I watched a documentary during work (as i was dutifully copying and pasting) called Rush to War. As i listened, I kept pausing the documentary to google events, mainly about US war policies and CIA missions, wondering how much evidence there was to support such “liberal” or “un-patriotic” statements (as many would call them). Surprisingly, the topics mentioned in the film not only had tons of supporting evidence, but it was also ready available to the public.
We are so fearful to suspect our government of tyranny, of deceit. And it’s not because our government hasn’t been caught lying - it has. Blatantly (the most obvious examples, but therefore all the more powerful because we all know about it, are the “undoutable existence of WOMD” and Vietnam). Bush may be dumb, but his companions understood the willingness of citizens to automatically believe whatever their president says.
anyways. mostly for my benefit, but for others interested, here’s some things i learned in the documentary and in my research after/ This is just a spewing of what I got, read, and thought after of the documentary - it’s no research paper. Its kinda long, so you might not read it. But I think it’s worth it to do so. I tried to create some order with subcategories by quotes in the documentary.
We do not have the god-given right to shape every nation in our own image or as we choose - Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1960s, in retrospect of Vietnam.
It is a frightening mix of moral, Manifest Destiny type attitude in the most powerful, internationally involved country. Our belief in the world being divided into Good vs. Evil, Democratic vs. non Democratic, as if all democratic countries are good, and all non democratic countries are bad, is so not with reality. The lines are mixed. We know that some “democratic” countries are militant and oppressive (dramatic example: El Salvador). We also know that some “nondemocratic” countries, although there aren’t many left like this, still give freedom and a good life to its citizens (I believe Cuba is this). I forget sometimes that people don’t realize any of this, or at least don’t remember it. Maybe it is because we are so isolated from everyone, from really understanding other cultures.
If America had a track record of really bring democracy of those they invaded, it’d be a different story. Here’s a president who’s saying we’re going to war for democracy. And then you go back through history and say, “How many times have presidents said we’re going to war for democracy, and what have those wars really been about?” - Howard Zinn
This was where I mainly did my research - What did happen in Latin America and what is going on in Africa?
If America was really interested in spreading liberation and democracy, why did we crush the democratically elected government of Guatemala back in 1954 or Chile in 1973 that were actually going to help their poverty stricken people? Why were we against the revolution against the dictator of Cuba? Why did we support the military dictatorship in El Salvador that killed over 75,000 of its poverty stricken people? For that matter, why did the US Government support and help bring Saddam Hussein into power back in the 80’s as a dictator even after he gassed the Kurds in 88? Our list of “allies” isn’t with those that support true liberty and freedom for its people. It tends to be very militant “democracies” known for tyranny. If America was really interested in spreading liberation and democracy, why are we not interferring in the Sudan where military regimes, Islamic-oriented and obviously non-democratic, have been leading a civil war that includes slavery and genocide against its people for decades? Over 2 million have been killed and 5 million displaced. I haven’t even heard numbers like that in any description of problems in Iraq, yet we are there and not in Sudan.
There’s so much information on CIA’s involvement in Chile and Guatemala, overthrowing democratically elected leaders that were bent on closing the gap between rich and poor and calling for social reform, and helping militant tyrants, who are “democratic” to continue to supress their people. This is why people doubt US sincerity for helping the people.
Im going write a post on these two examples soon, so to kind of split up this long blog :).
The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. all you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacivists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger - Hermann Goering, nazi reichsmarshall
1984, V for Vendetta… intelligent people for years know that fear is by far the easiest thing to exploit to take away personal rights, and when people aren’t checking to see what is truly going on in the world, governments are being able to use this to do the worst things. The War on Terror was based on downright lies (Bush was saying they had no doubt there were WOMD to be used against the US, which was never true, and that Iraq was confirmed to purchase chemicals for such weapons from Italy, which was never confirmed or likely and later proven to be based on forged/fake documents). Most of the top people in our government were so decietful at the beginning of the war, how can we trust them now? “Six days, six weeks. I doubt six months” said Donald Rumpsfield secretary of defense when asked how long he thought we’d be in Iraq. “I really do believe we will be greeted as liberators,” said Vice President Dick Cheny. They knew better. They knew Iraq’s history, that it had Britain’s decade long invasion and imperialism of Bagdad that killed thousands and instilled a passionate heart of reistant that was still fresh. They had no real idea what an exit strategy would look like nor that we would be looked at as liberators - the British already tried that and the reaction was already there to see and learn from, though we chose not to.
Former US Ambassador Joseph Wilson said the military tactics of 2002 was “rank with imperialism and colonialism… in essence it was a rewritten document of the 1st Bush administration that said the US must maintain preponderances of power… that we will attack anyone suspected… an open license to go to war with anyone, with or without UN agreement…”
Diplomacy is dead I suppose. But I thought our idea of justice, which is the same idea that our judicial system is based on, is that anyone is innocent until proven guilty. I think we forget the forefathers believed that it was better to let a guilty man free then let a free man go to jail.
In January, 2001, 8 months before 9/11, Iraq post-war reconstruction, including peacekeeping troups, war crimes tribunals, and diving up Iraq’s oil wells, was already on the table. former - Former Treasury Sec Paul Oneal.
But I thought we invaded Iraq as a direct response to 9/11?…. nope.
Geniva convention: article 17: no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion may be used to secure information.
Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General during War on Terror said that “war was a new paradigm which rendered many prevision of genevia convention quaint.” Torture crimes the Japanese and Germans had been hung for were now used by Americans, including watergating. We found we could get terrorists to confess to anything they wanted. 118 Iraqi detainees died in our custody.
A former Iraq soldier who was allowed to leave under “conscientious objections” worked at Abu Ghirad prison, the prison which has photos released to the public and showed horrible torture and humiliation to the inmates, which has previously been declared illegal in internationally and domestically. What is the most frightening, is that the solder said “Iraqis are living in a situation where they could be picked up off the street just for being a man of fighting age and taken to a prison camp and held there for six months… with no trial.. and what horror and anger that man and his village feel.” The myth is that every man picked up are terrorists and from then on, torture is alright.
Yet again, another hypocritically and deceitful statement by Bush that has a place here: “no American will be allowed to torture any human being anywhere in the world.” Have we forgotten the broken promises our government has made?
the ending thought:
As a people we are not reacting to theses horrors comited in our name. We stopped functioning as citizens who care about their country and we’ve become more about consumers addictive to a consuming lifestyle and we are willing to make any moral compromise as long as it continues to feed our addition. No UN, no checks and balances, no nothing are going to solve the problem because the motive force that draws all this, that allows politicians to take advantage of it, is the sense that you are allowed to have what others don’t have. and that’s not going to work.
