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CounterPunch
January
25, 2003
Are You a Friend
of Freedom?
Imperial War
Lords as Role Models
by LINDA HEARD
That's it folks! The leader of the free world
has spoken. "The friends of freedom will disarm Saddam Hussein".
Where do I sign up to be a friend of freedom you might ask? Sounds
good to me.
The American president went on to say:
"This kind, generous and compassionate nation will lead
the world to peace".
Wow! We'd all like to support such a
nation, wouldn't we? Who in their right mind wouldn't want to
become a 'friend of freedom' helping out a kind and compassionate
nation? Mr. George W. Bush sounds as though he has noble aspirations.
If you really want to be a friend of
freedom, the first thing you should do is find a role model.
Now let's see... Eureka! The perfect friend of freedom, known
also as man's best friend, is surely Britain's nodding Prime
Minister.
Like the American leader, Tony Blair
also wants to "liberate the Iraqi people" and be a
main player in the 'Coalition of the Willing' or is it 'the Coerced
Unwilling? These two friends of freedom are all set to do that
by invading an ancient land steeped in history with up to 250,000
troops, state-of-the-art weapons, tanks and large stocks of Atropine.
If the stubborn Iraqis don't shower them with flowers and candy,
then they wouldn't rule out nuking them out of existence. Still
want to be a friend of freedom?
Australia's John Howard does. This kind
and compassionate Prime Minister is responsible for the indefinite
detention of thousands of asylum seekers behind barbed wire.
They find freedom by sewing their lips together or jumping from
the top of Howard's fences to their death. Iraqis are already
dying in his country, a few more, or a few hundred thousand more
won't make much difference to his stony heart.
Many Americans know what it is like being
a friend of freedom. Defending freedom against those nasty Commies
caused the war in Vietnam, which still weighs heavy on the psyche
of the more sensitive. They still remember the draft dodgers
who fled to Holland and Scandinavia where they lived on the generosity
of sympathisers, smoked dope and grew their hair long. They still
recall how the Vietnam vets were spat on when returned home hoping
for glory, and the image of the child raw with napalm burns still
scars their national conscience.
Although on a much smaller scale, war
with Iraq could evolve into a Vietnam replay. If the Bush/Blair-combo
do succeed in getting their way, we could suffer from collective
guilt for decades to come. Germany, too, still retains its Holocaust
scars as we can see from its stringent laws concerning anti-Semitism
and racism, as well as its reluctance to join in a conflict with
Iraq. Japan, of course, is still nostalgic about the era when
the kindly friends of freedom helped them with their population
explosion and tested a new weapon at the same time.
It is clear that the Bush administration's
plan to attack Iraq was in the pipeline long before Bush junior
came to office. George H Bush was accused of not finishing the
job in 1991 and was the victim of an alleged assassination attempt,
thought to have been the work of Saddam Hussein. Add to the pot
the Bush family interests in both the oil and the weapons industries,
along with America's geopolitical ambitions and you could find
a combined raison d'etre for the friends of freedom to go to
war.
We should also take into account the
right-wing southern Baptist, Christian-Zionist beliefs of many
of the upper echelons of the US administration. People who believe
in the Second Coming, which will only come to pass post-Armageddon,
are Bush's main political support base. We still haven't found
out where Bush stands on this issue. We probably never will as
this crusading friend of freedom has cleverly ensured that his
and his father's presidential records and tapes will be sealed
for a very long time to come.
It should be said that most followers
of Christ around the world abhor this proposed conflict, including
Pope John Paul II and almost every Anglican bishop. They know
that when Jesus said: suffer little children to come unto me
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, he did not mean prematurely,
after burying their charred little bodies.
The self-styled religious 'friends of
freedom' have also taken it upon themselves to re-interpret various
Christian injunctions.
'Thou shall not kill' has been expanded
to 'Thou shall not kill our friends and supporters and to hell
with the rest of the blighters'. 'Blessed are the Peacemakers'
has been altered to mean 'The Peacemakers are nothing but a darn
nuisance thwarting our ambitions'. The Old Testament's 'an eye
for an eye' reads in their book 'let's poke out their eyes just
in case they may take ours'.
Whichever way one looks at it an invasion
of Iraq would be self-serving and immoral. Iraqi women are still
giving birth to babies with deformities due to the use of depleted
uranium by allied forces during the Gulf War. The Friends of
Freedom won't admit that they were responsible though. They've
even labelled thousands of their own troops suffering from Gulf
War Syndrome as being hypochondriacs, while sending others into
that same bloody arena.
While Iraq was once a bastion of culture
and modernity in the Middle East, it is now little more than
a wasteland on every level. It may soon become a giant graveyard
thanks to the jolly Friends of Freedom.
Imagine if you and your family were trapped
in a city over which a Damaclesian sword of death and destruction
was hanging. How would you feel if the most powerful nation on
earth was gunning for you and yours literally, and when you eat
your breakfast each day, you wondered whether that day would
be your last? This is exactly what the people of Baghdad are
going through now. They ponder on their future, whether there
will even be a future. Even if no bomb ever falls on Baghdad,
our leaders are putting its residents through a living nightmare.
Iraq was wrong to invade Kuwait in 1990,
but it has paid a heavy price for its wrongdoing. Since then,
Iraq has been trying to rejoin the world community, get the sanctions
lifted and it has been asking for a process of forgiveness and
reconciliation as was seen at the Arab League meeting held in
Beirut early last year.
Iraq has not threatened the US in any
way for the past 12 years and does not possess missiles with
sufficient range to hit New York or Washington or even London.
Its Scuds can reach Tel Aviv as we saw during the Gulf War and
fears are that this time they could be loaded with chemical or
biological weapons.
The recent televised warnings of the
Iraqi President's son, Uday, and the sight of half-a-million
of Iraqi troops dressed in full protective gear and gas masks
did little to allay such worries. The Friends of Freedom could
end up triggering the very thing they hoped to avert in their
eagerness to protect Israel at any cost.
The Bush administration is, of course,
fully aware that Iraq has not sought war and is not aggressing
anyone, yet has still seized every opportunity since September
11, 2001 to impress upon the American people and the world that
Saddam Hussein is a direct threat to the US. The Pentagon also
knows the risks inherent in invading Iraq both to American service
personnel and to the entire region.
Sadly many Americans are unable to see
that their government is trying, and often succeeding with the
assistance of its compliant media, to pull the wool over their
eyes. This propaganda has proved so effective that today some
46 per cent of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible
for the atrocities committed by Al Queda terrorists on that fateful
September day. When the missiles hit Baghdad, they will feel
avenged for the downing of the World Trade Centre, and while
proudly sporting their flag pins, praise America's Finest for
a job well done.
If some Americans are hopelessly misinformed,
the British, while admittedly less gullible and gung ho, are
apathetic. Most have little interest in wars fought at the other
side of the world and would prefer to watch Eastenders than the
news. They appear to know all about Brittany Spears, as well
as Posh Spice and her footballer husband and little about their
own politicians - even less about foreign policy. It is hard
to believe that Britain was one of the world's most advanced
nations and a political main player.
Real friends of freedom, staring in the
face a war, which could kill hundreds of thousands of innocents
with devastating repercussions for our planet, must make their
voices heard.
Time is now of the essence. We haven't
got the luxury of wasting it listening to the stomach churning
propaganda emanating from the White House and Number 10. We must
show those fake friends of freedom that their lies are falling
on deaf ears. We must answer these scoundrels with a unanimous
'not in my name' in as many languages of the world as possible.
We are being duped with flowery expressions,
obfuscation and untruths. We can keep ourselves safe by letting
the weapons inspectors do their work and engaging in dialogue
with Iraq.
True friends of freedom must open their
eyes, see the truth and refuse to allow this dirty war to take
place. Iraqis, like all of us on our planet, have the right to
life, security and happiness. The unholy alliance of Bush, Blair
and Howard will only bring them... and us sheer hell on Earth.
Linda Heard
is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be reached
at: freenewsreport@yahoo.com
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