Our War Of Terror
I did see the movie “Borat” and yes, I am stealing that joke for the title of this piece. Our ‘War of Terror’ is defined by the applause that backs it up during an event like the Republican primary debate in South Carolina, where the notion of feeling righteous because you are terrified of terrorists is the tie that binds everyone together as a team (minus Ron Paul of course, who is cruising for a trip behind the woodshed). Someone like me is then terrified, not of terrorists, but of my fellow citizens being terrified by terrorists. The genesis of this terror for me resides in the fact that anyone is terrified of anything in the first place.
Eager to be terrified, for the portion of our republic represented by folks who expect the rapture to take place soon, getting on board the 9/11 train and remaining in their seat forever is a piece of cake. Not to pick on the Revelations-enthusiasts out there, but to make a connection between the strategy employed by Republicans in securing the fear of their base, it is quite easy to identify the wisdom behind their strategy. Because just as a belief in the ‘end of days’ goes along nicely with the idea of ’something much worse than 9/11′, so does the militaristic, no holds barred defiance of these abstract evils partner up exceptionally well with the ’spiritual warrior’ persona that understands how strong of a grip Satan or al-Qaeda has on the majority of others, who will therefore never truly ‘get it’.
To perceive the world in those terms to begin with, you have to be driven by faith. When that is the fuel that powers your motor, it is much easier to accept things like torture, Guantanamo and the notion that we’re “making progress” in Iraq. The collateral damage that is rung up along the way is only pointed out and dwelt upon by those who don’t ‘get it’. And so the graphic mutilated fetus posters are co-opted and employed by the movement for the sake of terrifying those who do not ‘get it’ into feeling ashamed for simply disagreeing. How can that shame be forced to grow, so that the harvesting of it benefits the movement? Who or what can be used as an adequate lever to force this issue?
Democrats in Congress proved today that the military is a lever, and the war of terror waged against them centered around the notion that to cut off funding for the occupation of Iraq would mean that the military somehow suffers. Lest the Democratic Party have to take off the gloves and point the finger directly back at the President who remains responsible for the suffering of our military up till this point, I suppose the fear of being incapable of prevailing in that argument tells us all we need to know. Besides John Murtha scaring the Republicans right back by doing just that, who else within the leadership of either house is willing to get angry, point the finger right back at this President and get dirty on behalf of these same troops that everyone is supposedly so concerned about? Can the Republicans manage to terrify these Democrats into believing that it is only the party that sends the troops off to die in a lost war, shorts them on armor, equipment, recovery time, benefits and a strategy, that can then prevail in a battle over who really had their best interests at heart?
Besides a small contingent of loud and ignorant Republicans, most of whom never fought in a war, who will tell you that we could have won the war in Vietnam if we’d stayed longer, the vast majority of Americans aren’t second-guessing the wisdom of our withdrawal. Besides the millions of Americans who rightly protested for it to have happened years earlier than it eventually did, I don’t think you’re going to find many people today who are willing to pretend that the outcome wasn’t inevitable. Just as the specter of communism drove the faithful into a posture of righteous terrorization towards whoever doubted what the stated “cost of failure” in Vietnam would be, the specter of al-Qaeda is now the preferred catalyst of righteous terrorization agents bearing similar “cost of failure” warnings. That a Democratic member of congress would fall victim to either of these lazy and predictable constructs, is the only thing that has managed to terrify me since the day after the towers fell.
The very idea of this happening once the power to end the war was finally in our hands, had never entered my mind in such a way that my hope was entirely trounced. I’d doubted Harry Reid’s game for a while, and didn’t honestly know whether he was up to the historic challenge facing him. Even so, it wasn’t until today that I finally managed to ‘get the fear’ for the first time since the towers fell. Not until today did I officially fall victim to this war of terror.
Al, got to say I think you are full of crap, at least on some of these points.
9/11 did happen. Given that more and more nations are getting nukes, and some of those nations sponsor terrorism, easy guess what can happen.
You are right on the play of “terror” as a political point.
As to radical people, they are driven. They can convince people to be suicide bombers. What bomb is bigger than a small nuke? All you got to do is figure how to get it in the US. Really not hard because of congress and the refusual to support border policy.
Do you really think that groups who plan 9/11 would say “whoa, a nuke is too violent” a message to send?
I do not live in daily fear of this happening. My daily fear is Atlanta traffic.
Go ahead and ignore the escalation of attacks made by terrorist starting during the 80’s.
To use John Murtha, what a joke. On tape saying “I might be interested later at taking your money”. To be picked by Nancy Pelosi to be the majority leader only to be shot down by her own party. Wonder why?
How many of the dems fought in a war, excluding Kerry who got three quick purple hearts (one apparently inflicted by himself).
Interesting point on Vietnam, what president brought that on and what party was he with?
Hindsight is very easy.
Great presidents of the past did not have the instant media of today that is very biased. They would not be great today because they would not have the chance, because of people like you and the media.
Wow, you have been watching too much Fox news. As you know, Fox news watchers are the least informed of all-they think that Sadaam really did have those WMD’s.
When are you guys going to start acting like it’s a serious war? When are you going to start rationing gas? When are you going to start asking Americans to make a financial sacrifice? When are you going to reinstate the draft? When are you actually going to do something of substance? I know the answer: NEVER. Because the war in Iraq has been shown by the GOP to be nothing more than a tool in their electoral toolbox-something to be dusted off and used when needed. If it was otherwise, you would be acting differently. Your cowardliness speaks volumes.
PS. Kerry didn’t inflict his own wound. I’m not suprised that a Republican would make fun of a soldier’s medals. After all, you idiots are the ones who were wearing purple heart bandaids. I’ll tell that to the 100th solidier in GA’s family when his body comes back cold. Any medals he won for bravery should be immediately laughed at according to the GOP.
http://www.awolbush.com/whoserved.html
This showed who has served. Your lack of knowledge on this subject is astounding. Perhaps you should check your facts before posting.
Mind you that this person responding to an article about Iraq.
preussow, know who you’re tangling with here…I’ve got plenty of experience battling Teddy Ruxpin dolls such as yourself, and understand going into it that nothing I ever write will change your mind. I don’t care. The reason I respond is simply to show everyone else here that you’re a clown.
This is very easy with the material you provided me, but to show how incredibly out of touch you are in regards to this dumb statement about “how many dems fought in a war”, let me first list for you the newly elected Democrats from the 2006 midterms who were veterans, two of which fought in the wars we are in at the moment:
Senator Jim Webb (defeated George Allen)
Chris Carney (PA-10) Navy Vet
Patrick Murphy (PA-08) Iraq War Veteran
Joe Sestak (PA-07) Navy Vet
Tim Walz (MN-01) Army CSM – Afghanistan War Veteran
Phil Hare (IL-17) Army Vet
But that’s just an appetizer. To point out how silly your words actually are, here is a list of Democrats in congress who have seen combat (and whatever you want to say about him, KERRY SAW COMBAT):
Senators:
Daniel Akaka (HI)
Thomas Carper (DE)
Ernist Hollings (SC)
Daniel Inouye (HI)
John Kerry (MA)
Reps:
Joe Baca (CA-43)
Leonard Boswell (IA-3)
Allen Boyd (FL-2)
John Conyers (MI-14)
John Dingell (MI-15)
Ralph Hall (TX-4)
James Marshall (GA-3)
John Murtha (PA-12)
Silvestre Reyes (TX-16)
Victor Snyder (AR-2)
Mike Thompson (CA-1)
http://veterans.house.gov/vetlink/seanatestats.htm
http://veterans.house.gov/vetlink/memberstats.htm
So take your Rush Limbaugh impression to a thread you can comprehend. The amount of time you spend reading and researching for what you write isn’t enough, and you should be ashamed of yourself for the negative impact your ignorance has on civic debate in America.
Right on caroline!
preussow seems like a reincarnation of Westbrook. I assumed that guy either built up the courage to finally enlist or decided the shame he felt around here was too much.
Let’s see how long preussow hangs around. The upside though, if it’s a man, is he’s probably the one for eeevil…they make the same amount of sense and rely on an equally pathetic amount of actual facts in what they write.
Do I hear wedding bells?
Al,
Your post terrified me. I think I’ll go and quietly change my underwear… and then declare war on skid marks.
Preussow, you’re brilliant. Down with Kerry!
Uh, wait a minute, am I in 2004 again? Republicans are tearing into decorated combat veterans and it’s not even election season. How odd.
If you don’t elect Don Cordell for President in 2008 all this will be moot. We will become the North American Union, then just a branch of the United Nations. Wake up Americans, we are done as a free nation. No more borders, no more Constitution, no more Bill of Rights. No more United States. Look at Public Law 87-297 to disarm us.
http://www.DonCordellforPresident.com
Al Swearengen,
Great piece, sir!
To feel trepidation at being terrorized by those who are terrified of terrorists targeting their territory is tedious.
I, however, am merely disgusted.
.
(and, thanks for the list of congressional veterans.)
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preussow,
9-11 was a disaster, a tragedy.
The Dubious malAdministration’s response to 9-11 was even worse.
Oh, and the swift boating is really repugnant.
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caroline,
Sadaam forgot to give Osama (rhymes with Obama! And, Hillary caused the war!) his WMDs to use on 9-11, so God withdrew his blessing over America’s because we’re just too damn tolerant.
Something like that.
(Psssst . . . Dubious wasn’t AWOL. Because he was away for more than 30 days, it becomes desertion.)
David. How many people were killed in the rioting in China?
Don Cordell can fix it. He’s a TV repairman. He’s got an awesome set of tools.
Al
I agree completely. The “Fear no evil” thing ain’t real big with some of these folks. And when you point out some of the fallacies of our leaders, they become TERRIFIED!!!!
I would try to avoid them but they save me the trouble. They avoid me instead.
Mike,
1. Which riot?
2. Why do you ask in the middle of a discussion of TWAT?