November 26, 2005
When
those who are wise find themselves facing an impending defeat in any
area of life, they confront their defeat, engage in self-examination,
try to understand the reasons and come to terms with their own failure.
Insight, courage and honesty are required. Others are not as wise,
courageous or honest. The unwise who find themselves in the throes of
defeat immediately begin to attribute their failure to others. The
latter often begin to blame others, sometimes even cannibalizing their
own, devouring them in an orgy of bloodletting in order to locate their
failure externally. Enter Congressman John Murtha and the Democrats in
Washington.
As the war mongers in
Washington see their web of terror in Iraq begin to unravel, they feel
compelled to launch new attacks - on one another. The vicious tone of
this battle can be seen in an 11/19/05 NYT article,Uproar in House as Parties Clash on Iraq Pullout.
In this article, Eric Schmitt wrote about the the current internal war
in the U.S. House of Representatives over the Congressman John Murtha's
demand for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Schmitt's
article reveals the desperate attempt by politicians to abrogate their
responsibility for their own impending defeat. The spectacle in
Congress also happens to be "good theatre", supporting an illusion the
corporate media has fed to U.S. citizens for a long time - the illusion
that real debate takes place in the two-party system with respect to
U.S. domestic and foreign policy. In this case it's about the U.S. war
on the people of Iraq.
The New York Times article reads:
"The battle boiled over when
Representative Jean Schmidt, an Ohio Republican who is the most junior
member of the House, told of a phone call she had just received from a
Marine colonel back home.
" 'He asked me to send Congress
a message: stay the course,' Ms. Schmidt said. "He also asked me to
send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines
never do."
"Democrats booed in protest and
shouted Ms. Schmidt down in her attack on Representative John P. Murtha
of Pennsylvania, a Vietnam combat veteran and one of the House's most
respected members on military matters. They caused the House to come to
an abrupt standstill, and moments later, Representative Harold Ford,
Democrat of Tennessee, charged across the chamber's center aisle to the
Republican side screaming that Ms. Schmidt's attack had been
unwarranted.
" 'You guys are pathetic!' yelled Representative Martin Meehan, Democrat of Massachusetts. 'Pathetic.' "
Typically, we see this kind
of internecine bloodletting among the U.S. Democrats and Republicans,
during their election campaigns. In those times it is ultimately about
who benefits from the spoils from U.S. imperialism and wars. In those
pre-election battles they fight for who will control of the wealth
robbed from their victim nations and the workers and oppressed of this
country. But this time their cannibalism has an added dimension.
This time the dogfight in
congress is an attempt by the Democrats to suddenly disavow their
involvement and complicity in the U.S. war on the people of Iraq and to
blame the war on their political foes - the Republicans who obviously
lied about WMD, fabricated linkages between Iraq and the 9/11/01
attacks and led the invasion in Iraq. The fight also serves to maintain
an illusion that Washington was divided on whether to carry out the war
and genocide which continues to be executed in Iraq.
These "debates" have always
served to engage the U.S. population in periodic elections - elections
which are controlled by government/ corporate structures and a corrupt,
corporate media. From 1970 to 2005 the percent of eligible voters in
the United States who actually voted ranged from 36.4% to 55.3%. The
number of people who actually vote is of critical importance to the two
party system because it reflects the confidence people have in the
government itself. If noone turned out to vote, the U.S. government
could no longer hide behind the cover of "democracy". Without such
cover, Washington could no longer claim to be a "democracy" and could
not make the ridiculous assertion that it makes war to spread democracy.
The illusion has apparently been supported by the Murtha strategy - at least with some U.S. citizens. On the website of the Democratic Party we find these words:
"Over 100,000 Letters for a Hero
"In less than 72 hours, over 100,000 Americans
responded to Republican attacks on decorated veteran and Democratic
Congressman Jack Murtha, sending notes of support and encouragement as
he sought a new way on the Republicans' failed Iraq policy."
But with a turnout of
eligible voters ranging from only 36 to 55 percent, the illusion of
democracy has always been vulnerable. Those who do not vote are blamed
by the government for "voter apathy". When that passive rebellion turns
to active revolt, the bubble will burst and the realization of
fundamental change in the fabric of U.S. governance and society will
begin. We remind the skeptics that the catalysts for change can arrive
in the forms of the capitalists overstepping themselves as they did at
Mai Lai and Kent State in 1968 ... as they have done at Abu Ghraib and
with their other atrocities and spectacular defeat in Iraq. Or catalyst
for change can arrive in something as unpredictable as Hurricane
Katrina, exposing their corruption and failure to provide for their own.
Controlling the Debate
These tactics are also used
to limit the debate to the "conservatives" (so called) and the
"liberals" (so called). The tactic also keeps the people of the
not-so-united-states divided, fighting the same meaningless battles
being acted out in congress right now. For example, Axis of Logic
receives daily ridiculous e-mails attacking us for being "liberals",
laced with adjectives unfit to print here. We reject the labels
"liberal" and "Democrat" as much as we reject the labels,
"conservative" and "Republican".
In tandem, the two political
parties in Washington control the boundaries and parameters of
allowable discussion. The strategy results in containing the
possibility of change to reform of the existing systems, never exposing
the two political parties to the threat of a peoples' revolution. Real
debate will never take place in Washington until the
capitalist/imperialist model itself is on the table. They will never
voluntarily allow that debate to take place. Nobody gives up power
willingly. If power is to be lost, it must be taken. The real debate
about distribution of wealth can only be forced by an uprising of the
people.
In the case of the U.S/Anglo
war on the people of Iraq - We will never allow - the world never allow
- the Democrats to forget that they supported the ongoing genocides in
Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, - from their beginnings in 1948, 1991
and 2002 respectively.
Anti-war movement and the Democrats
We will not allow the
politicians in the Democratic party to now claim membership among those
of us who have fought and continued to fight against these imperialist
wars. Suddenly, the "War Hawk of the Democrats", John Murtha, calls for
immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. Antiwar activists
who praise John Murtha for his recent speech would do well to fix their
gaze on the blood dripping from Murtha's hands as they applaud. They
are buying into Washington's game of "reform" and entering into another
cycle of stasis vs. change within fixed boundaries.
Layers of Duplicity and Deceit
Evidence of the duplicity of
the Democrats can easily be seen in their refusal to join John Murtha's
call for immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. While we
certainly agree with Murtha's demand for immediate troop withdrawal, we
eschew the transparent strategy behind his demands. A careful reading
of his words show that this former killer in Vietnam only calls for
troop withdrawal because: (1) He knows the U.S. has already lost the
war in Iraq; (2) He knows his demands will not be enjoined by his
cohorts in the Democratic party to force immediate withdrawal from the
occupation; (3) He knows his demands will support the illusion that
there is fundamental disagreement on the immorality and military folly
of the war and occupation.
Evidence for the old imperialist strategy - Define/Control the Boundaries of the Debate
Why now? So why has John
Murtha, a confessed killer in Vietnam, suddenly called for immediate
and total troop withdrawal from a war he vigorously supported.
"We cannot prevail in this
war as it is going today," Murtha said yesterday at a news conference
with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. Murtha said the incidents of
prisoner abuse in Iraq were a symptom of a problem in which U.S. troops
in Iraq are undermanned, inadequately equipped and poorly trained.
We either have to mobilize or
we have to get out," Murtha said, adding that he supported increasing
U.S. troop strength rather than pulling out."
So let's be clear.
Note that Murtha's disagreement with the Bush regime has nothing to do
with the morality of the war - only on their failure to win it. John
Murtha is and always has been an advocate of the U.S. war on the people
of Iraq. His reasons for an immediate pullout of U.S. military from
Iraq is motivated by the factors stated above. Let's read an excerpt
from his speech:
John Murtha stated:
"Much of our ground
equipment is worn out and in need of either serious overhaul or
replacement. We must rebuild our Army. Our deficit is growing out of
control. The Director of the Congressional Budget Office recently
admitted to being "terrified" about the budget deficit in the coming
decades. This is the first prolonged war we have fought with three
years of tax cuts, without full mobilization of American industry and
without a draft. The burden of this war has not been shared equally;
the military and their families are shouldering this burden.
Our military has
been fighting a war in Iraq for over two and a half years. Our military
has accomplished its mission and done its duty. Our military captured
Saddam Hussein, and captured or killed his closest associates. But the
war continues to intensify. Deaths and injuries are growing, with over
2,079 confirmed American deaths. Over 15,500 have been seriously
injured and it is estimated that over 50,000 will suffer from battle
fatigue. There have been reports of at least 30,000 Iraqi civilian
deaths.
I just recently
visited Anbar Province Iraq in order to assess the conditions on the
ground ... I am disturbed by the findings in key indicator areas. Oil
production and energy production are below pre-war levels. Our
reconstruction efforts have been crippled by the security situation.
Only $9 billion of the $18 billion appropriated for reconstruction has
been spent. Unemployment remains at about 60 percent. Clean water is
scarce. Only $500 million of the $2.2 billion appropriated for water
projects has been spent. And most importantly, insurgent incidents have
increased from about 150 per week to over 700 in the last year. Instead
of attacks going down over time and with the addition of more troops,
attacks have grown dramatically. Since the revelations at Abu Ghraib,
American casualties have doubled. An annual State Department report in
2004 indicated a sharp increase in global terrorism ... I said over a
year ago, and now the military and the Administration agrees, Iraq can
not be won "militarily." ... Our troops have become the primary target
of the insurgency. They are united against U.S. forces and we have
become a catalyst for violence. U.S. troops are the common enemy of the
Sunnis, Saddamists and foreign jihadists ... A poll recently conducted
shows that over 80% of Iraqis are strongly opposed to the presence of
coalition troops, and about 45% of the Iraqi population believe attacks
against American troops are justified. I believe we need to turn Iraq
over to the Iraqis."
Now it's about damage control
as the warmongers watch the unfolding of another spectacular defeat of
the U.S. military. Their strategy is an old one: Defining and control
the boundaries of the debate - thereby marginalizing any alternative
position.
Stage 1:
Murtha makes a "radical demand" for immediate withdrawal of all U.S.
Troops from Iraq. It is reasonable to assume that he was hand-picked
for the job, given his status as the pro war hawk in the
Democratic party and his history of strong support for the war in
Iraq. Anyone else in the party would have been dismissed as a "soft
headed liberal".
Stage 2: The
"other Democrats" find Murtha's demand to be "understandable" but also
"unreasonable" and they "will not go that far". Senator John Kerry is
one of those who has refused to sign on to Murtha's demand. The
fabrication portrays Murtha's position as being "extremist" and the
more reasonable position to be one of delaying withdrawal ... "to save
the Iraqis from themselves". The corporate media
prattles additional rationalization for the occupation - The
occupation has to be continued "to defend the fledgling democracy"; to
protect Iraq from civil war; to defeat terrorism; to build an Iraqi
firewall against terrorism, etc., etc.
Stage 3:
After framing the debate and voting to prolong the occupation, we see
John Kerry and others diverting attention from troop withdrawal by
engaging another "debate" altogether. Now, they argue, that the issue
is about the Republicans attack on the integrity of John Murtha ...
John Murtha, the "decorated U.S. Marine in Vietnam" - with ribbons
and medals to symbolize every Vietnamese man, woman and child for whose
deaths he was responsible, directly or indirectly. The former
marine who has never seen an imperialist war or "foreign
intervention" that he did not like ... until now.
The Sociopaths
Throughout our lives we have
watched the corporate media parade serial killers in U.S. court rooms
and through the hallways leading to their execution chambers. In this
display of the government's ultimate power, they always remind us that
the murderer must die, and especially so if they have shown no
remorse for their atrocities. When have we seen John Murtha nor
John Kerry demonstrate any remorse for the misery and suffering
they personally caused in Vietnam? Why should we expect
them to behave differently with respect to the war they supported in
Iraq? Those responsible for the mass murder of over a million Iraqis
since 1991 have shown no remorse. The lack of remorse and repentance
are said to be characteristics of sociopaths and psychopaths. There are
those who believe mass killing is justified by slapping the
label "war" on it. But changing the label does not change the reality.
Harsh words? Tell the dead and suffering in Iraq the words are too
harsh.
These unrepentant killers
include Kerry and Murtha - the "two Johns" - presently acting out their
fight with George Walker Bush and his Vice President, Dick Cheney. They
include H.W. Bush who seated Saddam Hussein in power and in
1991 began this war that is 14 years old and counting. We
will always remind our readers that these remorseless killers include
William Jefferson Clinton who enforced the sanctions, no fly zones and
weekly missile attacks causing deaths of over a million Iraqis
including 3/4 million children - which some say included a baby's death
every 6 seconds from starvation and disease. We also remember the
"anti-war activists" who marched at our side on Pennsylvania Avenue in
1991, carrying signs that read, "Sanctions not Bombs".
In Service to Global Corporate Empire
It is important to understand
that both political parties are in full service to the global corporate
empire - even as they try to cut each other's political throats in
Washington. Therefore even this battle - and the reports in the
corporate media like the ones referenced above are not what they seem
to be. Even this gnashing of teeth between the Democrat and Republican
dogs of war serves the global corporate empire very, very well.
One might ask how it is
possible that this fight could possibly serve the empire. The answer is
simple: Just as this fight maintains a very convincing illusion that
real differences exist within the two-party system ... the
illusion that voters in the U.S. can really make a difference come
election day ... it maintains the illusion that the people
have a significant role in government. Murtha himself admitted that the
people are way ahead of the congress in their assessment of the
war. Was he saying that we are ahead of the
congress in knowledge or only in terms of morality?
Geopolitical Fronts in the War Against the Global Corporate Empire
Military Front:
There are a number of fronts in the campaign against the
U.S.-led Global Corporate Empire. The most obvious are the three
military fronts. The gallant resistance armies of Afghanistan,
Iraq and Palestine have weakened and drained the enemy's strength.
These men and women give their lives and those of their children every
day to defeat the scourge of imperialism.
Antiwar Front:
Another front is the international anti-war movement which has also
weakened the enemy. A year ago we could march a hundred thousand
strong against the war and would find no mention of it in the
morning news. Today, front page stories cover our opposition
to the war because we can no longer be ignored.
Ideological Front:
Finally, we see the ideological front of the war against the
imperialists in the Bolivarian Revolution. When speaking to the people
in Venezuela last month I pointed out that the Bolivarian revolution
can no longer be defined as "Venezuelan". Today the revolution is "por
todo el mundo" - worldwide. Its international ambassador, President
Hugo Chavez Frias, has carried the Bolivarian message to the United
Nations, to India, Iran, Italy, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Africa
and most recently to the Summit of the Americas at Mar del Plata,
Argentina. In every country he visits, the masses turn out to receive
Chavez and his message of hope. It is now a worldwide revolution
spreading throughout Latin America and the world.
The Bolivarian Revolution has
been pushed by its internal dynamics, fed and directed by those it
serves in reciprocity. It has largely been initiated by the
indigenous uprisings but it is being picked up and carried along
by everyone on the social spectrum as it spreads throughout the world.
It has recently brought down U.S. backed, puppet presidents in Ecuador
(Gutierrez)and Bolivia (Mesa)and has buried NAFTA, the imperialist's
machine for profit and exploitation in Latin America. It has
established self-governance among the people of Venezuela through
participatory democracy and given them effective social programs. These
are not half-baked giveaway programs like those thrown at the poor in
the U.S. They are clear, working alternatives to the capitalist
models which have wasted the lives of so many people in so many
countries for so many decades. It's the ideological front in the war
against the capitalist empire.
"Now is the time to not allow our hands to be idle or our souls to rest until we save humanity."
- President Hugo Chavez Frias
Personal Responsibility:
Finding themselves in the midst of impending failure, the men in
Washington are unable to look honestly at what they have done in Iraq.
They are compounding their failure in two ways. First, their
analysis of the problem is flawed. John Murtha has not analyzed the
problem as morally wrong. In his analysis, the failure was one of poor
planning and execution. Second, their reaction to impending defeat is
to blame their failure on others in an effort to save their political
skins.
But we are no longer allowing
ourselves to be tricked or distracted by congressional theater. We must
do everything we can to bust the illusions created by the corporate
media. We are taking control of the debate. We have found the
enemy and he is not us - as we've always been told by Pogo - a
creation of the corporate media.
Each of us is called upon to
give our time, energy, skills and money to the world revolution that is
already underway. The beast would have us believe that he is
invincible. But he is currently losing the war militarily,
economically and in his struggle to control information. He is
incapable of We will fight him until the empire has drawn its last
breath and can kill no more ... until the dawn of that new day imagined
by Simon Bolivar and many others who woke from their dream and went to
work.
© Copyright 2005 by AxisofLogic.com