Shoot the morons, then the journalists?
By Margo Kingston
April 9 2003
In our name. US Brigadier General John Kelly, assistant commander of the 1st marine division, claims that hundreds of Muslim fighters putting up a stronger fight than the regular army are, or were, non-Iraqis. "They appear willing to die. We do our best to help them out in that endeavour."
"They stand, they fight, sometimes they run when we engage them.. But often they run into our machine guns and we shoot them down like the morons they are." Don't you feel proud?
A man with a job to do speaks bluntly of the savages war makes of men as the man who ordered him to do this, at a summit with Tony Blair, mourns the loss of fallen Allied soldiers sacrificed to this war of 'liberation' and pointedly fails to mention the innocent Iraqis also sacrificed. He knows that his mighty force has just dumped four giant bombs on a restaurant in a suburban area on the chance Saddam might be there. Up to 14 innocents are dead.
I write this after American forces admitted to bombing the premises of al-Jazeera in Baghdad, killing one journalist, and firing at the Palestine Hotel housing the media, killing another two. No American company will host the al-Jazeera website. Speech in the land of freedom is no longer free. Independently reporting the carnage in Baghdad may no longer be possible.
Rupert Murdoch - an application to the US government pending for permission to add yet another TV network to his global empire - owns Fox TV, the quasi-official propaganda organ of US government in this war. It looks like he's getting his wish of last week fulfilled: "There is going to be collateral damage. And if you really want to be brutal about it, better we get it done now than spread it over months."
The Pentagon now wants a US - not UN - run war crimes tribunal to try Iraqis for war crimes after it has conquered this third world nation in an illegal war with overwhelming force and the use of cluster bombs, an inherently indiscriminate weapon. The superpower invades, destroys, slaughters, then judges the survivors. This is the new world order Australia has signed on to. Might is right. To the victor go the spoils. You in, John? Yes, George.
Back home, John Howard looks younger, smoother, almost serene. He's "sickened" by the opulence of Saddam's palaces, but much more circumspect in his reaction to the horrors his war has visited upon civilians. He soothes his people, muttering sweet nothings instead of answering questions or telling the Australian people what this is really all about and what he has really done on our behalf in defiance of our wishes.
He is missing from the summits of Bush and Blair to decide the future of Iraq after the war, and the role of what's left of the international institution the world - with significant input from Australia - built after World War II to avoid World War III. He has reduced Australia to fetal position.
Politicians report a pall of silence in their electorates, not just on the war, but on everyday things like Centrelink and Medicare. Readers report that the war is not on the agenda in everyday conversation. The war isn't rating on TV and newspapers aren't selling well compared to the Gulf War or the Bali bombing. As a nation we are stunned. Maybe even in shock.
The opposition, which failed the Australian people so terribly in failing to hold Howard accountable for his big lie before the war that he had not already committed us to it, is now irrelevant, reduced to public brawling about the failings of a leader before it's even decided on a replacement. This is an opposition which failed to insist that a decision for war without the backing of the Australian people stripped a Prime Minister of legitimacy, an opposition which failed to argue a sustained, powerful competing vision for Australia at the time we needed it most. It is cowed, broken, unable to rise to the occasion on at a time when it was imperative that it did so.
The rot set in long ago. Perhaps the end came, not when it walked away from its commitment to universal human rights by capitulating to Howard's refugee agenda post Tampa, but after health spokeswoman Jenny Macklin told Parliament that the private health insurance rebate was the worst piece of public policy ever presented to it. Soon after, Kim Beazley backed it. Now, Medicare is in ruins, as Macklin knew it would be. Now, university students cannot earn a university place on merit - students with lower scores can buy their way in. The death of Gough Whitlam's dream. The Americanisation of Australian values happened long before John Howard put our faces in it.
Those whose vision for Australia and its place in the world is now shattered and who find themselves vilified by fellow Australians have no mainstream political leader to fight for their cause in these dark times for Australia and the world. Will they give up? Will they fight on, and if so, how will they fight?
The world is at a "tipping point", as is Australia. What will you do?
Anti-War & U.S. view from Austrailia .. to contemplate .
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<jack chiefton>
Anti-War & U.S. view from Austrailia .. to contemplate .
thanks myke, i'm soo glad to keep hearing about this shit.
so everything looks all fine for the United States and it's military, at least this last week. We've only killed about 500 civilians this week. "Better theirs than ours" says an esteemed colleauge here at the University of Wisconsin. I shake my head and almost puke. Fuck this war and all the 60 something year old oil fucks that need to get LAID!! Jesus christ my savior, lets get all our young people out of Iraq!
so everything looks all fine for the United States and it's military, at least this last week. We've only killed about 500 civilians this week. "Better theirs than ours" says an esteemed colleauge here at the University of Wisconsin. I shake my head and almost puke. Fuck this war and all the 60 something year old oil fucks that need to get LAID!! Jesus christ my savior, lets get all our young people out of Iraq!
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<Jack Chiefton>
Anti-War & U.S. view from Austrailia .. to contemplate .
ok i'm sorry about that jesus thing. jesus christ was a hoax, and so is religion.
Anti-War & U.S. view from Austrailia .. to contemplate .
Religion is a hoax.
That's for sure. Question everything else.
That's for sure. Question everything else.
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<Jack ?hiefton>
Anti-War & U.S. view from Austrailia .. to contemplate .
ok, have I yet mentioned that Bob Dylan should be on the bus right next to Leonard Cohen, speaking in Manganese or something, you know most people dont even know what that is!?
A good film to see is "Don't Look Back," which films Bobby D in London in 1965 on tour and backstage with Donovan and such. Donovan pops up like a Donovan person who has witnessed his shadow. Playing a very beautiful song, upon finishing, Donovan requests that Bob play "It's all over now baby blue." Pure musical poetry.
So when is the war officially over? When will the united States declare victory? Never mind.
So Johnny Cash is almost dead. Shall we pay homage to a musical icon, or shall we wallow in his "mediocrity" which i heard a synical soul spout the other night?
Milwaukee will make the playoffs. As an 8th seed, they will face either Detroit or New Jersey, and it shall prove to be interesting as most Milwaukee sporting events are!
Also, Neil Young and Crazy Horse will be in Milwaukee on the 19th of June. And following that tour, Neil will be performing solo in Milwaukee, possibly at the riverside in late summer.
Next spring, the annual backpacking trip will be at Mesa Verde national park in the four corner region. We will be smoking "drugs" and testing ourselves physically while exploring the ruins of the Anasazi. After that, it's off to the most local bar.
A good film to see is "Don't Look Back," which films Bobby D in London in 1965 on tour and backstage with Donovan and such. Donovan pops up like a Donovan person who has witnessed his shadow. Playing a very beautiful song, upon finishing, Donovan requests that Bob play "It's all over now baby blue." Pure musical poetry.
So when is the war officially over? When will the united States declare victory? Never mind.
So Johnny Cash is almost dead. Shall we pay homage to a musical icon, or shall we wallow in his "mediocrity" which i heard a synical soul spout the other night?
Milwaukee will make the playoffs. As an 8th seed, they will face either Detroit or New Jersey, and it shall prove to be interesting as most Milwaukee sporting events are!
Also, Neil Young and Crazy Horse will be in Milwaukee on the 19th of June. And following that tour, Neil will be performing solo in Milwaukee, possibly at the riverside in late summer.
Next spring, the annual backpacking trip will be at Mesa Verde national park in the four corner region. We will be smoking "drugs" and testing ourselves physically while exploring the ruins of the Anasazi. After that, it's off to the most local bar.
Anti-War & U.S. view from Austrailia .. to contemplate .
Right you are, mates! Let's consider how many wars had to do with religion. Let's consider Imagine..."and no religion tooo" he sings.
But mainly, let me turn your attention toward the early PIL version of the subject and say that even if it doesn't come out that great as a poem or prose, maybe you just have to hear the guitar riff and the way the vocals are delivered to understand that when it comes to songs about religion...it doesn't get any better than this:
religion
by Johnny Rotten(PiL)
stain glass windows keep the cold outside
while the hypocrites hiding inside
with the lies of statues-in thier mind
where the christian religion made them blind
where they hide and pray to the god of a bitch
spelt backwards is Dog
not for one race, one creed, one world
but for money, effective -absurd
THIS IS RELIGION!
A LIAR ON THE ALTER!
THE SERMON NEVER FAULTER!
do you pray to the holy ghost, when you suck your host?
do you read who's dead in the irish post?
do you give away the cash you can't afford?
on bended knees, and pray to the lord
fat pig priest sanctimonious smiles
he takes the money you take the lies
THIS IS RELIGION!
AND JESUS CHRIST!
THIS IS RELIGION!
CHEAPLY PRICED
this is bibles full of libel
this is sin
an eternal hymn
this is what they done
this is your religion
the apostles were eleven now theres a sod in heaven
THIS IS RELIGION!
YOUR RELIGION!
(and it's all falling to bits-gloriously)
But mainly, let me turn your attention toward the early PIL version of the subject and say that even if it doesn't come out that great as a poem or prose, maybe you just have to hear the guitar riff and the way the vocals are delivered to understand that when it comes to songs about religion...it doesn't get any better than this:
religion
by Johnny Rotten(PiL)
stain glass windows keep the cold outside
while the hypocrites hiding inside
with the lies of statues-in thier mind
where the christian religion made them blind
where they hide and pray to the god of a bitch
spelt backwards is Dog
not for one race, one creed, one world
but for money, effective -absurd
THIS IS RELIGION!
A LIAR ON THE ALTER!
THE SERMON NEVER FAULTER!
do you pray to the holy ghost, when you suck your host?
do you read who's dead in the irish post?
do you give away the cash you can't afford?
on bended knees, and pray to the lord
fat pig priest sanctimonious smiles
he takes the money you take the lies
THIS IS RELIGION!
AND JESUS CHRIST!
THIS IS RELIGION!
CHEAPLY PRICED
this is bibles full of libel
this is sin
an eternal hymn
this is what they done
this is your religion
the apostles were eleven now theres a sod in heaven
THIS IS RELIGION!
YOUR RELIGION!
(and it's all falling to bits-gloriously)
Anti-War & U.S. view from Austrailia .. to contemplate .
Although I do want to be fair and explain that there are actually two versions of that song, Religion I and Religion II. In the first one, he pretty much just reads it deadpan, no attempt to sing it. The second one is better and the one I tend to think of.