Killing the rhetoric

When I hear a politician speak about the war in Iraq and the military I hear words like “freedom” and “liberties” being thrown around liberally. My guess is that most people buy it or else politicians wouldn’t be selling it. The Beltway crowd is pretty adept at telling the mob just what they want to hear. Well, I have a problem with that. Because, I don’t believe that the Gulf War or the Iraq War was launched over freedom. I believe that politicians believe it’s in America’s best interest, or more accurately in the Corporations’ best interest. When I hear a politician telling the crowd that we’re in Iraq for freedom I imagine an Aztec priest with a knife ready to slaughter a helpless prisoner of war. The GOP and the neoconservatives are priests to the God of War. The military isn’t about keeping this country free. It’s about keeping America safe. Secure borders keep our nation free. That’s what a strong military is supposed to ensure. It’s why we have the National Guard and the Reserves. The Constitution keeps our country free, free from despots and the tyranny of the mob. The war in Iraq is a war of choice which was started because people were afraid after 9-11. We were coaxed into wanting war because we trusted in our leaders and we believed them when they said that the smoking gun would be a mushroom cloud over an America city. So we believed them and we supported the overthrow of Saddam and his sons.

I can’t stress enough that politicians wouldn’t be using the same tired-old rhetoric if it were not for the fact that most people would like to believe in America’s greatness. It’s Manifest Destiny; that being the greatest country in the world is our rightful and inevitable position. It infuriates thinking people and it infuriates veterans who after having served in the hot spots question the reason why good men and women have to die. So please, whenever you’re in a town hall meeting and you hear a politician say that we’re in Iraq for freedom, remind them that we’re already free.