Munk e mailed me about this thread, which I hadn't even bothered to read.
Here's my 2cents.
Back in the 60's we had Vietnam. We were over there to stop the communists, because if we didn't stop them there they would be in the US in a matter of years. A whole industry sprang up around that war. Since you can destroy an army, but short of genocide you can't destroy a population we lost that war. All the great anti poverty programs and great things we could have done to make our society the brightest, most well educated, and healthiest could not be done because the war robbed all the money for it.
When the war was over and Nixon resigned a lot of the people who were in his administration went to work for those companies who made money off the war.
Luckily we still had Communisim and those companies just concentrated on making money from the arms race with the Soviet Union.
Then a both bad and good thing happened: Due in part to the horrible economic and human cost of the war the Soviets pursued in Afghanistan, and also due in part to the internet and global communication advances that prevented them from controlling the press the USSR and Eastern Block fell.
Suddenly we were free. The deficit went down. Stock market soared. Communications increased with the internet.
Then Bush got in. The Bush and Republicans have always been better at controlling the media and creating questions about their opponents. They were working on justifying a war in Iraq from the moment they got in, but 9/11 was a windfall for them. They pulled out all their old speeches from the 60's crossed out "Communisim" , penciled in "Terrorisim" and had a reason to make some money for their old buddies who had supported them for 8 years while Clinton was in.
However even worse than Nixon or Johnson they paraded their cause as a moral crusade against evil. But as Jesus said evil does not cancel out evil. They forgot the lesson of Vietnam that a guerilla war is not winnable and plunged full scale ahead. Now for every bad guy we kill we kill 3 or 4 civilians and 3 or 4 more terrorists are created. It's like the Sorcers Apprentice.
Since the media is for profit in this country and is wanting to further consolidate, they are pretty much sucking up to the republicans.
However just like the old Soviet Union the internet and digital technology is undermining them. A soldier can call home on a cell phone, or send torture photos on the internet in an instant. Anybody who wants the uncensored text of Bin Ladens speech can get it on
www.aljazeera.net. Kerry knew the war was bull when he started out, but couldn't come out against it cause the public wasn't there yet. Then he could but it may have been too late.
In the Bible there's a place where Jesus says that everything that is secret will be shouted on the housetops. Could he have predicted digital technology and the internet??
I sincerely hope that something good comes from Iraq. For the sake of the tens of thousands of innocents killed and for our soldiers who have been killed, but I think it is unwinnable.
