Manuel Valenzuela
The Vietnam Example
To fully understand the epidemic that is the exploitation of the American Soldier one need look no further than the 250,000 to 500,000 homeless veterans that on any given day wonder the streets of the United States. Up to half a million veterans, mostly those who fought in the terror-filled jungles of Vietnam, have been forgotten in time, left to fend for themselves lost among concrete jungles and steel-glass canyons. Forgotten by a government that sent them across the globe to fight the evildoers of the moment, namely Communists, most men fought in ghastly battles, witnessed appalling atrocities, experienced death firsthand and saw gruesome injuries that scarred them for life.
War is hell, and soldiers do not easily escape from these flames of enveloping terror when returned home. The repulsion of what they were forced to both see and perpetrate in the name of freedom, liberty, democracy and the American way left many as psychologically fragile as fine china. For years veterans have had to deal with knowing they were part of war, that most evil of human endeavors, that brings out the worst in the human condition. Many returned impregnated with the horrible demons of what they witnessed on the battlefield, perpetually unable to exorcise the wretched memories of their testosterone-stressed-filled adventure in death and destruction.
Carrying the burdens of a generation that prefers to forget, or fictionalize their country’s role in wars across the world, this vet opens his wounds nightly on the sidewalk.
Millions returned home after a bitter defeat, with 58,000 of their comrades devoid of their once beaming energy, packed in body bags, their bullet or shrapnel ridden corpses testament to the ultimate sacrifice that to this day has lost all purpose and whose pain still lingers in the minds of millions of young boys now turned middle-aged veterans who fought a war without meaning, in a land lost in time for an ideology that could not evolve with reality. Today the scars, both mental and physical, remain entrenched, making up to half a million once young and brave soldiers homeless indigents of unjustified hopelessness, unable to escape the awfulness of what was forced upon them by a system and a cabal of elites whose only purpose was defending their ideology, increasing and maintaining their power and enriching their pockets.
Vietnam is perhaps the best but by no means the only example of what happens when those in power are left to their own devices and unleash the torture called war onto young conscripts, confident, brave and unafraid, mostly low and working class, sent to destroy, kill and expand the power and wealth of a few exploiters of human flesh.
We only need to see how the biggest, and perhaps only winner of the Vietnam War, the military-industrial complex (MIC), enriched itself tremendously through years of warfare, death and destruction, using soldiers to carry out its assembly-line, profit-making scheme of immoral business ventures born out of the misery of millions that fattened up shareholder wealth and ingrained into government the growing and unfettered power of the MIC. Through the millions of tons of bombs dropped, instruments of war produced (helicopters, tanks, munitions, etc..) and the perpetual stream of profit from waging such a prolonged war the MIC?s power grew. Today the MIC and government are one and the same, and wars are but part of the business of making profit. This is a reality we have been made blind to.
Unfortunately, our soldiers are the mechanisms by which the MIC, the Leviathan and the government elites unleash and spread their evil wrath onto the world. Soldiers have become pawns, the instruments that pull triggers, aim weapons, push buttons and destroy infrastructure, the human brain necessary to operate the MIC?s collection of apparatuses of destruction and death. They are expendable, of course, easily replaced by the next wave of caste or government instituted drafts. War is a boom to the MIC, of huge importance to its oligarchy. There is vast profit and power to be made in war, just ask today?s defense contractors, and the biggest war profiteer in the Iraq war, Halliburton, of Dick Cheney fame.
These entities survive and prosper by manufacturing an unending flood of instruments of death, by supplying the vast resources necessary to conduct war. And the stream of these products smeared in blood must never be allowed to run dry which is why blood must continue to be spilled. Machines of war must be created, used and destroyed, only to be manufactured again and again, shipped out to be used and recycled in a vicious circle of malevolent profit making. Think about it, who really profits and gains from war? It is today but a business to the United Corporations of America, and the reason fear has been metastasized into our psyches during the last couple of years. Chasing ambiguous boogie-men, today?s version of evildoer, assures the Leviathan of perpetual war, hence perpetual profit and exploitation. Enemies must exist in order to continue building the war machine, and fear is the tool the oligarchy has created that affects our emotions of insecurity, thereby making us passive citizens following Bush and his cabal of charlatans from war to war.
Many of today?s forgotten homeless veterans struggle to survive frozen winters outside and blizzards of mental anguish inside, self-medicating themselves with drugs or alcohol, the only escapes from the permanent state of turmoil their minds live in. The horrors of war cannot be released; the human brain is too fragile and susceptible to the brutalities of man fighting man, of man killing his own kind, of being witness to the shouts, screams, suffering and death of men, women and children as they are bulldozed into the realm of lifeless cadavers.
War is that most ignoble of human creations in which lower classes fight each other to the death for the benefits of the few elite-greed-infected bastards that blink not an eye at the death and maiming of those young “plebeians” they sent to war in far away lands to fight those same brothers being exploited by the powerful on the other side. In the end, victory or defeat matters not to the dead and injured who have gained nothing and lost everything, returning home to an easily forgetful government that throws veterans into the bowels of indifference, tossing away the key and washing its hands clean of the human catastrophe it created.
While their brothers and sisters were killing and dying in a foreign land, most of the present neo-cons in Washington were busy feathering their opulent nests.
Sacrificed for the benefit of a few at the top, today?s Vietnam, Korean and Gulf War Veterans, and those the war has made homeless in particular, are a perfect example of the utter disregard and exploitation of the American Soldier by both government and society. Those men who are forgotten, sacrificed, thrown out into the street and left for dead, fed to the hungry wolves of misery, slowly decimated from within are the creation of the man-mad pillager of lives called warfare. In essence, their lives are sacrificed for the betterment of Leviathan?s oligarchs and government cabal of miscreants.
A government that without remorse allows those veterans who fought its battles and its wars to freeze during frigid winters and pick food out of garbage bins in order to survive is a disgrace and a monument to ineptitude. Sacrificing lives, body and mind for the perceived good of the nation our soldiers return home, to a world that has been transformed, a reality that has been altered and an indifferent government that has no more use for them. Rather, they become but a mosquito to the Leviathan and power junta, a nuisance aimlessly roaming the streets, surrendering their remaining pride in order to beg for pennies. Like ghosts they live among us, invisible at night they hide from the unkind winter temperatures in cardboard-made sleeping boxes, appearing by day on sidewalks, palms extended, watching the world they were once part of pass them by.
To survive the stresses of battle is not to survive the wars that follow, where a surviving soldier must reintegrate himself or herself back to society, family, work, finances and the life that once was. The true struggle begins, that which is stronger than any enemy: the battle with oneself to overcome what the mind cannot purge. Flashbacks of battles won and lost, of deaths seen and avoided, memories of comrades maimed and killed, stresses that are manifested from the will to survive in a state of self-preservation and the ever recurring sounds, tastes and smells of war attack the mind, making reintegration back into society oftentimes a futile and complex undertaking. The clash inside commences, that violent whirlwind that morphs together memories and stresses of war and of the life that previously existed, creating a vortex of self-destruction that leads to a veteran?s complete loss with self, and the new reality that has become his living hell. Post-traumatic stress disorder may erupt in the aftermath of war or in years subsequent, exploding out and releasing those demons that have been festering inside waiting to envelope the veteran with their claws of memories past and nightmares present.
From moral law-abiding citizen, young, energetic and full of hopes and dreams, where virtue and respect for humanity is ingrained, soldiers are methodically transformed into programmed automatons of carnage, devastators of lives and lands and efficient killing machines without remorse for the consequences of their actions. This creates a quagmire in the mind as one must shift and abandon what was once believed to be sacred, namely the value of human life, and replacing it instead with the indoctrinated duty to kill and destroy. Thus, the soldier is torn until his first battle and first kill, after which time the sacredness of human life morphs into one of self-preservation and thirst for extinguishing the enemy. The military?s lethally trained soldier has now become its cog of violence and war; the alteration from youthful dreamer to destroyer of dreams is finalized.
Many who survived did and do return to a semblance of normalcy, able to reintegrate and continue living seemingly fruitful lives. Their inner demons are minor. Yet many do not, and are forced to confront their all-encompassing mental demons without the assistance of the same government that helped foster them in the first place. And so, the exploitation having been completed, their purpose achieved, the veteran is discarded and abandoned, forgotten and left to cope with the scars of the “glorious” and “freedom fighting” war he was sent to fight. Meanwhile, those who supplied his instruments of death and destruction reap the profits, the Leviathan enriches itself and those at the top like Bush, born with a silver spoon up their ass and with no understanding or empathy for those born in the lower echelons of the caste system get to pat themselves on the back, congratulating themselves on the newfound power and riches added to their portfolio of exploitation.
This veteran can retain his dignity, but the Vietnam war left the USA with an amputated moral character.
That was Vietnam, a blood infested swamp of hell that resulted in defeat and in the collective destruction of millions of American soldiers, in life, limb and mind, sacrificed in the jungles of south-east Asia from which the demons of war were exhumed and returned embedded with our soldiers like a potent pathogen bent on unleashing self-destruction from within. Forgotten once brave and decorated soldiers have become, pariahs in society, walking aimlessly in their own worlds of escape, once fruitful and promising lives laid to waste, forced to loiter, beg and pick trash, fighting their inner selves and the demons of war while their government begins implementing the vicious cycle of decimation onto a new generation of young, brave and cocky men and women. This is what becomes of those who fight the wars of the oligarchy and powerful; this is the sacrifice they must make, ruining their lives, minds and futures fighting their fellow man. This is how they are repaid for their services. This is the reality of soldiers turned veterans, of the devastation of war and the effects of the violence we are capable of unleashing onto the world. The example that is Vietnam is discarded by the elite, only to be repeated today, tomorrow and into the future with each regeneration of the assembly-line we call human procreation. This is Iraq. This is us.
In the military it is one?s duty to never leave anyone behind. When it comes to homeless, injured, amputated and mentally destroyed veterans, however, it seems to be the modus operandi. It is the exploitation of the American Soldier. Today, many experts fear the next great wave of homeless vets and psychologically ravaged citizens are in Iraq fighting for their lives. The next generation of exploited men and women is systematically being converted into mentally fatigued, overtly-stressed and physically scarred individuals that will return home with the horrors of what they have seen and done in the desolate deserts of Mesopotamia ingrained into their now fragile minds. This is the sacrifice made; this is the reality of Bush?s war.
Through the physical and mental loss of our loved ones our government declares victory. Through the devastation unleashed onto humanity Bush tries to assure re-election. Through the alteration and usurpation of our soldier?s lives and minds Bush claims triumph over evil; through their enslavement to the Leviathan and government oligarchy he claims to further assure our freedoms and liberties. In the end, evil is unleashed under our name, our freedoms and liberties are eroded more every day and we come closer to becoming the slaves and serfs of yesteryear as the war the Leviathan has spawned against us and our loved ones grows in intensity.
Guinea Pigs Dressed in Camouflage
It cannot be emphasized enough how soldier lives are destroyed or seriously altered by the government and its war activities. Just recently, a court order was imposed banning the forced anthrax vaccination of troops by the military that in many soldiers was causing sickness and maladies. Brought to the courts by a group of soldiers, the court in essence found that the military was experimenting its unproven vaccine on troops who were being used as guinea pigs. The Pentagon in not deterred, however, as it has gone back to court seeking to have the ruling applied only to those who were part of the complaint, in essence seeking to continue the vaccination plan to all other members of the armed forces. Soldiers are being pressured and punished if they refuse vaccination, and many have not been told by the military of the court ruling.
Throughout the decades the military has performed such “experiments” on soldiers through vaccinations, inoculations, experiments, poking and prodding, trying to uncover the effects of chemical and biological warfare on humans. Under the guise of the Cold War, from 1955 to 1975 the government used the military to experiment on tens of thousands of soldiers, oftentimes without consent or knowledge, exposing them to radiation, biological contaminants, blister and nerve agents and psycho-hallucinatory drugs such as PCP.
These experiments, with our soldiers being used as guinea pigs, only serve to damage the well-being of military men and women in an attempt to see what the effects and damage will be if the vaccine is applied to the general population. Our soldiers are being poked and prodded, serving as an experimental group, studied over time to see what health effects manifest themselves and what dangers are to be expected, and avoided. Guinea pigs dressed in camouflage are no different than guinea pigs living in cages. Enlisted to serve in both war and as samples of experimental exploitation, the American Soldier is but a slave serving the dark interests of those who lack humanity.
A definite pattern begins to emerge over decades of abuse and exploitation of soldiers, and that is the extent by which the military will expose its own to the evils it has created with a disregard that is nefarious and criminal in nature. This pattern has not stopped, it gets covered up or stone-walled when confronted, and it continues on its pervasive pattern of criminality and indifference that like an unstoppable tank runs over the lives of so many members of the armed forces who believed they would never be betrayed by a government they swore to serve and defend. What follows are but a few examples of this systemic pattern of behavior.
The exploitation of the American Soldier for the benefit of the government is an ingrained part of the system. Soldiers have been used as guinea pigs for decades, oftentimes used as subjects sacrificed for the evils of mankind. A perfect example is that era, beginning in the aftermath of World War II and continuing until the early 1960?s, when our government began testing atomic and hydrogen bombs. Soldiers would be called into these areas, such as the Nevada desert, and placed in strategic locations throughout the fallout area of the blast, oftentimes in very close proximity to the mushroom cloud that ensued. Once the experimental bomb was detonated soldiers would have to withstand the powerful blast winds and concussion, thereby being exposed to radiation levels never before experienced by man. Guinea pigs in camouflage, exposed and tested, in all likelihood studied and analyzed to determine radiation?s effects on humans.
This exploitation resulted in numerous cancers, diseases, perpetual health problems and birth defects. The progeny of these soldiers have also been made to suffer through genetic birth defects. Men from all branches of the armed forces were subjected to these tests, many larger in power than Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Numbering over 100 in the course of two decades, these tests and the ensuing health effects, many of which have taken over 20 to 30 years to develop in soldiers and their children, have also affected citizens living downwind and in close proximity to the tests. In total about 900 bombs were detonated in the Nevada deserts from 1950 to 1963, unleashing 178 times more radioactive fallout than the accident at Chernobyl.
For years the Pentagon and government have stonewalled, withheld, suppressed and covered up attempts at uncovering and exposing these truths. Over 300,000 military men and women and 100,000 civilians were used as guinea pigs during the course of the tests. For soldiers, to try and decline forced participation meant court martial, dishonorable discharges, treason and jail. For all involved, it has meant a life of suffering at the hands of the government. Meanwhile, the exploitation of the American Soldier continued.
The Vietnam War provides us with another example of criminal exploitation of soldiers by our government leaders with that famous herbicide chemical named Agent Orange. Sprayed by C-123 cargo planes over the conifer jungles of Vietnam where American troops abounded in order to defoliate and clear the thick green cover of foliage and flora that offered protection to the Viet Cong, the chemical was oftentimes inhaled and absorbed by soldiers, both American and Vietnamese, penetrating their lungs and/or skin and disseminating throughout the body. Up to 19 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides were dispersed from 1961 to 1971. Agent Orange was poison, designed to kill plant life in order to facilitate the further destruction of Vietnamese land and people. American troops were exposed to this devil?s concoction and the results were disastrous.
Upon returning home, Vietnam veterans began dying of disease, most notably cancer. To this day, those still alive suffer horrendous pain from the aftereffects of Agent Orange, the chemical the military unleashed onto its own. Children of soldiers exposed have been born diseased or deformed. Hundreds of thousands were exposed over the course of a decade, never imagining that the chemical they thought was helping them survive would later decimate and destroy their lives, and that of their children.
Agent Orange?s effects have not been relegated to American Soldiers, however. Vietnamese soldiers have suffered the same diseases, have died in larger numbers, and their children continue to suffer the consequences of American indifference. Absorbed into the countryside, the herbicide has filtered into soils and water tables, devastating farming and large populations. Vietnamese children have and continue being born retarded, deformed, sick and dead. In Vietnam, Agent Orange has become a WMD, and it has ruined both lives and land to this day.
More recently, the introduction of Depleted Uranium (DU) as a key component of America?s military arsenal has created a present wave and future catastrophe of disease and death among USA troops, most notably those that served in the first Gulf War. DU, made of nuclear waste and used in military shells, munitions, missiles, bullets and tank armor, has made of Iraq a nuclear dump that has ruined the environment. Hundreds of tons of DU material has been used in both Gulf Wars, Kosovo and Afghanistan, releasing into the environment minute particles of vaporized uranium that linger in the environment and in the air, penetrating into water tables, food supplies and cities. The usefulness of DU, its inexpensive production, troop armor protecting strength and target penetrating ability, had made this weapon a useful instrument of war ? if the aftereffects are not taken into consideration.
It is estimated that anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 American veterans who served in Gulf War I have died of mysterious diseases and maladies, most notably cancers, neurological disorders and immunodeficiency illnesses and diseases. It is estimated that 40,000 to 80,000 more will die in the next twenty to thirty years as the effects of DU run their course. Only about 150 members of the military died during the actual fighting in Gulf War I.
Half of the 700,000 troops used in Gulf War I have reported serious illnesses, however, with many suffering chronic illness. Hundreds of thousands suffer from the so-called Gulf War Syndrome. There is a strong indication, and indeed a growing likelihood, that the use of DU by the military is the primary culprit. Most of these veterans are in their late twenties and early thirties, in the prime of their health, cleared as healthy before the war in military conducted medical physicals. Added to these diseases is the growing evidence that DU is responsible for the large number of genetic birth defects, gross mutations of fetuses, miscarriages and stillborns arising from veterans of Gulf War I.
The implication for veterans of Gulf War II and Afghanistan is mind boggling. The example of Gulf War I and its health related implications is but a small ripple compared to the coming tidal wave approaching Gulf War II veterans and our society. Estimates say that the USA and Britain used five times more DU munitions in 2003 than used in 1991. When up to 350 tons of DU munitions was used by the Pentagon in 1991, the ramifications for the present and future health of American soldiers is worrisome at the least and calamitous at worst.
Incidences of childhood blindness, birth defects, and cancers related to the use of DU munitions ? have risen dramatically in Iraq since 1990.
The same diseases, cancers and fetal deformities and miscarriages being discovered by our soldiers are widespread throughout the population of Iraq and now Afghanistan as well. Coincidence? Not likely. Of course the environmental disaster DU has unleashed will eventually disappear, in 4.5 billion years. Meanwhile, Iraq?s population has shown steep increases in cancers and genetic birth defects, numbers never before seen in such quantities for a sample nation, except perhaps in post WWII Japan. It is not a far-fetched statement to say that Iraq and its citizens will be devastated for generations to come. The government purposefully allowed the use of uranium rich DU munitions, exposing both soldiers and civilians to one of the worst weapons of mass destruction. Make no mistake, Iraq and Afghanistan are now nuclear dumps, their citizens are dying in incredibly large numbers and the USA government, along with corporate media complicity, is covering up this growing pandemic that would rightly outrage the entire planet if it was exposed for the war crime that it is. We must stop the use of our own WMDs on both land and man before we ask others to stop theirs.
The government has remained quiet on the subject but a growing landslide of evidence is pointing to the morbid conclusion that in Gulf War I and now II the USA military and government, in order to pro-rate American deaths from “during the war,” (in essence minimizing death during the war) to a gradual death rate in the immediate decades “after the war,” and in order to prevent large numbers of casualties that would inevitably alienate the American public,—think “Vietnam Syndrome” ? used DU armor and munitions, knowing full well its dangers to troops and innocent civilians, deciding the slow and clandestine death of troops after the war was better than thousands of casualties that had been expected during it. This happened in 1991, and, with more than a decade to correct its actions, the Pentagon instead relied more heavily on DU in 2003 when mounting evidence showed the effects of DU on humans. Can we dare bring to light and investigate this criminal exploitation by those at the top of our loved ones?
Soon, American troops will return from Iraq, and deep within them will grow an embedded poison, a weapon of mass destruction that will linger inside their bodies until the day arrives that DU decides to begin its evil process of annihilation. We must keep on eye on these veterans because many will die, many will give birth to the most deformed babies you will ever see and the government/military will speak not a word. The cover-up and stonewall will be methodical, both by government and the corporate media, for the implications of what is happening to our soldiers and Iraq?s citizens will send shockwaves throughout the world. Payments of this criminal deceit may run into the hundreds of billions, devastating entire industries. An objective investigation would most likely lead to the incarceration of those at the top and expose this nation for the evilness of its wars. Thus, the DU enigma will never see the light of day, and veterans will be swept underneath the rug of disregard, gathering cobwebs as more and more veterans die off.
The evils of DU are visible in Iraq, they are visible in Gulf War I veterans and they will soon be visible in many of the men and women today serving in the cradle of civilization. Nuclear war was unleashed on Iraq and Afghanistan by our military. In the end, it is our own sons and daughters that must pay the price for this most wicked of actions, this most unmoral of wars. And we have our own government to thank for the coming decimation that will in the next few years and decades devour our loved ones and the children they bear.
Systemic Abuse of Veterans and Soldiers
As soldiers struggle to survive in the desert sands of Iraq the Bush administration is waging its own war at home against them and their families. In order to help pay for the enormity that has become the Iraq quagmire, Bush has cut or held down numerous soldier and veteran benefits and services. Bush has cut off access to the VA?s health care system for approximately 164,000 veterans. The President is also trying to cut off $1.5 billion in military family housing and medical facility funding in his 2004 budget, a 14 percent reduction. The White House also opposes a proposal to give National Guard and Reserve members access to the Pentagon?s health-insurance system. The General Accounting Office has estimated that one of every five Guard members has no health insurance.
The war by Bush against members of the armed forces continues as the White House tried to roll back recent increases in monthly imminent-danger pay, from $225 to $150, and family-separation allowance, from $250 to $100, for troops being shot at in combat zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Thanks to the administration, the military?s pay raise for men and women in desperate need of better wages was a paltry 4.1 percent hike for higher ranks and a 2 percent raise for the lower ranks, a raise that does not even cover the rise of inflation. The White House labeled as “wasteful and unnecessary” a very modest proposal to double from $6000 to $12,000 the gratuity given to families of those soldiers that die on active duty, an amount that would not cover a year of expenses and that does not even surpass the poverty line for a small family.
The White House budget for Veterans Affairs cut $3 billion from VA hospitals even with the large number of casualties returning from Bush?s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. VA spending today averages $2,800 less per patient than nine years ago. Bush has raised VA prescription drugs co-payments for veterans more than 200 percent even at a time when veterans of Korea and Vietnam begin aging and see themselves in greater need of medicines. With hundreds of thousands of Gulf War I veterans suffering various chronic illnesses and diseases, this move further erodes the necessary mechanisms needed to live a life with the least amount of pain.
Further proof of the war being waged against members of the armed forces is Donald Rumsfeld?s plan to shut down 19 commissaries, military-run stores that offer discounted food and merchandise that helps low-paid enlisted troops and their families get by, with the possibility of closing down 19 more. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is also trying to determine whether or not to shut down 58 military-run schools for the children of soldiers. Listed above are but a few of the tactics used by the Bush administration to strangulate soldiers, veterans and their families. Expected to fight and sacrifice lives, they are now being forced to sacrifice benefits and pay, education and healthcare. How much more can be asked of our sons and daughters before they and the nation begin wondering what Bush is doing? They deserve better, perhaps not Bush?s silver spoon but definitely some dignity and appreciation.
George Bush assigns the ‘runts’ amongst his heroes a life of poverty after they’ve done his dirty work.
These moves by the Bush administration have lacerated those tools members of the military and their families need in order to live their lives with a semblance of meaning. Bush is in essence shackling soldiers and their families to a collective chain of apathy and exploitation. As these men and women head into combat zones, willing to sacrifice limb, mind and life, their benefits, pay and services are being decimated by the same man putting their lives on the line. It is a slap in the face to at the same time send soldiers to die abroad while slashing their benefits at home. It is a slap in the face to all veterans who courageously served their country in battle only to have their benefits reduced. And the person responsible is a chickenhawk who escaped his duties and now smirks and struts while terrified, maimed and killed soldiers return home, telling the world to “bring it on,” in essence challenging the world to kill those men and women he sent to fight his war.
The exploitation of the American Soldier is methodical and arrogantly shameful. It is enslavement and oppression. It is the continuation of a mercenary army created to fight for and defend the interests of the Leviathan and the oligarchy. The illusions of “fighting for freedom,” “our way of life,” and our “democratic principles” is but a mirage designed to hide the real reasons behind Bush?s wars. Through propaganda the American people are being lied to and misled down the path of perpetual war. Through the use of fear and terror Bush propels the Leviathan?s war agenda, scaring the populace into acquiescing to exporting terror abroad and importing the erosion of freedoms and liberties at home.
Meanwhile, the Leviathan?s hostile and open war against Americans continues without us realizing what is being done to us. Blindly we believe what is shown; ignorantly we follow what is said. We no longer question authority nor self-educate ourselves. To many Americans Bush is the second coming of Christ, a most trusted man of honor and integrity. Reality, however, is altogether different. His policies are completely the opposite of Christ?s teachings. The worst president in history is destroying this nation, and he is bringing us all down with him. The rise of the fascist state of Amerika begun in 2000 will accelerate in 2004 and become a possible reality in 2005 with a further degrading of our rights, democracy and liberties, the acceleration of a police state and the complete usurpation of government and our representatives by the Leviathan and its puppet in the White House.
All this will be accomplished thanks to the invasive and systematic cloud of fear the administration has released into the fabric and environment of this country. The instilling of fear into an ever jumpy and paranoid nation by the administration is the ultimate WMD, (weapon of mental deception) destroying our once free and open society, scaring us into submission and making of us fearful citizens devoid of a once vibrant energy. If we do not stop fearing the illusion of evil Bush has indoctrinated us with, we will soon really have something to fear, and that is the terror of living in a fascist state.
In order to continue their perpetual profit-and-power-pillaging-war fighting ghosts and goblins the MIC, Leviathan and oligarchy will unleash a government enacted draft after the election of George W. Bush in 2004. Large troop numbers ? at present not available through the “all volunteer” army ? are needed to quench the three-headed monster?s greed-infested appetite for power and resources. All governmental and state action taking place today is clandestinely leading to this most ominous circumstance, one need only open his/her eyes. As is usually the case, those in the lower castes will become the great majority of draftees, brought out of their reservations and turned into mercenaries of the oligarchy.
Trained to become lethal killers of humanity, our sons and daughters will be dehumanized, exposed to the inhuman emotions of war and battle, death and blood. Spread to those regions our feudal lords deem strategic and necessary, our soldiers will decimate both land and man, becoming both a plague of locusts devouring everything in its path and a malignant virus hemorrhaging the planet. The Evil Empire, now openly and arrogantly waging war throughout the world, no longer acting clandestinely to determine geopolitical destinies as it has done for decades, will need vast amounts of cannon fodder and armies to guard the many lands, interests and resources of the Pax Amerikana and the United Corporations of Amerika.
The exploitation of the American Soldier will increase, the draft will take from our homes those young lives we most cherish. Conscripted to serve the Leviathan and oligarchy, trained to kill their fellow exploited man with the MIC?s instruments of death, our young loved ones will die and suffer. They will become maimed, both physically and mentally, scarred for life, becoming the disposable refuse our government throws into its landfills.
The story of the American Soldier is a story of ceaseless exploitation, of ceaseless sacrifice to the interests of the elite oligarchs and of ceaseless bravery in the face of ceaseless obstacles. No longer fighting for freedoms or liberties or in defending our borders or ways of life, soldiers now fight for the profits, resources, power and ideology of the Leviathan and oligarchs. The poor continue to be subjugated; they continue to fight like the serfs and slaves of old for the interests of the elite few.
The story of the American soldier is the story of human war, of the rich and powerful using the poor in the continual cycle of exploitation. It is the story of humanity, of civilization, and of the unrelenting and time honored tradition which by our indifference to act we inherently decide to live in. Through our passivity and unwillingness to force change we are condemning ourselves to the coming future that awaits us. A future that has been both our past and our present, and inevitably, the continuation of what has been, and what seems to remain. The symptoms of our disease, it seems, cannot be cured, and slowly our sickened and palpitated society chains itself to its cold and dreary death bed awaiting the inevitability of our lives.
Manuel Valenzuela is social critic and commentator, activist, writer and author of Echoes in the Wind, a novel to be published in 2004. He welcomes comments, and can be reached at manuel@valenzuelas.net
Article courtesy of Axis of Logic
