MER
Editorial - America
The
Brutal, The Ugly
" T H E C A P I T A L O
F G L O B A L A R R O G A N C E
"
MER
- Washington - www.MiddleEast.Org - 27 November (Thanksgiving Day) 1997:
It's
not the American self-image, that's for sure. But much of the rest of
the
world, especially the most oppressed, see contemporary America through
far different visions than today's modern-day Romans see themselves.
Even in that bastion of American and Israeli
influence, the New York Times, Foreign Affairs writer Thomas
Friedman recently warned of "Backlash":
"Do
you know what Iran calls America today? Not 'the Great Satan.' Iran
calls
America 'the Capital of Global Arrogance.' Unfortunately that's also
what
the French, the Malaysians, the Russians, the Chinese, the Japanese and
the Germans call Washington behind its back."
Actually
its far worse than Friedman and the NY Times are willing to even
consider
publishing... for this is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
Hence,
the following MER Editorial which you'll never see on the pages of the
NY Times or other American newspapers:
M
E R E D I T O R I A L:
A
M E R I C A T H E B R U T A L , A M
E R I C A T H E U G L Y
Once
again the American Empire prepares for "battle." It does so
against a puny
enemy; but one it vilifies and magnifies many times over endlessly
"preparing"
public opinion for the Empire's next round of "enforcement" in the name
of "peace" and "order". It does so with technological super weaponry
unmatchable
by the poor, the weak, the oppressed... other than through what it
terms
"terrorism" that is.
This
is the same country that slaughtered millions of Vietnamese (plus less
directly millions of Cambodians and Laotians as well) after its
President
tricked its Congress into the Gulf of Tonkin resolution.
And
then a generation later its top warrior of the former day "apologized"
for having made a "terrible mistake" (noting primarily the
50,000 Americans killed).
This
is the same country that used the first nuclear weapons of mass
destruction
not on military targets, but on civilian cities. And now today, along
with
ally Israel, this is the same country that threatens to use them again
in the Middle East, thus fueling the very arms race it claims to be
halting.
This
is the same country that sells more arms internationally than all
others,
yet insists on sanctions against those who sell a few inferior
weapons to "unapproved" locations.
This
is the same country that single-handedly, against the opposition of all
others, dismisses U.N. Secretary-Generals; issues its "orders" far and
wide; and doesn't even pay its U.N. dues preferring threats and
blackmail
to gets its way. Amazing indeed that the rest of the world continues to
allow this demeaning situation to continue; but bribery and threats
always
have gone a long way when Rome thunders.
And,
finally for now, this is the same country that stands alone in the
world
championing Israeli militancy, camouflaging Israeli ethnic-cleansing
policies,
covering-up terrible Israeli attacks on U.N. safe-havens, constantly
excusing
Israeli gross violations of human rights against those who simply ask
to
be accorded the same rights that the Americans themselves constantly
proclaim!
There
are many menaces loose in today's world. Among them is the
American military-industrial
complex which dominates American society, manipulates its press,
controls
its political parties, frightens its intellectuals -- the very tyranny
of power that none other than World War II hero turned President Dwight
Eisenhower used his last breathes to warn so eloquently about.
Ah
to be a Roman nearing the 21st Century! The Pro-consuls are now in the
form of "client regimes" calling themselves Kings, Guardians, and even
Presidents. Centurion legions are now in the form of giantair craft
carriers
and stealth bombers roaming the planet at will, dropping their
laser-guided
smart-bombs on command. With the ever-present ears of the National
Security
Agency and eyes of the Central Intelligence Agency modern-day Rome
tries
to bug, manipulate, and control everything and everyone even while
constantly
proclaiming its own innocence, bravery and freedom.
Even
the giant American press institutions fan the flames of warfare and
deception
in this brave new American order. Even its senior "journalists" - of
late
Sam Donaldson and George Stephanopoulos - openly join the generals in
advocating
the assassination of foreign leaders and destruction of resisting
societies.
It's President and Secretary of State seem completely oblivious to the
genocidal misery they reap on millions who will not bend to their will.
And even most of its intellectuals and academics are cowered into
submission
while government-supported institutes and think-tanks, along with
minions
of masked agents of the empire, spread deception and chicanery far and
wide to justify what has already been, and what is now to come.
The
American-hyped road signs all proclaim "Peace Process" and
"Democracy",
"Freedom" and "Progress". But this U.S./Israeli-created road actually
leads
to more terrorism, more warfare, more armaments; more repression, more
duplicity, more hatred; more exploitation, more domination, and more
control.
The
level of hypocrisy and the self-enrichment motivations are so
omni-present
these days that few within the Empire seem able to see clearly through
their own society's thick rhetorical and bureaucratic smoke screens.
Yet
no wonder there are so many around the rest of the world who now think
so much about payback time.
MAB