The American Empire and it’s destruction would have continued no matter who won the election.
If McCain or Clinton had won it could have easily been worse…in a way. But in a way it is worse (at least to me) in other ways to have the candidate who won in part because of his opposition to Iraq and his credentials as a Constitutional scholar amping up the Empire instead of ramping it down.
But that is besides the point for now. For now let’s leave the Players out and just look at the Game.
We are killing people in and occupying two countries, while having a huge force of CIA, Blackwater and other covert assets fighting in Pakistan. We are assassinating both ‘enemy combatants’ and civilians with drones and Tomahawks in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia and who knows where else. Our covert army, and make no mistake it is an army operates with impunity any where in the world to kidnap and assassinate lower profile targets under the radar.
And we are doing this…allegedly…. to keep people from attacking and killing us.
We have killed or are responsible for the killing of between 100,000 and one million people…innocents who did NOTHING to harm us….in Iraq, an untold number (because we refuse to tell anyone) in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and we only relatively recently dismantled (If you believe the CIA, which apparently fairly routinely lies to Congress) a worldwide Torture Network with torture bases in at least ten different countries, and the civilian deaths and atrocities attributable to our Empire are piling like…well…bodies.
And we are doing this…allegedly…. to keep people from attacking and killing us.
Because the best way to keep people from killing you …apparently is how the plan of Empire works…is to kill as many people as possible. Because we all know that the relatives and friends of these people will, in their time of mourning for their husband or wife, mother or father, son or daughter….will surely say to themselves…
It’s ok. It’s ok for Americans to kill my daughter, I don’t mind. They are just trying to keep themselves safe.
Safe from people blowing up their shoes or underwear on a plane.
And even though no one has ACTUALLY blown up a plane with their shoes or underwear, I understand their fear…says the grieving young Afghami or Pakistani farmer.
Even though no one has ACTUALLY blown up a plane with their shoes or underwear, I understand that the Americans had to kill my daughter….
To prevent the grave threat to their country.
Because even one life lost to terror is an atrocity of its own. Well one AMERICAN life lost to terror is an atrocity of its own. My daughter losing her young life is just a necessary part of Americans not losing any of THEIR lives to terror.
I won’t seek revenge for my loss. Because I understand that Americans need to be safe as they seek revenge for that terrorist attack that occurred….almost a decade ago.
I won’t become a terrorist, (even though I have nothing to live for now) and I wont encourage others to become terrorists either. In revenge for my daughters death. Now that the American Empire has killed my daughter, I will just go back to farming….the crater where my farm used to be.
,
Since World War 2 the United States and the covert army of the CIA has overthrown democracies, assassinated countless people and fomented unrest and revolution around the world. Our most fearsome enemy now, Iran, is our most fearsome enemy for one main reason….we overthrew their government in 1953 and have been fucking with them ever since. Hmmm, why oh why do they hate us?
And all that does not even begin to address the havoc, death, destruction and suffering, both social and environmental, that our Oil Companies and Chemical Companies etc have caused around the world.
We are not nice. We are not a nice country and we are, underneath our jovial exteriors, not nice people. Because it is We The People who allow these things to be done in our name.
But…
The Coalition of the Comfortable, fed the comfortable pablum of a media/propaganda empire nearly as pervasive and despicable as our military and covert Empire….does not KNOW we are not nice.
They are told that all of this is necessary…to keep them safe and comfortable, so it is ok that we kill little girls. We don’t MEAN to after all….it is an accident that that little girls or boys get killed…by that missile we intentionally launched. Or by a soldier on his fifth tour of PTSD enhanced combat duty.
They are not told that killing people who are NOT terrorists….makes them (and others) into terrorists. They are not told lots of things that would make them ….uncomfortable.
They are not told that The American Empire is not….nice.
It is certainly not emphasized or much reported that one of the reasons that the Coalition of the Comfortable is LESS comfortable these days is that we are in debt up to our ears due to maintaining and Army of Empire that cost FAR more than all the militaries of the rest of the world ….put together.
All designed to keep three hundred miilion people safe…at the expense even unto death of the rest of the 7 billion people in the world. They are not told we are not nice, and so they do not understand why these brown people want to kill us…..just as we are killing them…everyday…all around the world.
They are not told and they do not understand because knowing would ….or at least might….make them uncomfortable.
And apparently, at least if you listen to the leaders of the Coalition of the Comfortable, there is NOTHING more important than keeping 300 million Americans (a mere 5% of the planet) safe and …..comfortable.
It is A OK if War crimes are committed to keep them safe and comfortable, it is ok if a limited amount of children are killed and the lives of innocents are destroyed…to keep them comfortable.
It is ok if there is a permanent underclass of starving….and thus uncomfortable….people that HAVE to exist in our system, as long as they are comfortable. It is ok to kill the planets atmosphere….etc. It is ok, everything is ok….anything is ok, as long as it is being done in the name of the comfort of the Coalition of the Comfortable.
The only thing that is NOT ok….is bringing up these facts and trying to Change them by trying to change the System that is directly responsible for them.
Because that would be….uncomfortable.
As looking in the mirror can be.
If you are not…nice.
And…we aren’t.
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Every day when I wake up I thank my lucky stars we have Obama as President. And Rachel Maddow is the best thing on TV, because that’s where I get my news and opinions, TV! She calms me when I been surrounded by negativity. I wonder how many Kossacks are aware of just how great our President is. And you want to talk about four year old kids, did you see the photos of Obama with those four year olds in the WH? He is sooooo NICE!
What empire?
really treacherous country we are. Don’t you ever wonder if some country or countries might ban together and declare “we ain’t gonna’ take it any more?” I mean, just how long can we go on aggressing other countries with our maiming, killing and destruction, using whatever country’s oil to supply the necessary oil to carry on these wars?
It’s a collective group of “Dr. Strangeloves.” All raising their arms in glee and salutation on hearing the word “bombing.”
All of this, as the countries we seek to “flatten” and are doing so, while at the same time, they have and are “flattening” their very own COUNTRY in order to KEEP US SAFE?
The point is to manipulate the electorate to give increasing amounts of money to the security apparatus including the military but also the many other overt and covert agencies and networks out there. The point is to make the world a happy hunting ground for the security establishment and whoever else is in the power mix.
You know that and I don’t need to tell you that. But it is an important distinction. Rhetoric from the State (I include the MSM as part of the State) is only propaganda nothing the State says is true on almost any significant issue.
Our job is to read history see how our situation developed and begin to understabd what forces control the State and why. I believe the State is now largely controlled by criminal networks (which is what much of the security apparatus has become) who have been looting this country and any other country they can. This sort of assertion is actually banned at DKOS and certainly is, on the whole, unwelcome in the progressive blogosphere much to my amazement and disappointment since it is so obvious.
is putting out lately. Don’t think I’ve seen them quite so, I don’t know what word, disgusting?
going after “terrorists” aimlessly,
targeting whoever may be in the same Country,
with a scatter shot approach,
it STUPID! (to say nothing about being terribly immoral too.)
It’s like the Forces of Empire,
think they can eliminate all the “hornets”
by hitting Hornet’s Nests with a big stick.
But all that does is make the Hornets mad as hell.
Not Smart at all, all you’re likely to accomplish
is to get badly stung, and everyone else in your neighborhood too.
Edwards had a decent plan about using “Smart Power” —
too bad, he was too selfish, to ever had got a chance to use it:
Bumper stickers, bin Laden, and more Bait and Switch
by jamess, Nov 02, 2007
you’ve got to be a bigger bad-ass than the United States.
That’s the trouble with just about everybody in the United States. Everybody wants to play “nice”. Stay in your unconstitutional “free speech zone”. Make sure you don’t block the sidewalk if the police ask you to keep it open.
Show the world that you’re civilized! Yeah, that’s REALLY effective.
I’m glad you brought this up, because the bottom line now is that the United States of America is one Evil Fucking Country.
You’re not gonna change it by playing nice.
Reminds me of the old joke about expecting the tiger to not eat you because you’re a vegetarian.
How do you take down a bad guy? When the bad guy owns the courts, the judges, the politicians, everybody?
I don’t know.
You just have to shut her down, bleed her dry, remove the batteries, that sort of thing.
Take your money out of the banks, for starters. Why everybody hasn’t done this yet is blowing my mind.