair' at
the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and works with folks at AIPAC
(American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and JINSA (Jewish Institute
for National Security Affairs) whippin' up blind fear that Iran is
gonna nuke us before sunset.
"Nobody makes a better livin' at killin' than Mikey Ledeen.
Hell," Bernie continued. "The body parts hadn't been scraped
off the streets of Baghdad from Bush's premature and giddy attack on
Iraq before Ledeen was ready to move on -- to deliver God's gift of
freedom to millions of folks unfortunate enough to live on top of the
oil in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and even little ol' Libya.
Liberation's a dirty job," Bernie said. "It's hard
work -- but like Ledeen says, somebody's gotta do it."
"Bernie," I said, fighting the impulse to skitter into the
corner to crouch there, whimpering and gnawing on what little remains
of my hair, "there must be another way. Surely, if George
Bush screws up...er, wins another election, surely he's learned his
lesson. He won't listen to people like Kristol and Ledeen..."
"Naw, Bush don't listen to 'em," Bernie grinned.
"He don't have to listen. He wouldn't understand what they were
sayin' even if he did listen. He just opens up, and whatever
they shout in his ear immediately blasts out through his pie hole.
I call it Bush's pie-hole foreign policy. I call it Bush's
premature, pre-emptive pie-hole foreign policy. I call it Bush's
predatory, pre-emptive, pie--"
"Okay -- okay! I get the picture!" I interrupted hurriedly.
"But you're right, Bernie. There's no way we can continue
on this course without a draft. As of today, we've lost http://globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm
1,110 American troops in Iraq. Seven of that number are reported
as killed but not identified because their families don't yet know
they are gone forever. More than 8,000 have been wounded and
nearly that many more evacuated because of disease, much of which --
like Ledeen's eternal war -- is the depleted uranium gift that just
keeps on giving.
"Americans need to snap out of it," Bernie said, his eyes
suddenly hard. "Time's up. Americans are out there
dancin' alone on the brink of catastrophe, and nobody's covering their
backs. They've been played for fools by the media, betrayed by
their political leaders and cuckolded by their religious leaders.
"Help is not on the way for folks who think they can barricade
themselves behind closed doors and ride out the storm," Bernie
said. "War is on the way. A draft is on the way, and you
can take it to the bank that these guys agree with former Secretary of
State Henry Kissinger, who has been widely quoted as saying
contemptuously that military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be
used as pawns in foreign policy.
"Look," Bernie continued, "I don't know whether
Americans just can't handle the truth -- or if they've been lied to so
damn much they don't recognize it anymore. They may not like it -- you
may not like it -- but this guy's a liar. Plain and simple.
If what comes blaring out of his pie-hole isn't true -- it's a lie.
Not an exaggeration. Not a misrepresentation. Bush doesn't
'misspeak.' He lies. Lies. Lies."
Bernie pointed out that Bush likes to brag about not only his first,
but his best accomplishment after taking office -- the massive
670-page No Child Left Behind Act. Although he has relentlessly
cut funds for this education program, buried so deep that few noticed
is a provision requiring public secondary schools to provide military
recruiters not only with access to facilities, but also with contact
information, to include addresses and telephone numbers, for every
student -- or face a cutoff of all federal aid.
In his November/December 2002 article http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2002/11/ma_153_01.html
in Mother Jones Magazine, David Goodman says recruiters are
up-front about using school lists to aggressively pursue students
through mailings, phone calls and personal visits -- even if parents
object.
According to Goodman, Major Johannes Paraan, head US Army recruiter
for Vermont and northeastern New York, said, "The only thing that
will get us to stop contacting the family is if they call their
congressman...Or maybe if the kid died, we'll take them (sic) off our
list."
Although Bush is promising unequivocally, "There will never be a
draft as long as I am the President," and House Majority Leader,
Texas Republican Tom DeLay tried to allay voters' fears by the sudden
call-up and defeat http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20041006-012158-2811r.htm
earlier this month of a draft bill sponsored by New York Democrat Rep.
Charles Rangel, who candidly admits he submitted it to make the
political point the military is being stretched too thin under Bush,
the beat goes on.
Especially in the halls of the Selective Service Department.
Last week, the New York Times reported there were contingency
plans for a draft of "doctors, nurses and other health care
workers in case of a national emergency that overwhelms the military's
medical corps..."
When pinned down, the Selective Service blandly said it was merely a
routine update, and assured us that it was "on the shelf,"
or just an option on the table, and would stay there unless they were
directed to carry it out.
However, the Pentagon was furious. "It is the policy of this
administration to oppose a military draft for any purpose
whatsoever," spokesman Lawrence T.Di Rita said. "A
return to the draft is unthinkable. There will be no
draft."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld echoed that sentiment. In an
interview http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20041020-secdef1463.html
with WOAI-AM Radio in San Antonio, Texas, Rumsfeld said the draft idea
was "false and mischievous." He knocked the option
completely off the table by emphasizing, "We do not have a draft.
We do not intend to have a draft. There is no intention to draft
doctors or dentists or veterinarians or anything else I can think
of..."
Goodness gracious! Henny Penny! Tell that to the thousands
of soldiers affected by the June 2004 "stop-loss" orders
that forced them to remain in the service and head back to Iraq even
though their contractual commitments were up.
Tell it to soldiers of Fort Carson, Colorado's 3rd Brigade Combat
Team, who were told to reenlist for three more years or be transferred
to units deploying for Iraq. These all-volunteer active-duty
soldiers suddenly find themselves involuntarily restrained until 2007.
Tell it to the National Guard, the Reserves, and especially to the
Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) forces -- people honorably discharged
after serving four to six years, but remain in the IRR for the rest of
their eight-year commitments. These people are rarely called up, but
more than 4,000 IRR troops have been, and fully a third -- 843 --
have failed to report for duty.
Tell it to 70-year-old Ted Wallace of Los Gatos, California, who was
recently ordered to report for deployment to Iraq. NBC Affiliate
KNTV reported that Wallace "checked the documents with his local
recruiting office and they told him they were accurate and authentic.
He says he is going to report to duty but hopes they don't put him on
the front line. He also hopes that the army will put off his
deployment until after his upcoming knee surgery..."
Although denial after denial comes blaring out of Bush's pie-hole on
the campaign trail that there will be no draft, those who haven't been
bludgeoned into blind obedience or infused with unthinking ideological
stupidity, know differently. It is an abomination that American
citizens accept this administration's outlook that their children are
"dumb, stupid animals" to be used as pawns in a greedy
crusade of what Russian activist Alexander Berkman once described so
succinctly as "brutish callousness, wanton destruction and
irresponsible murder."
Bush has plans for our young men and for our young women as well. Why
-- when millions of Americans will be affected -- is the response only
long silence followed by a few vague bleats of polite demurral --
drowned out by mindless chants of "four more years...four more
years?"
Don't these people have children? Don't they know that in the
critical weeks remaining of this destructive administration, many more
Americans will die like dogs on a bloody battlefield for no good
reason? Don't they know we can't take four more years of this
madness?
Bush cannot be allowed to screw up another election. He cannot
be allowed to force more war, an involuntary draft -- a pre-emptive
pie-hole foreign policy on the innocent peoples of this world -- a
police state on the American people -- and all for no good reason.
When Americans realize the best they can hope for is another black
memorial wall in Washington, D.C., all options for four more years of
George W. Bush are -- or should be -- off the table.
Sheila Samples is an Oklahoma freelance writer and a former
civilian US Army Public Information Officer. She will accept praise
and atta-boys at rsamples@sirinet.net.
Complaints and death threats should be directed to her cousin, Junior
Samples, at BR-549.
