Comparing Wars
I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this yesterday from the President as he seems to justify his wars (or rather tarnishes the memories of any justifiable wars)through unbelievable analogies. I understand, he's not much into history or reading newspapers, or general intellectual things. So I guess when I read that the Revolutionary war was supposed reflect our current crisis in Iraq (and around the world), I am not completely surprised. But in fairness, let's hear the what the president has to say:
Wow! I never guessed when we were the "terrorists" fighting a Great Power (Britain) that we would still be the underdogs when we are the Great power fighting a ragtag bunch of Sunnis, Shiites and what have you.
What he is really saying from the very beginning, the American Imperial ideology of "universal" values has never changed... though you can always question whether those patriots who fought for an independent state against the large imperial power of Britain would have it wise to repeat the same mistakes as their adversaries from the Revolutionary War.
Here's a better analogy that somehow the President never uses.
A war based on inconclusive evidence of a nation's involvement in the destruction of an American vessel, and aided by journalists and big media magnates concerned for the well-being of a land's in habitants decide to go to war without to liberate them from their terrible oppresors, which in turn leads to an extensive occupation to fight "insurgents" with a force of around 125,000 troops, resulting the deaths around 4,000 American troops and between 250k and a million natives. That was called the Spanish-American War to liberate the Cubans and the subsequent American-Filipino war . A war purely based on manipulation, lies, greed and imperialism. It was also started President William McKinley, the same fuckin' Republican, Karl Rove wished to immulate with President Bush's administration.
As Mark Twain said in opposition to the mess in the Philipines (though one can argue the stakes were not as high for us internationally):
"We were to relieve them from Spanish tyranny to enable them to set up a government of their own, and we were to stand by and see that it got a fair trial. It was not to be a government according to our ideas, but a government that represented the feeling of the majority of the Filipinos, a government according to Filipino ideas. That would have been a worthy mission for the United States. But now – why, we have got into a mess, a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater. I'm sure I wish I could see what we were getting out of it, and all it means to us as a nation."
"Today, we're fighting a new war to defend our liberty and our people and our way of life," said Bush, standing in front of Washington's home and above a mostly frozen Potomac River.
"And as we work to advance the cause of freedom around the world, we remember that the father of our country believed that the freedoms we secured in our revolution were not meant for Americans alone."
Wow! I never guessed when we were the "terrorists" fighting a Great Power (Britain) that we would still be the underdogs when we are the Great power fighting a ragtag bunch of Sunnis, Shiites and what have you.
What he is really saying from the very beginning, the American Imperial ideology of "universal" values has never changed... though you can always question whether those patriots who fought for an independent state against the large imperial power of Britain would have it wise to repeat the same mistakes as their adversaries from the Revolutionary War.
Here's a better analogy that somehow the President never uses.
A war based on inconclusive evidence of a nation's involvement in the destruction of an American vessel, and aided by journalists and big media magnates concerned for the well-being of a land's in habitants decide to go to war without to liberate them from their terrible oppresors, which in turn leads to an extensive occupation to fight "insurgents" with a force of around 125,000 troops, resulting the deaths around 4,000 American troops and between 250k and a million natives. That was called the Spanish-American War to liberate the Cubans and the subsequent American-Filipino war . A war purely based on manipulation, lies, greed and imperialism. It was also started President William McKinley, the same fuckin' Republican, Karl Rove wished to immulate with President Bush's administration.
As Mark Twain said in opposition to the mess in the Philipines (though one can argue the stakes were not as high for us internationally):
"We were to relieve them from Spanish tyranny to enable them to set up a government of their own, and we were to stand by and see that it got a fair trial. It was not to be a government according to our ideas, but a government that represented the feeling of the majority of the Filipinos, a government according to Filipino ideas. That would have been a worthy mission for the United States. But now – why, we have got into a mess, a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater. I'm sure I wish I could see what we were getting out of it, and all it means to us as a nation."
posted by Amos at 3:20 PM
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