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<span id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43235"
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id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_41649"
class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;">This article was
posted recently in a variety of places. Peace and
Solidarity,</span></big></big></big></big>
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id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43235"
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class=""
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</big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
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id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43220"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43219" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403025371909_15514" class="" style="">
</span></span><b
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43228" class="" style=""><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43227" class=""
style="font-size:14.0pt;"><span
style=""
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_19_1403022069308_10"
class=""><span
style=""
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class=""><span
style=""
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class=""><span
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class=""><span
style=""
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class=""><span
style=""
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_19_1403022069308_25"
class=""><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403044062629_35136" style="" class=""><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403044062629_35135" style="" class=""><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403044062629_35134" style="" class=""><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403044062629_35133" style="" class=""><span
style=""
class=""></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>Everywhere
is
War</span></b></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43226"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43225" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43224" class="" style=""> <span
style=""
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43233"
class=""><span
style=""
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_19_1403022069308_31"
class=""><span
style=""
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_19_1403022069308_34"
class=""><span
style=""
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_19_1403022069308_37"
class=""> <span
style=""
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_19_1403022069308_40"
class=""> <span
style=""
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_19_1403022069308_43"
class=""> <span
style=""
class=""> <span
style=""
class=""> <span
style=""
class=""> <span
style=""
class=""> </span></span></span></span> <span
style=""
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_19_1403022069308_46"
class=""> <span
style=""
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_19_1403022069308_49"
class=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
</span>by
Andy Piascik</span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43223"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"> </span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43222"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43221" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
class=""
style="">
</span>Summer
approaches and
the stench of
war is all
around. Or, as
the great Bob
Marley put
it, Everywhere
is War. Start
with the
commemorations
over a
five-week span
of
Memorial Day,
Flag Day and
Independence
Day, all
presented
varyingly as
celebrations
of our war
dead, symbols
of our
greatness, the
freedoms we
love so
dearly and
seek to export
to every
corner of the
world and,
perhaps most
important, the
unquestioned
rightness of
our cause. </span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43237"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43236" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
class=""
style="">
</span>In
reality, the
celebrations
are of
imperialist
war, with the
talk about the
hallowed dead
just so much
cover for the
murderous
nature of US
foreign
policy.
Celebrating
the dead –
note that the
dead
celebrated are
just the
American
dead, not any
of the
millions
killed by US
aggression or
client states
– is a
no-lose
proposition
designed to
render anyone
who asks the
wrong
questions a
traitor or a
terrorist. The
notion that
the US
regularly
commits war
crimes and
that polished,
well-educated
men like John
Kennedy and
Barack Obama
are war
criminals is
unthinkable;
war criminals
look like
Osama
bin-Laden and
Saddam
Hussein and
those other
nasty people
far away, over
there.<span
class=""
style=""> </span></span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43239"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43238" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
class=""
style="">
</span>It’s
also the
summer of the
centennial of
the start of
what in its
time was known
as
the Great War,
the greatest
blood-letting
in history
except for
that of the
Second Great
War barely two
decades later.
Of one thing
we can be sure
and that
is that the
lessons drawn
from
mainstream
discussions of
World War 1
will be
all the wrong
ones. Worse,
the spectacle
of the
intelligentsia
waxing
eloquent
about the
horrors of war
while
unflinchingly
cheering on
the warmakers
in
Washington
will be
accepted by
one and all of
their kind as
perfectly
reasonable –
as beyond
discussion, in
fact.</span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43241"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43240" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
class=""
style="">
</span>In
recent weeks,
meanwhile,
mainstream
commentators
have been
shocked to
discover
that things in
Iraq are not
alright, in
fact are worse
than at any
time since
the second US
blitzkrieg in
2003. Gee, who
knew. Who knew
that an
invasion
predicated on
a lie of
weapons of
mass
destruction,
designed to
secure control
of massive oil
supplies,
would go
wrong? The
political
class and
intelligentsia
didn’t, or at
least they
pretended they
didn’t, but
millions
around the
world
who
demonstrated
against the
invasion in
the weeks
before it was
launched
certainly did.
And one of the
points those
demonstrators
underscored
was that a
US invasion
would fuel
sectarian
divisions and
violence,
precisely as
has
happened.
Al-Qaeda,
which did not
exist in Iraq
prior to the
invasion, now
flourishes
while a new
group, the
Islamist State
of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS),
rampages
through the
country.</span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43243"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43242" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403025371909_13182" class="" style="">
</span></span><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43242" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;">The
response
of many elites
in the US,
naturally, is
for more war.
Calls from
certain
factions for a
third US
invasion are
growing louder
and, true to
his preference
for violence
over
diplomacy,
Obama has sent
a strike force
to Iraq.
Whether the
people of the
United States
can come
together as we
did last
summer when we
rose up and
prevented
Obama from
attacking
Syria remains
to be seen. As
beaten down as
we may be, we
must at least
try.</span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43245"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43244" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403025371909_11926" class="" style="">
</span>Also
on the war
front is the
Veterans
Affairs’
disgraceful
neglect of
ex-soldiers in
need of
medical care.
For years,
political
elites have
been slashing
benefits
for veterans
while
increasing
spending on
weapons and
cutting taxes
for the
Super Rich.
That the
problem came
to a head with
a Democrat in
the White
House
is simply an
accident of
timing, and it
is especially
outrageous
that the most
enthusiastic
cheerleaders
of the illegal
Bush-Cheney
invasions, as
well as
reductions
to the VA’s
budgets and
the tax cuts
for 1%, now
pretend that
they care
about
soldiers. </span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43246"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_48050" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
class=""
style="">
</span>Equally
farcical is
the
commencement
of yet another
round of
hearings on
the deaths of
four Americans
in Benghazi.
Such hearings
would
certainly be
valuable if
everything
related to US
actions in
Libya since
the launch of
the 2011
assault
were up for
review, but
there is
virtually no
chance of that
happening. The
deaths of tens
of thousands
of Libyans in
yet one more
illegal
military
strike,
as well as the
resulting
chaos and
violence in
that country,
is of no
concern
to those who
long for the
good old days
of Bush-Cheney
interested
only in
scoring
political
points.<span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403033122481_13167"
class=""
style=""> </span></span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43248"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43247" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403025371909_15513" class="" style="">
</span>Last
but not least
is the saga of
the
much-vilified
Bowe Bergdhal,
a heroic young
man who came
to see the
criminal
nature of the
US invasion of
Afghanistan.
The
refusal of
working class
youth to fight
for Empire is
the ruling
class’s
biggest
nightmare and
the attacks on
Bergdahl, like
the show trial
that
convicted
Chelsea
Manning, show
how far they
will go to
punish those
in uniform
who dare
challenge
their
objectives. A
hidden aspect
of the
movement that
ended
US carnage in
Southeast Asia
is that it was
the widespread
opposition of
soldiers, both
as embodied by
organizations
like Vietnam
Veterans
Against the
War as well as
active duty
resisters,
that
decisively
turned the
tide. </span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43251"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43250" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
class=""
style="">
</span>So
alarming was
this
development
that two
massive
disinformation
campaigns were
immediately
launched: the
myth of the
hostility of
the anti-war
movement for
returning
soldiers that
sought to
drive a wedge
between active
duty and
homefront
resistance
(see, for
example, Jerry
Lembcke’s
outstanding
book <u
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43249"
style=""
class="">The
Spitting
Image: Myth,
Memory and the
Legacy of
Vietnam</u>);
and the
completely
fraudulent MIA
blitz
(expertly
exposed by
Bruce Franklin
in <u
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403025371909_13202"
style=""
class="">MIA,
or
Mythmaking in
America)</u>
concocted by
the Nixon
Administration
to shift
attention away
from the death
and
destruction
wrought by the
US to the
plight
of nonexistent
prisoners of
war.<span
class=""
style=""> </span></span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43253"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43252" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
class=""
style="">
</span>Because
preventing any
similar
development of
resistance
among soldiers
is central to
imperial
objectives,
discussion has
largely
avoided what
Bergdahl
actually said
about his
service in
Afghanistan,
including his
telling
declaration in
a 2009
e-mail to his
parents, as
quoted by Amy
Goodman on <i
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43261" class="" style="">Democracy
Now!</i>: “The
future is too
good to waste
on lies and
life
is way too
short to care
for the
damnation of
others as well
as to spend it
helping fools
with their
ideas that are
wrong. I've
seen their
ideas, I'm
ashamed to
even be
American. The
horror of the
self righteous
arrogance that
they thrive
in.”</span> <span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43254" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;">Rather
than
joining in the
Bowe Bergdhal
lynch mob, US
soldiers
everywhere,
not to
mention those
with loved
ones in the
military,
would do well
to heed his
words
and
experience. </span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43256"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43255" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
class=""
style="">
</span>Lastly,
the same
standard that
applies to the
war crimes of
others applies
to the US.
As articulated
by Robert H.
Jackson, chief
US prosecutor
at Nuremberg,
a war of
aggression
such as
committed by
the US against
Afghanistan
and Iraq “is
not
only an
international
crime; it is
the supreme
international
crime,
differing
only from all
other crimes
in that it
contains
within itself
the
accumulated
evil of the
whole.” In
such a
circumstance,
what Bergdahl
did was proper
and,
it could be
argued, <i
class=""
style="">obligatory</i>
for
anyone party
to war crimes.
So amidst the
flag waving
and
speechifying
that
glorifies
imperialism,
we should
support him
and prisoners
of conscience
like
Chelsea
Manning. We
should demand
that all
services
veterans
require be
provided, that
US bases
around the
world be
closed, that
soldiers be
returned
home and that
the US cease
its campaign
of endless
aggression.
And as
enticing
as the
military may
seem in such
desperate
economic
times, we
should counsel
young people
to stay away
no matter how
bleak the
alternatives
may be.<span
class=""
style="">
</span></span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
</big></big></big></big>
<div
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403025371909_15643"
class=""
style="line-height:normal;"><big><big><big><big><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403025371909_15642" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;"><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403025371909_15641" class="" style="">
</span></span></big></big></big></big></div>
<big><big><big><big>
<i
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43260"
style=""
class=""><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_43259" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">Andy
Piascik is a
long-time
activist and
award-winning
author who
writes for </span></i><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403025371909_13205" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">Counterpunch,
Z Magazine <i
style=""
class="">and
many other
publications
and
websites. He
can be reached
at </i></span><a
moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow"
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403022069308_41568"
style=""
class=""
target="_blank"
href="mailto:andypiascik@yahoo.com"><i
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403044062629_34076"
style=""
class=""><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403044062629_34075" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">andypiascik@yahoo.com</span></i></a><i
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403044062629_35018" style="" class=""><span
id="yiv8249344498yui_3_16_0_1_1403044062629_35016" class=""
style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">.</span></i></big></big></big></big>
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