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HOLLYWOOD AND THE CIA — Film historian Ed Rampell details Hollywood’s entangled relationship with the CIA and the Pentagon; HOUSES OF THE DEAD: Nancy Kurshan exposes the cruel human rights offenses taking place inside America’s vast gulag of Control Unit Prisons; BROTHERHOOD OF SUMMER: David Macaray charts the history of the most powerful union in the US: the Baseball Players Association; TAR SANDS COME TO AMERICA: Steve Horn explains how the Keystone Pipeline debates have diverted attention from Big Oil’s other plans to transport Alberta’s oil into the US. PLUS: Jeffrey St. Clair on CONSTITUTIONAL ENTROPY; Mike Whitney on HOW THE BANKS TARGETED BLACKS; Chris Floyd on THE RISE OF BRITAIN’S TEA PARTY; Kristin Kolb on THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE; Kim Nicolini on the FILMS OF WILLIAM FRIEDKIN; and Lee Ballinger on POETS VS. THE ONE PERCENT.

August 31, 2004

Opening Night

Playing the War Card

by JACK RANDOM

Senator John McCain is an unquestioned war hero. Though the war he fought was morally bankrupt, we owe him a great debt for his sacrifice. On the political battlegrounds, McCain has often distinguished himself by rising above partisan politics. At the Republican National Convention, however, we have learned that he is not always above the fray.

McCain was right when he called upon the president to denounce the deceptive, misleading and scurrilous Swift Boat attack ads. His acceptance of the president’s promise to attack all 527 ads in lieu of a direct denunciation ignores the political reality that the 527 organizations are the only means of leveling the playing field between conventions. The Senator knows this as well as anyone in Washington and, therefore, his appeasement is the very definition of disingenuous.

To further his fall from grace, his very personal attack on Michael Moore was based on a misrepresentation. Fahrenheit 911 does not portray the Iraq of Saddam Hussein as paradise. The Senator did not see the film.

As for the war in Iraq, while we may admire McCain on many issues (campaign finance reform), the fact is he never saw a war he did not like. To ignore the false rationale for the invasion and to pretend that it had anything to do with the war on terrorism is worse than disingenuous. From a man who is supposed to symbolize plain-speaking truth, it is hypocritical.

Mendacity, thy name is Rudy Giuliani. He rose to national prominence by his spirited representation of America’s greatest city on the day of its greatest tragedy. His badge of courage and resilience, however, has since been tarnished by his relentless effort to garnish political dividends. He has now reached the pinnacle on his journey of exploitation: He has played the role of the political hatchet man at the Republican National Convention. ("But this is not a personal attack.")

The Republicans have disgraced themselves and the party of Abe Lincoln. Their candidate is a War President and they have chosen to become the War Party. They will ignore the fact that this is the wrong war, that it has nothing to do with the war on terrorism, that it has less to do with spreading democracy, that it has made this nation and this world less safe, and that it has cost a thousand young American lives and uncounted tens of thousands of Iraqi lives.

They have played the war card. Let us pray that John Kerry and the Democrats do not up the ante.

JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS).