On Sunday, August 1, 2004, Tom Ridge informed the world that 5 icons of finance were the targets of truck bombers, “that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the President’s leadership in the war against terror”, and “the reports that have led to this alert are the result of offensive intelligence and military operations overseas, as well as strong partnerships with our allies around the world, such as Pakistan.” When asked if the recent arrests in Pakistan had something to do with the alert he again insisted it was the fruit, and unripened it is, of broad intelligence gathering. Today we find that arrest had everything to do with it.
My thoughts on the Democratic convention as it’s been reduced to a footnote by the predicted arrests and stylised terror warning, the obvious timing of the former reflected upon by folks, like Bill Maher who sarcastically predicted in his return to HBO and Real Time last Friday that the Republican convention will close with Osama bin Laden being led through a back door in chains. Sad and worrisome to see Americans at large revealed time and again to be such silly dupes, the easy marks that make and break political careers; the misinformed cheerleaders of reprehensible foreign policy, no less culpable, due their spiritual and intellectual laziness.
I’m of the mindset that believes Kerry’s speech hit a home run but the league is a despicable one, his achievement admirable from the box seats of gutter politics, and that this bipartisan effort to keep the electorate in the dark leaves us vulnerable on so many fronts.
Kerry said:
“We are here tonight because we love our country.
We are proud of what America is and what it can become.
My fellow Americans: we are here tonight united in one simple purpose: to make America stronger at home and respected in the world.”
These words should have been unpacked not employed as the opening shot of the designer drug called patriotism. It is an insult. Devolving into a litany of half-truths and rhetorical devices will not make us stronger.
Love of country. What does it mean? I work with people who’ve never heard of the Patriot Act or the detentions that have transpired since it was enacted; in discussions (after explaining who he is) that for instance, according to Kevin Phillips, “when (George Herbert) Walker’s daughter Dottie married Sam Bush’s son Prescott, the union joined two families whose elevation onto a national stage reflected the rise of what Eisenhower later called the military-industrial complex,” maintain George W. is just a simpleton from Texas. These are Iowans who can tell you what Charles Grassley does for a living but not who Sibel Edmonds is or how she was once employed (don’t miss antiwar.com’s pledge drive). One woman in particular lived most of her 27 years in Minnesota but doesn’t know who Garrison Keillor is and won’t listen to him on NPR, now that I’ve told her what it is and where to locate it on the radio, because her lover wouldn’t like it. He doesn’t like Minnesota, in his words, the land of Polock Indians. In order to avoid his criticisms she denies her Polish roots and will never ask him to revisit the Indian-owned casino his opinion references.
The relationship most Americans have with country is really no different than the abusive one she shares with that repulsive man. Love affairs rooted in a shamefully vast ignorance promulgated by powerful dissemblers whose chief concern is keeping their servants dependent and disinterested in learning more about the mechanisations behind the throne.
We are in fact the dummies of the world and like that lady, whose sad state is discussed by all who know her, remain inexcusably blind to our situation. We tolerate and encourage a political cauldron that ferments attack dogs like Trent Lott who mouth ignorant slurs, who despite the presence of French troops doing our security work in Afghanistan today, considers labelling Kerry a “French Speaking Socialist” an insult and it is welcomed as one. These stupid people who believe the hype that the world wouldn’t be free if not for our shining example. Which example could they mean? That of African Americans who for years travelled to France and beyond in order to experience life, love, and sustenance as equals because that “freedom” wasn’t extended in America, and as the head count in our prisons today demonstrate, was anything but sincere? The Afghanis who are living in hell on earth worsened by our indiscriminate bombings and funnelling of arms and wealth to warlords who oppress them? The people in Fallujah who now contend with streets of sewage or those in southern Iraq facing a humanitarian crisis? The Palestinians who for more than 50 years have been occupied by a racist state intent upon destroying them?
John Kerry said:
“We are a nation at war – a global war on terror against an enemy unlike any we have ever known before.”
But of course we know them very well. John Kerry will never admit to this and most of his audience will never demand he explain it despite his boasting of serving 19 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. When Medea Benjamin was led off that convention floor there were no crowds insisting she be freed. And come November 2nd, no matter who is sent on to the WH, we’ll all be in her boat.
John Kerry said:
“As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God’s side.”
And even a rube can tell you prayers are meaningless if not accompanied by action.
Dear Ms. Warth: Please contact me at condedearavaca@aol.com. Neil Raymond Ricco