Here we go again
During the Vietnam war, we were told Americans were fighting and dying because of the domino theory—that if the dictatorship in South Vietnam fell, the communists would take over all of Southeast Asia and India. It was a lie.
During the US invasion and military occupation of Iraq, we were told that Americans were fighting and dying because Saddam (a) was complicit in the 9/11 attacks and (b) had WMDs that threatened the United States. It was a lie.
Now, the US has, with Israel, embarked on what appears to be a sustained war in Iran, justified by a need for regime change, something Trump came to office repudiating. Is this war necessary? Is it worth the loss of lives and the suffering it will necessarily cause?
Here’s Timothy Snyder:
“A war is a time when we will be told not to ask questions. But a war is actually when questions must be asked. And they must be asked in light of what we already know. The presumption created by the surrounding evidence is that this war could very well be about (1) subverting US democracy, (2) enriching the president, or both. These are presumptions, not proof — but they provide the solid lines of inquiry as we learn more about the war.
“War does not create a clean slate where suddenly we have to believe the absurd just because a leader says it. On the contrary, war provides the opportunity to see the core of the absurdity and the destruction that is being offered to us.”
Once again, it’s time to question authority.
Why are we attacking Iran?
During the US invasion and military occupation of Iraq, we were told that Americans were fighting and dying because Saddam (a) was complicit in the 9/11 attacks and (b) had WMDs that threatened the United States. It was a lie.
Now, the US has, with Israel, embarked on what appears to be a sustained war in Iran, justified by a need for regime change, something Trump came to office repudiating. Is this war necessary? Is it worth the loss of lives and the suffering it will necessarily cause?
Here’s Timothy Snyder:
“A war is a time when we will be told not to ask questions. But a war is actually when questions must be asked. And they must be asked in light of what we already know. The presumption created by the surrounding evidence is that this war could very well be about (1) subverting US democracy, (2) enriching the president, or both. These are presumptions, not proof — but they provide the solid lines of inquiry as we learn more about the war.
“War does not create a clean slate where suddenly we have to believe the absurd just because a leader says it. On the contrary, war provides the opportunity to see the core of the absurdity and the destruction that is being offered to us.”
Once again, it’s time to question authority.
Why are we attacking Iran?
And it’s one, two, three what are we fighting for!? Don’t ask me
Five, six, seven open up the Pearly Gates! Ain’t no time to wonder why
Whoopie! We’re all gonna’ die … !
Ten Bears. By coincidence I sang a bit of that to my daughter, age 57, the other day. She had never heard it before. So for all you children out there, it’s from “Country Joe and the Fish” about 1967, about the Vietnam war, which you may have heard about, but know no more than one or two lines of the “history” they teach in school. Which brings me to
Joel, of course “the country” lies, but it’s not a case of “we don’t have to believe them;” they lie because we WANT to believe them. Not you and me, of course, but everyone else.
A week ago I posted it as part of my new Patriotic war music to start broadcast day series
Ten
great. i always liked it, and think music is the best politics.
I am not sure the fear of communism was a lie, it may have been a stupidity. but the people making the decisions had just fought a huge war and seen Russian expansionism and had a long term fear of communism, so they may well have believed themselves, the real lie begins the way we fought the war with lies, cruelty, indiscriminate killing..a beginning if not a continuation of the behavior almost the same as the behavior of other evil empires we have known and come to love.