Fools Parade: Following the Neocon Dream

THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES: DISSEMINATE FREELY.

By Jack Random


The nation is lost in a world of illusions, dreams and fantasies that have no founding on the solid ground of earth.

The war drags on at a debilitating cost in wasted money and blood yet there is a growing consensus that our future in Iraq will depend largely on our progress “on the ground.”

With empathy for all those who are so easily guided by mainstream chords, it is the wrong premise and can only lead to the wrong policies.

Morality cannot be mediated by “success.”

What can we say about a nation so egomaniacal, so blinded by its ambition, that it refuses to acknowledge the immoral nature of our actions? Would fascism have been fashionable if the Axis had prevailed? Would the genocidal destruction of Vietnam be considered virtuous if we had killed everything that walked or crawled to make the world safe from the communist threat? Were the bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden acts of moral impunity because the winning side committed them?

In Iraq, we have committed a series of war crimes, beginning with the cardinal crime of aggressive war. We are directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of lives lost and indirectly for millions. Our motives were clear from the first glimmer in the eyes of our oil industry president: greed, ego and lust for power.

In the name of democracy, under the banners of peace, justice and security, we have committed crimes against humanity that the world will not forget as long as civilization survives.

We have established a client state under martial law, compelled the population to elect a puppet government, exploited religious and cultural divisions, drafted a constitution that privatizes state functions and exploits Iraqi oil, and threatened to leave them to their own demise if they do not honor our dictates.

If the Iraqis believed us, if they felt they could trust us even for a moment, if any notion of cooperation or beneficent intent survived Abu Ghraib, Haditha and Fallujah, they would tell us to leave in a New York minute. They would tell us forthrightly we were never welcome in their land. They would inform us that we have destroyed their nation, killed their women and children, and every second we remain on their soil is another second of Iraqi shame.

They would tell us they do not believe anything we say. They do not believe we have any intention of leaving as long as there is oil beneath their sands. They see the monolithic fortresses we have built all along the oil pipelines and they believe what they see.

They believe the pain and sorrow buried in their hearts will not abate until the occupiers are evicted from their land. They believe their dead can never rest until the invaders are gone. They believe we will kill anyone who does not cooperate in operation Steal the Oil. They believe what they see.

They watch American media and they see a parade of fools signing on to the Neocon dream. Not one viable candidate for the presidency can envision a future without the spoils of the Iraqi occupation. They took Colin Powell’s Pottery Barn warning literally: You break it, you own it.

They watch the occupation’s new commander and learn that there is progress “on the ground.”

Where are these signs of progress? The month of September was one of the bloodiest on record. Assassination of Iraqi leaders is becoming a common occurrence. Neighborhoods in Baghdad are being walled off and ethnically cleansed. Turkey is invading from the north. American leaders are threatening to broaden the war zone to Iran and Syria. Syria is blocking its borders to Iraqi refugees.

Progress is relative concept. The Bush administration is making progress convincing the party of opposition that the occupation must go on indefinitely.

Progress is nullifying the 2006 election and its mandate to end the war. The president asks for another $50 billion and the fools in congress, apparently intimidated by the most ineffectual president in history, demur and accede.

Presidential candidates Obama, Clinton and Edwards step to the microphone and decline to promise complete withdrawal by the end of their first term.

There is no cry of protest from the general populace as war stories fade from the front pages of local newspapers. The dead are mostly Iraqi and the media are mostly indifferent.

The building of the most heavily fortified embassy in the history of the world goes on even as the rebuilding of the levees in New Orleans is neglected.

We are all Neocons now for we have joined the parade of fools marching as to war.

Jazz.

JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE BEEN POSTED ON COUNTLESS CITES ON THE WORLDWIDE WEB, INCLUDING THE ALBION MONITOR, PACIFIC FREE PRESS, BUZZLE, COUNTERPUNCH AND DISSIDENT VOICE.