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anti war
June 2009 
Memorial Day - (Videos)
Posted on May 27th, 2007
by 
Photizo
Photizo
A hero is someone who has given his or
her life to something bigger than oneself.
Joseph Campbell
In the last blog I wrote on the Eight Fold Path and How To End Suffering. Today being Memorial Day, one cannot help but wish for the suffering to end for those who are stationed in the armed forces oversees in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. So tomorrow I will take time to remember those who have died in an unjust and imperialistic war for the profit of corporations and politicians. A war built on lies that sends our sons and daughters, fathers and mothers to be sacrificed like cannon fodder, and for what? Just the other day I blogged on Mothers Day and posted a video on its true history as a day for Mothers to unite and stop wars that were killing their children.
Yet the media and politicians call out those who are against this war as being against our troops, crying out the foul words of "Unpatriotic" and failing to "support the troops." But the duty of every citizen is to question and indeed oppose wars that are both immoral and built on lies. It was Herman Goering, the Nazi Air Force (Luftwaffe) commander who at the Nuremberg Trials said,
Many are beginning to wake up from all the lies, propaganda and Orwellian doublespeak like war is peace.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the
bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to
tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists
for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.”
bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to
tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists
for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.”
Many are beginning to wake up from all the lies, propaganda and Orwellian doublespeak like war is peace.
I just want you to know that, when we talk
about war, we're really talking about peace.
~George W. Bush
1) Withdraw our troops from Iraq NOW.
2) Declare that this country will not participate in any attack against Iran.
3) No longer pursue a foreign policy of pre-emption and imperialism for corporate interests.
about war, we're really talking about peace.
~George W. Bush
The Orwellian War is Peace doctrine has led to American sons and daughters coming home in body bags. Today is a day to remember this sobering fact and to ask WHY we as a nation don't stand together and demand from our elected officials three things that will support our troops and prevent more needless death and destruction.
1) Withdraw our troops from Iraq NOW.
2) Declare that this country will not participate in any attack against Iran.
3) No longer pursue a foreign policy of pre-emption and imperialism for corporate interests.
They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.
But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will
die like a dog for no good reason. Ernest Hemingway
This war was based on lies from day one. First it was Saddam was connected with 911, then weapons of mass destruction and then when both of these were found out to be lies, we were told we were spreading democracy by the barrel of a gun. I enjoyed when the "Brit" George Galloway took on the U.S. Senate on the Iraq War Lies. In case you missed it...
George Galloway Vs. The Senate
“Stand Up and Be Counted - No to War and Occupation.”
Of course there are those who just cannot believe or never will believe that their Government would intentionally lie to them for reasons of profit and corporate interests. Major General Smedley Butler in his 1935 book, War Is a Racket, gave us some insight as to the true nature of war when in his most quoted statement tells us.
Major General Smedley Butler
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912."
War Corporatism - The New Fascism
"We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
I know it's hard for some to believe politicians would lie and that they may have alternative agendas for their wars other then what they tell us. Of course this in what is called manufactured Consent where the media owned bylarge conglomerates serve to mobilize support for the special interests that dominate state and corporate power. In democratic societies populations are not controlled by force. Rather, they are subject to more refined forms of ideological manipulation. Necessary illusions are created. Consent is manufactured. The public is marginalized. For those who are awake to the truth we see it used everyday, but sometimes we get a rare glimpse like that of Donald Rumsfeld trying to explain his own lies away. Take a look.
War Corporatism: The New Fascism
War Corporatism - The New Fascism
"We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
I know it's hard for some to believe politicians would lie and that they may have alternative agendas for their wars other then what they tell us. Of course this in what is called manufactured Consent where the media owned bylarge conglomerates serve to mobilize support for the special interests that dominate state and corporate power. In democratic societies populations are not controlled by force. Rather, they are subject to more refined forms of ideological manipulation. Necessary illusions are created. Consent is manufactured. The public is marginalized. For those who are awake to the truth we see it used everyday, but sometimes we get a rare glimpse like that of Donald Rumsfeld trying to explain his own lies away. Take a look.
RUMSFELD - BUSTED
Donald Caught Lying - Again....!
"There are a lot of people who lie and get
away with it, and that's just a fact."
Donald Rumsfeld
Selling War
Weapons of Mass Deception
“The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and
what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great
propaganda accomplishments of the dominant political mythology.”
— Michael Parenti
Political scientist and author of
Inventing Reality: The Politics of News Media
The Iraq war was the first presented with the new defense doctrine of preemptive war and as such needed to be sold to the American Public. Of course wars have been sold by politicians to Americans since colonial times, but never has there been the electronic communication systems of television, radio print and so on to bombard the public.
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
“The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the
wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever
managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity -
much less dissent.
“Of course, it is possible for any citizen with time to spare, and
a canny eye, to work out what is actually going on, but for the
many there is not time, and the network news is the only news
even though it may not be news at all but only a series of flashing fictions...”
wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever
managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity -
much less dissent.
“Of course, it is possible for any citizen with time to spare, and
a canny eye, to work out what is actually going on, but for the
many there is not time, and the network news is the only news
even though it may not be news at all but only a series of flashing fictions...”
— Gore Vidal
The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
THE BEST WAR EVER -- by John Stauber & Sheldon Rampton
“...the rank and file are usually much more primitive
than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always
be essentially simple and repetitious.
“The most brilliant propagandist technique will
yield no success unless one fundamental principle
is borne in mind constantly... it must confine itself to
a few points and repeat them over and over.”
— Joseph Goebbels
Nazi Propaganda Minister
Where the rubber really meets the road on this memorial day is the personal responsibility of those connected to the war, troops included. Everyday we live with our choices, choices that are sometimes hard to deal with. Our troops are having to make choices that will affect them for the rest of their lives. To deal with the burden of their conscious of what they were told to do with a gun, a tank or a warplane filled with bombs.
Not long ago I was getting my oil changed when a conversation began over a magazine cover on the table between me an a woman waiting. She went on to tell me how she had to divorce her husband after he had done his tour in Afghanistan saying he had gone crazy. That he couldn't live with himself and the atrocities he said he was forced to commit on innocent civilians and worst of all, children. She said he never slept, was angry and violent all the time and that she feared for her life. It reminded me of another famous quote of Major General Smedley
The Price of War
War in the end is always about betrayal, betrayal of the young
by the old, of soldiers by politicians, and of idealists by cynics.
Chris Hedges
War in the end is always about betrayal, betrayal of the young
by the old, of soldiers by politicians, and of idealists by cynics.
Chris Hedges
Not long ago I was getting my oil changed when a conversation began over a magazine cover on the table between me an a woman waiting. She went on to tell me how she had to divorce her husband after he had done his tour in Afghanistan saying he had gone crazy. That he couldn't live with himself and the atrocities he said he was forced to commit on innocent civilians and worst of all, children. She said he never slept, was angry and violent all the time and that she feared for her life. It reminded me of another famous quote of Major General Smedley
"My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed
the orders of the higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military."
~General Smedley Butler (USMC, Ret.)
the orders of the higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military."
~General Smedley Butler (USMC, Ret.)
So today I just had to vent, get this out of my system as I know when I wake up later on the Memorial Day, I will hear the sound of the drums of war, the cry for patriotism to continue a war that only corporate america seams to want and the media it owns gives its consent. I'll watch as dead and dying sons and daughters, mothers and fathers that should be at home with their families are kept overseas for anothert year. Another year of hope for some and needles tragedy for others in a war that has no justification. America, what has happened to you that this war is even tolerated by our ELECTED officials in a Government FOR the people and BY the people?
Welcome my son
Welcome to the Machine....
DEO
Welcome to the Machine....
Pink Floyd - Welcome To The Machine
DEO
Access: PublicTagged with: Memorial Day, Needless War, Anti War, Corporatism, Cronism, Orwellian, George Galloway, Major General Smedley Butler, Military. Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Weapons of Mass Deception, Prophits, Ideological Manipulation, Manufactured Consent, Propganda, Selling War, Politics, Gore Vidal, Price of War, Photizo, DEO
thank you for doing this…truthful and so well put together.
http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead!
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favored rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
King Henry the Fifth (1598-1600), Act: III, Scene: i, Line: 1
I thought that another quote in regards to war might be appropriate, so I quote from my great great grandfather’s Civil War diary. 1863. James Hadden Smith
“the mangled and disfigured corpses presented a scene of horror and ghastly deformity I have never before seen equaled, and never wish to see again. It’s a sad spectacle to see man engage in such wanton, wholesale brutality with his fellow man.”
Thanks thinq4yourself for the great link. I supposed I should be shocked by the complacency in our nations handling of this wretched war… but then again nothing really shocks me anymore.
And that piece from your great great grandfather’s Civil War diary just says it all. That instantly remimded me of one of my favorite movies “Razors Edge” with Bill Murray. One of the best (IMO) movies he ever did. If you havent seen it, next time your in the local blockbuster give it a go. It telles the tale of a young american man desperately wanting to engage the enemy overseas in WW!. But the only way they could go was with the red cross. When he got there, the death, mutilation and reality of war hit his core and from there the story takes a very Zen road.
Thanks for sharing Jeni.
DEO
Thank you Photizo. I am familiar with “Razors Edge”. I actually have the original version with Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney. I have always been intrigued with that movie. I will have to see the one with Bill Murray.
I also want to mention in regards to your piece on war. Having two sons near and at the age of draft makes the gruesome and fearful reality of war all the more personal.
Jenni
WHY DO WE FIGHT ?
Thank you for this brilliant, moving entry – a piece for peace par excellence…
As I see it, personal empowerment via education and awareness is the only antidote. We have got to help the people in the “cave”…
Namaste,
S:)