The following excerpt from a “Letter to the Editor” recently published by a local paper illustrates the emotional core of stiff-upper-lipped worship for US-led occupations and micromanagement of the world:
Response to “Iraq’s welfare situation”…
Hmm, that’s funny. I thought we went to Iraq to get rid of a madman who was single-handedly responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of one single race; uh, I think that’s called genocide. Oh, but it’s all about the oil. I don’t think so. We are trying to clean up the mess that he left behind. We are trying to feed the people that he left to starve. We are trying to help a nation establish a strong democracy, so they will not be taken over by a bunch of tyrants, namely Iran, and Al Queda and many more mad men who are after control of the oil. What would we do if that happened?
I don’t believe that is “welfare.” I believe that is in the interest of human welfare. There is a big difference between the two. One statement that makes sense to me comes from a simple comic book called “Spiderman.” I know, it sounds odd, but I believe in this statement whole-heartedly. Are you ready? Here it is, “With great power comes great responsibility.” And we are a great nation, and it is our great responsibility to help those who are in need of help.
The reason Barack Obama, a right-of-centre humanitarian interventionist, can’t be viewed at the helm of the USS Security in the eyes of Americans like Ms. Blain is due to his pretension that the people it is “our great responsibility to help” can eventually be trusted to manage their own affairs.
Obama’s promise to leave troops behind to protect U.S. interests is no different than McCain’s plan to have the troops out by 2012 yet Obama besmirches the great sacrifice by reminding that he initially opposed the war. It is in the interest of helping weak and corruptible Iraqis achieve the freedom to respect if not love America that the permanent occupation must take place. It never mattered to supporters of war that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Lies were told to convince wafflers like Obama that the invasion was necessary.
This is the reason Obama’s foreign tour eroded his poll numbers. The military mindset is power through strength not peace through mutual respect and cooperation. To borrow a phrase from Queen, “We are the champions, we are the champions, of the world.” And don’t you forget it.
“To flirt with rescue when one has no intention of being saved…”
Wikipedia is an amazing interactive instrument of self-education. According to it, the thematic similarities of “We Are the Champions” to the following song may have been intentional: