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A War made in the Image of Bush
Frank A. Jones 1/10/05 |
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It is the historically deprived who fantasizes that were he/she a millionaire, he/she would do nothing all day but have fun. We hear these types of sentiments put forth in songs and other folklore: "Roll around heaven all day." But there is an almost imperative within the very fabric and composition of human beings to do things, and this is especially pronounced among males in this society. It is actually bred within them through a rigid socializing regime this nation slavishly subscribes to--males in America are schooled from birth to act more than to think. Furthermore, many historians and philosophers hold that mankind, with its racial memory, as Jung defined it, behaves in such a way as to make all things as he is made--in his image, reflective of his mindset. That aspect of human behavior is almost irrefutable. For example, as human beings have a distinct psychology, organizations they build have a psychology as well. And that psychology often reflects the psychology of its builder and maker. We make things as we are, and for some strange and demented reason, we are often afraid of things not like us. Again, this is especially pronounced in the USA, where we have identified differences that are not differences of any significance and magnified them to an outrageous degree. Namely, gradations of pigmentation in the skin is a major insignificant USA difference that is utterly foolish, but significant in this nation. (But I digress.) Often we can see the personality and composition of a person, an organization, or a nation through their actions. I submit this is true in the case of the war in Iraq, which George W. Bush and company have gotten this nation into. The Iraqi war is a confusion intended to demonstrate some aged-men's desired machismo, but, instead, young American boys and girls are dying each day for a effort that was never delineated with any factual certainty or clarity. All the flawed rationales offered by the Bush Administration dissolved blatantly before our and their eyes, yet an uncertain confusion drove this administration into more confusion and chaos in Iraq. Many young and beautiful sons of someone else, not the aged minions in the White House, are blown out of a trucks and tanks; some are killed; some have to kill other human beings they know nothing about, and that will haunt them for years to come; some are made physical and mental cripples for life! And yet, they have not even begun to taste of life. How cruel this is to them; it is a betrayal of trust! Unlike Bush and company, whose loved ones are far away and secure, doing whatever comes to their minds, these young troops are needlessly put in harm's way by rascals in the White House, playing machismo with someone else's children and the nation's money. These young boys and girls have not even begun to understand or experience any of the joys of life, but they are in Iraq, afraid, threatened, far away from those who love them, and each night is like an eternity, and wishing they were home experiencing just a few of the comforts those who ordered them to invade another country under deceptions are experiencing. This nation has spent over $200 billion fighting a war that this tragic leadership said would pay for itself and that had ended 15--months ago. Not only are they killing and crippling our children, but they are giving those who remain a needless debt to be paid for years to come. When does the word impeachment find its way the halls of Congress? Iraq is a war made in George W. Bush and this administration's image--it is confused, irrational, and becoming more deadly every day. The confusion, the killings, the traumatizing and crippling of many thousands must be laid at the feet of this administration that would not hear the call of sanity within its own ranks (ala, Colin Powell) or any amount of reason from abroad--the vast majority of the world opposed this US invasion as unneeded and unjustified. But we would not hear reason, sanity, morality, or human decency, as we aligned our behavior with the wicked of the world. For throughout history, men have committed atrocities upon other men and nations. Some of these men were unabashedly insane, some were simply mean men who enjoyed inflicting pain, some were self-proclaimed freedom fighters, and still others had reasons they used to justify their behavior and carnage. What men do in the name of God and country is often so savage that it rents the very heart of God and sometimes destroys an entire nation. Yet over and over, men have used God and patriotism to shield or to rationalize their warped behavior and to inspire certain unimaginable behavior in others. Pat Robertson, one of the Religious Righters, told this president that there would be many dead, and that he should prepare the American people for that reality. But Bush, supposedly prompted by the same God, said that there would be no such dead. Is it not insanity to think you can go into a war without people dying? To many, god and patriotism are opiates that will intoxicate people into outlandish acts, thoughts, deeds, circumstances, and, yes, wars. Tragically, this nation elected Bush, but at the least, this nation should come to grips with the fact that there was no imperative for war in Iraq, and a nation goes to war when it is the last option and when there is an imperative. The only imperative that can be seen in this situation was George Bush's religious foolhardiness, which he may have called faith, at the expense of this nation's resources--our children and our money. But if the foundation of a nation (its children) is destroyed, where is the basis for that nation's continuity? Ancient King David, a wise leader, once asked this question, "If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?" I suggest, that if we willingly destroy those foundations, we are not righteous and certainly not wise! America and Americans have played the role of a fool on the stage of the world, and now our nation is at peril not from those without so much as from those within. Such behavior as starting a needless war and killing thousands of human beings under the banner of "god is with us or god told him to do it" is not an indictment of God, but it is an indictment of unholy, iniquitous, and demented men who use the opiate of religion, patroitism, and religiosity as a cloak for their malevolent acts. This war in Iraq is made in Bush's image--it is a cacophony of chaos, mayhem and murder that will continue until we declare victory and leave. If we could declare an end to war when it had not even begun, we can, as we did in Vietnam, declare victory and leave. To do otherwise is to continue to destroy our economy and kill more Americans and Iraqis. Our reputation as a nation can be rebuilt, but dead people cannot be restored and crippled children cannot grow their limbs back. When is the word impeachment to be raised in the halls and on the floor of Congress and in the consciousness of the American public?
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