Saddam Hussein, Iraq, and Life in the Age of Paranoia
Yes, folks. You are now entering the Age of Paranoia, and it will be marked by constant Fear and Agony. You will scrounge for scraps at the landlord’s table and whine for more while he sodomizes his favorite house slave on the dining room table, all the while jabbering on about Islamic fascists, terrorism, and the positive economic implications of corporate feudalism. It will be dismal for everyone involved except those born into Freemasonry or Oil. There is no turning back now. We are on the fast track toward destruction, and we will take the rest of the world down with us if it means coming out on top.
Things have gotten so heinously out of control in this country that no one knows up from down anymore. Media outlets feed the general public lies from both sides, and it is impossible to be sure that the government isn’t watching what you do in windowless bathrooms at three o’clock in the morning. Big Brother, indeed. It is the biggest and baddest brother in the world – a frothing, red-faced bully fucked up on whiskey and amphetamines and nursing an imperialistic fervor that will go unrivaled for another four hundred years until Mars becomes Fair Game and is subjected to a massive international land grab. Don’t kid yourselves. Manifest Destiny is still alive and well. It is a mantra for every rich frat-brat that came out of the Ivy League system having majored in Water Board Interrogation. They have made a name for themselves peddling the finest Arab pelts money can buy. Yessir. This is the New Century. Hear us roar.
But perhaps I am just in a pissy mood. After all, yesterday marked the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks – an event so disastrously crippling to the national spirit that Republicans and Democrats in Washington couldn’t resist overextending their power and upping the Fear Quotient. It is no secret that presidents are very popular people during wartime, and so it seems only natural that they would continue to start conflicts, if only for the history books. The most famous presidents are all remembered for their conduct during all-out war. George Washington. Abraham Lincoln. Ulysses S. Grant (who is more famous for his war than his administration). Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And let’s not forget the Vietnam Gang either. It can be argued that starting a war with anyone is almost always a smart political move until things go Wrong.
And things have gone horribly awry for the Bush Administration, but none of it will really matter regardless of whether the Democrats take control of the legislature or not. The rest of George W. Bush’s term will be a last ditch effort to save face, and for the time being, to maintain the status of his subhuman crew of conservative loyalists. With any luck, he’ll be fighting prosecution for the violation of Geneva Convention statutes and general codes of Human Decency.
I digress.
September 11 changed the face of the United States. It left a sickening bruise over our left eye and whipped up a sudden, nationalistic frenzy in which almost Everyone was screaming for blood. Some wanted Osama bin Laden’s. Some wanted to turn the entire Middle East into a retention pond. Mostly, I don’t particularly think people cared whose blood they got. They just wanted it Now, which was perfect for Bush and his family’s ongoing feud with Iraq. As long as the country aimlessly wanted to see throats cut, the Administration had a perfect excuse to deliver unto the populous Saddam Hussein. They didn’t just capture him, though; they pulled him out of a foxhole, for Christ’s sake (literally). It is an image that will forever remain in my mind as one of the most brilliant pieces of propagandistic tripe we’ve been delivered during these past six – almost seven – foul and damnable years. The Hussein capture was nothing more than a personal vendetta. Hell. President Bush said it himself: “This man tried to kill my dad.” It was something along those lines, anyway, but the fact remains that one must beware when the Leader of the Free World looks to be out for Revenge.
Now we have this legal abortion people with gall are calling a trial. The end was never in question. Saddam Hussein will hang from his neck until dead once all the paperwork is filed, and he will go down for every charge brought against him. It has been a strange ballet since the first trial regarding the 1982 murders of 148 Shiites in Dujail, and the trial over Hussein’s Anfal campaign is no different. You know what, though? The bastard did it. There was never a doubt in my mind that Saddam was a vicious totalitarian and a menace. The problem is, of course, that he was really only a menace to his own people. Established politicians will never risk their comfort or domestic supremacy by going out and wreaking havoc on the rest of the world. The only politicians who act in this way have yet to establish their authority. Sound familiar?
Anyway. The Hussein trials have been rife with assassinations, counselor resignations, and oft entertaining outbursts by the
Man himself, but it will only lead to a conclusion that was written the minute Saddam came crawling out of the earth with a full beard and dirt all over his face. His regime is over, and instead of a dictator, the Iraqi people now have an occupation on their hands.
I heard a litany of culpable rhetorical appeals to the people by politicians yesterday. Republicans especially are acting very dastardly by trying to push a renewed support for the Iraq War using the September 11 attacks as an emotional backdrop. Catch ’em with their pants down, eh? It’s always been a smart move, but public disapproval is so rabidly intact by now that nothing can save Bush, Cheney, and the rest from their fates as political piÃ?±atas. I realize, too, that many people harboring bitter opposition to the war probably have vastly different justifications for their distaste than mine. The Bush Administration fucked up, and in America, that is an inexcusable crime. Most of these people probably still want war, but they would rather not have one if it meant Losing. We want to Win.
Let’s face it, though. No one is fighting for our safety. There are scores of well-meaning (and some ill-intentioned) military personnel getting chopped up like chicken liver in a desert on the other side of the world for no good reason at all other than to firmly establish an elite group’s economic and political dominance over their countrymen. This is not about freedom or democracy, two of George Bush’s favorite buzz words aside from “9/11”, which has proven to be the most powerful one of all. This is not about protection from terrorism. This is about Money and nothing else. If one thing hasn’t changed for thousands of years, it is that War is an effective means for an institution to acquire wealth. Plain and simple. That is war’s nature and purpose. Things have been this way since the first greedhead discovered the concept of having more than his neighbor.
Look at what it’s gotten us.
We have bleak days to look forward to, friends. We will be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives wondering which random firebomb has our name on it or what building will crumble next and send the nation into a state of frightened chaos. We will constantly bitch about Powerhogs and crooked politicians. Babies will learn to wield knives for protection against frothing mothers. Most of it will be a product of our own imaginations, but you know what they say about that which you think is real…
Bundle up. Stay warm. That might be as good as it gets for awhile, and if you’re lucky, you’ll have the privilege of dying in your sleep.
