>From www.straighthoofd.com, a left-wing e-zine: (make of it what you will; I post it because it does make some good points despite its ideological assumptions)
America armed with patriotism Dateline: Friday, October 11, 2002 Commentary by Larry Solway I am in Cincinnati, the heartland of Republican America, the home of President Taft, Senator Taft and Governor Taft. It is where George Bush chose to make his latest shoot-em-up speech about the inevitable war with Iraq. It worked. Not only because he spoke before an audience of the converted, but because America was waiting for a compelling signal, waiting for the call to their patriotism. In America, unlike Canada, where we have trouble being patriotic, their sense of being American falls somewhere between patriotism and hubris. They are awash in flags, as if the showing of a flag marks you indelibly as a true American. They are also at war with themselves, wanting to believe that the Presidency is somewhere between sublime and superhuman. They want desperately to believe that the war with Iraq is a holy war, not only against terrorism but also against evil waiting to be visited on a peace-loving world. So they arm themselves with flags and love of baseball, with truth and honesty, with words like transparency and freedom. So armed, they can sally forth secure in the knowledge that, not only is their cause just and right, it is what the world needs. I am in no way un-American. I am devoutly anti-Republican and anti-government-quick-on-the-draw. To the thousands of Canadians who flock to the Stars and Stripes forever, I say "Good luck and Godspeed." I only hope their devotion to the American ideal does not cloud their ability to think clearly. Make no mistake about it: Saddam Hussein is a complete scoundrel. If he thought he could get away with it, he would take over the Middle East and reign supreme as protector of Islam. (It would be his version of Islam, because most people know he is not devout, and parades anything else simply for the sake of expediency.) On the other hand, we have the axis of Bush-Chaney-Rumsfeld. What a triumvirate. The President is a mental lightweight. The Vice President is the evil power behind the throne, the man who walked away from his insider misdeeds at Halliburton Oil. (Remember too that two of the three of the sacred triumvirate are oilmen.) Then there is Rummy. He has visions of some kind of military sugarplums dancing in his head. He is and was a devout right-wing fundamentalist who lost his senate seat to a dead man's wife. Perhaps what irritates me most is that the Iraq war is an extension of American vanity. In his speech Bush won even more hearts with his "proof" of the duplicity of Saddam and the certainty that he has weapons of mass destruction and unless he is stopped forthwith will arm terrorists with them and those terrorists will attack the entire free world. I feel sorriest for America when I realize that they have forgotten (or seem to have developed amnesia) over the tragic sight of American boys being returned in body bags. Is a possible threat worth a pre-emptive war, which will cost thousands of lives on both sides? Is the pre-emptive strike better than waiting to see if Saddam blinks and that he will truly disarm? Or do we have to face the reality that what the Bush-Cheney twosome really want is $20 a barrel oil. I worry also that a country finds its "truth" in its dead. Watching Ken Burns' Civil War on PBS I was reminded about how holy that holocaust has become; how much tribute is paid to the sacrifices that created the crucible in which a great and free America was built. Notwithstanding that apparent truth, the South is still awash in Confederate battle flags and racism. One generation learns to fear and hate war. Another learns to honour it. We are not immune. I still hear Canadians refer to the slaughter at Ypres during the Great War that helped create our sense of ourselves as Canadians. We do not need it. Our fellow Americans do not need it. Mothers with boys do not need it. But they cheered in Cincinnati. Related addresses: URL 1: www.straightgoods.ca/Surveys/021016.cfm -- Marc A. Schindler Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada -- Gateway to the Boreal Parkland “We do not think that there is an incompatibility between words and deeds; the worst thing is to rush into action before the consequences have been properly debated…To think of the future and wait was merely another way of saying one was a coward; any idea of moderation was just an attempt to disguise one’s unmanly character; ability to understand a question from all sides meant that one was totally unfitted for action.” – Pericles about his fellow-Athenians, as quoted by Thucydides in “The Peloponessian Wars” Note: This communication represents the informal personal views of the author solely; its contents do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s employer, nor those of any organization with which the author may be associated. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ==^^=============================================================== This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^^===============================================================