Friday, April 04, 2003
TREASON !!!
I realize that what I am about to say may be considered treason, but I feel so strongly about the wrongness of this war, that I am willing to go to gaol for expressing My opinions.
The ALP (Australian Labor Party) must NOT follow the populist motto of ‘winners are grinners’ (aka We’re happy for the troops to stay in Iraq as long as they’re victorious). The troops MUST be brought home immediately, and the US must NOT win this war.
Forget the issue of Saddam Hussein … the war was never about ‘liberating the Iraqi people.’ This will be a spinoff for the average Iraqi, but was never in the sights of the war-planners in Washington. The reason the US must not be allowed to win is quite simple — handing them this war is tantamount to handing them the world on a platter. The imbalance in world affairs which has obtained since the collapse of the Soviet Union will become terrifyingly complete — the US will be the SOLE power in the world, able to steamroller over every sovereign nation on Earth, to decide who governs, who lives and who dies. Every nation will be locked into subservience to US — militarily, economically, legally, and socially. The UN will become a rubber-stamp for the imperial US administration. This, of course, is what Dubya and the cabal of bloodthirsty ghouls who stand behind him have wanted all along — to make the US unchallenged and unchallengeable.
But what is wrong with this, you ask … The Americans are our friends, they won’t hurt us. The American PEOPLE may be our friends, but the US ruling strata, claiming to be guided by Christian principles, will only ever act in their own interests. What if, as may be permissible under WTO rules, a US company tenders for, and gains control of the supply of our water and electricity AND RAISES PRICES TO LEVELS WHICH WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE IN AN UP-MARKET US SUBURB? Do we accept it, or do we revolt? And, if we revolt, do we get ‘liberated’ like the Iraqis? What if, like New Zealand, we decide to close our ports to US Navy ships? What if — horror of horrors — we decide to close down Pine Gap?
People of Australia, do you want security or do you want freedom? Because you can’t have both under the Evil Empire of the UsofA.
The ALP (Australian Labor Party) must NOT follow the populist motto of ‘winners are grinners’ (aka We’re happy for the troops to stay in Iraq as long as they’re victorious). The troops MUST be brought home immediately, and the US must NOT win this war.
Forget the issue of Saddam Hussein … the war was never about ‘liberating the Iraqi people.’ This will be a spinoff for the average Iraqi, but was never in the sights of the war-planners in Washington. The reason the US must not be allowed to win is quite simple — handing them this war is tantamount to handing them the world on a platter. The imbalance in world affairs which has obtained since the collapse of the Soviet Union will become terrifyingly complete — the US will be the SOLE power in the world, able to steamroller over every sovereign nation on Earth, to decide who governs, who lives and who dies. Every nation will be locked into subservience to US — militarily, economically, legally, and socially. The UN will become a rubber-stamp for the imperial US administration. This, of course, is what Dubya and the cabal of bloodthirsty ghouls who stand behind him have wanted all along — to make the US unchallenged and unchallengeable.
But what is wrong with this, you ask … The Americans are our friends, they won’t hurt us. The American PEOPLE may be our friends, but the US ruling strata, claiming to be guided by Christian principles, will only ever act in their own interests. What if, as may be permissible under WTO rules, a US company tenders for, and gains control of the supply of our water and electricity AND RAISES PRICES TO LEVELS WHICH WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE IN AN UP-MARKET US SUBURB? Do we accept it, or do we revolt? And, if we revolt, do we get ‘liberated’ like the Iraqis? What if, like New Zealand, we decide to close our ports to US Navy ships? What if — horror of horrors — we decide to close down Pine Gap?
People of Australia, do you want security or do you want freedom? Because you can’t have both under the Evil Empire of the UsofA.
Support the Troops?
I am constantly irritated by the argument about ‘supporting our troops once they’re fighting.’ Let me enter the arena so beloved of Bush/Blair/Howard to counter this — World War II. Imagine you are a German who has somehow managed to survive till 1939, even when criticizing the government — do you suddenly drop your opposition, and ‘get behind our troops’, once they are released like mad dogs over the border into Poland?
I also find intriguing the mantra that “No one wants war, but…” Although the two sane members of the Unholy Trinity must be seen to deprecate war, this rings particularly hollow in the light of the Trinity’s head honcho, George ‘Born Again/Warmonger’ Bush’s, speeches proclaiming that “It is our right to strike first at any nation that we PERCEIVE to be challenging US interests,” — a doctrine endorsed by the President’s backers, the neo-conservative ghouls of right-wing think-tanks like the Project for the New American Century (it’s all up there on their website www.newamericancentury.org ).
Finally, Sir, I would like to address the concern of those who are military spouses or chidren. Opposing the war does NOT mean that I lack compassion for the military personnel involved — in fact, that’s precisely why I want them brought home, out of a war that is most decidedly not in our national interest. Moreover, if these people's relatives ever contract cancer from exposure to the Depleted Uranium that the Yanks use in their tank shells (see www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0330-02.htm), I promise to fight for decent medical treatment and a reasonable pension for him — how many of our warmongering politicians will undertake to do the same?
I also find intriguing the mantra that “No one wants war, but…” Although the two sane members of the Unholy Trinity must be seen to deprecate war, this rings particularly hollow in the light of the Trinity’s head honcho, George ‘Born Again/Warmonger’ Bush’s, speeches proclaiming that “It is our right to strike first at any nation that we PERCEIVE to be challenging US interests,” — a doctrine endorsed by the President’s backers, the neo-conservative ghouls of right-wing think-tanks like the Project for the New American Century (it’s all up there on their website www.newamericancentury.org ).
Finally, Sir, I would like to address the concern of those who are military spouses or chidren. Opposing the war does NOT mean that I lack compassion for the military personnel involved — in fact, that’s precisely why I want them brought home, out of a war that is most decidedly not in our national interest. Moreover, if these people's relatives ever contract cancer from exposure to the Depleted Uranium that the Yanks use in their tank shells (see www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0330-02.htm), I promise to fight for decent medical treatment and a reasonable pension for him — how many of our warmongering politicians will undertake to do the same?
