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And it's up against the wall American
Muthers,
Barbara Bush, who raised her son so well.
Now Dubya's out there smirkin' in God's honky tonk,
Just kickin' soldiers' asses and raisin' hell.
~~ apologies to Jerry Jeff Walker
Once
a year, George Bush shows up at Arlington National Cemetery and tells a
tightly controlled, thoroughly vetted audience that he 'preciates the
sacrifice of those who volunteered to die "in freedom's cause." There,
surrounded by silent tombstones and armed Secret Service Police, this most
infamous of military deserters befouls not only the hallowed ground, but
the very air, as he regurgitates words he babbled the year before...and
the year before. He reminds us that America is a "reluctant warrior," but
we are resolved; our will must not be broken, no matter how many
sacrifices it takes.
During
the annual photo-op, Bush reads excerpts of farewell letters allegedly
from fallen soldiers and marines, all apparently honored to have died in
Bush's noble cause. Their words passed on to us by Bush are eerily
familiar -- stay the course -- complete the mission of ridding the world
of evil -- spread freedom and democracy to the four corners of the earth.
Then, after hoping that the slain heroes made peace with their Maker
before being blown to bits, and a final admonishment to "support the
troops," Bush cuts out until next year.
The camera never strays from Bush's twitching mouth, darting eyes -- never
scans the audience so we might see who these people are who applaud him so
vigorously. It must be members of his administration and those legislators
who follow him around like whipped pups, for I cannot imagine mothers
willing to either sacrifice their children to bolster Bush's poll numbers
in a barbaric slaughterhouse that grows more bloody and chaotic every day,
or to cheer him on. Somehow I cannot conjure up an image of mothers
offering up their sons and daughters to a pathological narcissist killer,
knowing if they are returned at all it will be either in pieces or in
boxes.
Hiding the Troops
Either way, Bush is determined to protect us from seeing the steady stream
of ghastly homecomings. That's what mothers are for. Bush says he wakes up
every morning trying to figure out how to protect the American people, and
-- like his mother says -- folks shouldn't have to worry their
beautiful minds with such depressing images.
So Bush not only banned the media and the public from Dover Air Force Base
in Delaware where dead soldiers are secretly shuttled back in country in
the dead of night, but from military installations around the world.
Bush also restricted the media from covering funerals at Arlington,
apparently deciding that the best way to support the troops is to
"disappear" them from our view forever. Besides, if you've seen one
aluminum transfer tube covered with the old red-white-and-blue, you've
seen 'em all. Why bother parading 2,500 of them past a bored,
disconnected, disinterested citizenry, most of whom have no children in
this fight and could care less about other people's children...
General Tommy Franks, former Central Command Commander, who developed and
executed the bloody Iraq fiasco, recently told the National Rifle
Association that it wasn't important how many Americans died -- that those
who count the
increasing number of American soldiers killed in Iraq are missing the
bigger picture. "What we're talking about is neither 2,400, 24,000 or
240,000 lives," Franks said. "Terrorism is a thing that threatens our way
of life. It doesn't have anything to do with politics."
Americans fail to realize that words mean far different things to Bush,
and apparently to Franks, than they do to coherent, rational people. To
Bush, "support the troops" means don't criticize him when thousands of
Americans and hundreds of thousands of innocents die in an illegal, bloody
mess that he lied to get us into.
Bush brags that he's a war president. He says he sits in the Oval Office
with war on his mind. He doesn't read --- doesn't need to because his gut
makes all the decisions, and anybody who doesn't like that is aiding and
abetting the terrorists.
So -- stick a yellow ribbon on your vehicle, shut up, and support the
troops.
Supporting the Troops
In the only evidence of support I am aware of, just months after getting
his war on, Bush opened a new $30 million, state-of-the-art,
70,000 square-foot mortuary at Dover to support the troops, or what is
left of them, when they are sneaked back to the states under cover of
darkness. Since then, he has sent America's sons and daughters unprepared
and unequipped into a raging guerilla insurgency with orders to kill
anything that moves.
Bush and his entire Iran-Contra war-criminal chickenhawk administration
are devoid of ethos; incapable of empathy or compassion, and could care
less about supporting troops. Bush has said on more than one occasion, "My
attitude is, any time we put one of our soldiers in harm's way, we're
going to spend whatever is necessary to make sure they have the best
training, the best support and the best possible equipment."
That may be his attitude, but it is not the reality on the ground
in Iraq or Afghanistan. Far too many Americans Bush has put in harm's way
are trying unsuccessfully to stay alive in soft-armored Humvees while
wearing Vietnam-era flak jackets. Far too few of them have the Interceptor
Vest designed in the late 1990's to protect its wearer with Kevlar lining
and ceramic plates in front and back pockets to shield vital organs. Day
after grinding day in the filth and horror of a war with the "front line"
anywhere the enemy decides it will be, ill-trained and ill-equipped
Americans are losing the battle to stay alive -- and there is no end in
sight.
Most Americans neither know nor care about what is going on, but the
mothers know. They are not only spending thousands of dollars sending
critical armor, night-vision goggles, and other needed equipment to their
children, but are sending food as well.
Journalist Bob Kerr writes in The Providence Journal that Marine
Nick Andoscia called and asked his mother to
send food. Kerr said Nick told his mother that he and the men in his
unit had shed about 10 pounds in their first few weeks in Iraq. They were
pulling 22-hour patrol shifts, and were getting only two meals a day --
not meals to remember. He said they were going to the Iraqis and literally
begging for food.
The lack of support this administration gives its uniformed personnel is
monumentally ruthless and evil. Since Bush's unprovoked attack on Iraq,
nearly 12,000 soldiers have been evacuated because of disease. Some of the
sickness can be attributed to Halliburton-KBR serving tainted water and
rotten food in the mess halls, but most is undoubtedly from radiation
poisoning due to the widespread use of the deadly Depleted Uranium.
Blaming the Troops
One of the more frightening things about wars, especially immoral wars
like this one, is the enemy must be dehumanized so soldiers and marines
can be kept under control and "up" for the killing they must do. Normal
human beings can't turn cruelty on and off like a faucet; therefore, the
troops must be also be dehumanized to the point of madness. They become
predators without conscience -- drugged and brainwashed into a continuous
white rage, not only willing, but eager to kill.
Their commander-in-chief is a ruthlessly self-centered, single-layered
demon whose hypnotic cadence of kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill
has succeeded in turning them into the monsters they must be for his world
dominance aspirations to succeed. The US military are
victims of a cruel fascist regime. They are used, then tossed aside to
come to terms with what they have become on their own. It is a rare
soldier who returns to find professional help available.
For many, the final battle with their predator leader is one too many.
Because of the values they were taught from birth -- it all comes crashing
down. Many can't cope with the magnitude of sheer evil that envelops them.
Some commit suicide. Others become alcoholics, drug addicts, homeless, the
walking dead.
When torture, murder and war crimes committed by Americans in places such
as Guantanamo, Haditha, Abu Ghraib, Ishaqi and Fallujah, as well as in
Afghanistan, comes to light, Bush and his criminal defense department
initially try to conceal the atrocities. If forced to investigate
themselves, they find no wrongdoing. When all else fails, Bush comes out,
blames the troops and says the few bad apples will be brought to justice.
Commanders stand silent, refusing to defend or protect those for whom they
are responsible -- mute acknowledgement that, as Henry Kissinger said,
"Soldiers are expendable -- dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in
foreign policy."
Every single member of Congress, every single member of this filthy
administration, every single commander on the ground, and every single
member of the shameful corporate US media must be blamed for allowing
George Bush's rampant maiming and destruction of American citizens and for
the genocidal murder waged against innocent Iraqi men, women and children.
Every single one of them should be forced to don Vietnam-era flak jackets,
crammed into unarmored Humvees and ordered to drive across Iraq, fighting
to stay alive while choking on depleted uranium dust. Then they might
acknowledge who is to blame for this fiasco.
Is it the troops?
No way in hell.
Sheila Samples
is an Oklahoma writer and a former civilian US Army Public Information
Officer. She is a regular contributor for a variety of Internet sites.
Contact her at: rsamples@sirinet.net.
Copyright © 2006 Sheila Samples
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