For anyone who can use it…
JULY 2 – ANOTHER NATIONAL ANNIVERSARY
“BRING ‘EM ONâ€
By Stan Goff
On July 2, 2003, George W. Bush, caught up in his own bluster, uttered the words, “Bring ‘em on,†in response to a reporter’s question about the dismaying frequency of a supposedly vanquished foe in Iraq.
On that day, only 65 American troops had been killed since May, when George W. Bush was flown onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln to deliver a victory speech, backgrounded by a huge sign that stated, “Mission Accomplished.â€
A lot has happened since them.
Most significantly, no mission has been accomplished, and the Iraqi resistance apparently accepted his challenge to “Bring ‘em on.â€
Over 1,748 American corpses who used to be fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, grandsons and grand-daughters, nieces and nephews, friends and neighbors, have been flown out of Iraq. Most estimates are that more than 15,000 Americans have been wounded, many severely. And the human cost for Iraqis themselves – death, grief, and pain – is currently incalculable but certainly measured in the hundreds of thousands.
It’s easy to talk trash from the White House, where its chief resident has attended one funeral while in office – that of the Pope. No dead soldier’s family has had him cross its threshold.
No one seems inclined to get publicly personal about the President these days. This is a mean, punitive administration, as even its former employees can attest, like Valerie Plame and Paul O’Neill. Many people are intimidated by Bush’s vile-tempered coterie, for which John Bolton has almost become a proud icon – though they refer to this kind of viciousness as “strength.†Nasty, catty bureaucrats, who kiss-up and kick-down.
Among the exceptions who have not been intimidated by Bush & Co. seem to be veterans themselves and the families of the military. We don’t intimidate easily and we do take things very personally. Bush and his cabinet are offensive people, even at a personal level.
We are offended by the schoolyard challenge of “Bring ‘em on,†and we grow more offended with each passing day. During his publicity stunt at Fort Bragg earlier this week, some of us gathered to call out the names of the dead, and while he said – again from the comfort and security of his presidential office and his privileged private-school upbringing – “We have to stay the course,†a different “we†gave 1,744 names to “the course,†and wondered aloud why anyone would want to stay on it.
A former military police Sergeant who served in Iraq, Kelly Dougherty, was asked what she thought about staying the course, and she said, “Staying the course when you are driving home is a fine idea. Staying the course when you are on a runaway train seems like a very bad idea.†She is now a member of a growing organization called Iraq Veterans Against the War.
The Downing Street memos are just the latest in a trail of evidence (for those who didn’t already know) showing that this administration was bent on the conquest of Iraq – not to destroy weapons or liberate anyone, but to plant permanent bases there – while Bush was still telling the public he’d made no such decision. But the other evidence is that they were planning it even before they came into office, and that September 11 was just the “Pearl Harbor†they needed to put their plans on fast track.
The notion that a group this cynical can be compelled to transform the occupation of Iraq into anything except what it is – a mission of bald conquest and a catalyst for social disorder and civil war – is the expectation that a pig will lose its appetite for table scraps. Most Iraqis, responding to independent polls, have said that the occupation is the biggest cause of the violence that wracks Iraq, and that they want to see the occupation ended immediately
Many veterans and military families now agree. On the anniversary of that offensive remark, “Bring ‘em on,†we say again – and say it clearly – Bring Them Home Now!
-30-
Stan Goff is retired from the U.S. Army, where he served with various Special Operations units, and worked in eight conflict areas, beginning with Vietnam. He is the author of Hideous Dream – A Soldier’s Memoir of the US Invasion of Haiti (Soft Skull Press, 2000), Full Spectrum Disorder – The Military in the New American Century (Soft Skull Press, 2004), and Sex & War (to be released February 2006, Soft Skull Press). He is a member of Veterans for Peace and Military Families Speak Out, and a consultant with Iraq Veterans Against the War (www.ivaw.net). He is on the coordinating committee of the Bring Them Home Now! Campaign, www.bringthemhomenow.org.
[permission to reprint widely granted]
James Starowicz:
Thank You Stan, you say it for All of Us!!!!!
1 July 2005, 6:31 pmIt’s On It’s Way To Many!!!!
[By the way, visit the VFP site, the Petition Page is Working, sign on and Pass It Out-Jim]
USN ‘67-’71 GMG3 Vietnam In-Contry ‘70-’71
Thomas F Barton:
Just right.
T
1 July 2005, 8:48 pmJanine Willis:
So is the idea that they were complicit in 9-11 just tin-foil-hat stuff?
2 July 2005, 6:58 amStan:
By “they” you mean the Bush administration? My own thoughts on this are detailed in “The War for Saudi Arabia”, http://feralscholar.org/blog/index.php?p=59
In a word, sort of. They did not plan or execute it; I think that much is clear, and I’ve reviewed strongly built circumstantial cases to the contrary. They are not “tin hats,” but people who harbor a profound distrust of the administration (duh). But this is not the kind of conspiracy that would be containable. I do, however, believe that there was some general foreknowledge that soemthing was about to happen - even though there may not have been any idea of the scope.
2 July 2005, 7:19 amJuan:
Stan , what is your take on this guy,,,?http://www.arcticbeacon.com/articles/article/1518131/28031.htm and other stories of explosives being the reason for the quick fall…
2 July 2005, 12:54 pmStan:
Link doesn’t work for me, but if it’s the pre-set explosives dropped the WTC notion, I consider it ludicrous. It takes crews of dozens and dozens of people, working openly and for long periods of time, with a blue million miles of spaghetti-like Nonel (a quick-fuse plastic tube with explosive powder that links solid explosive charges) or some variation thereof, to build those “building-drop” charges, connecting ring-main charges on each floor, with line-main split-second delays between floors, etc etc. (My explosives knowledge is admittedly a bit dated, but it is a very labor-intensive and time-consuming process that cannot be done on the sly in a building that is occupied 24-7.)
The very idea that someone could do this secretly in the WTC is pure lunacy.
In my opinion.
2 July 2005, 2:51 pmRoxie:
Stan, I’m so glad you are discussing the theories on 9-11. And once again, I totally agree with what you say. I have friends that are convinced this administration was in on it. The one thing they say that continues to confound me is about flight 77 hitting the Pentagon and that there are no photos anywhere showing the plane. What happened to the 757? Can anyone find a photo?
2 July 2005, 9:41 pmJames Starowicz:
Stan, I posted up the writing and with current events in Afganistan responses of it have asked if you will be posting up anything as to the Loss of the Special Opps personal there?
3 July 2005, 8:54 amWord coming out, not reliable completely, is that other coalition military are stating it was a Failed Opperation from the Beginning, poorly planned and executed. There’s an Article in the Army Times about the Incident!!
Billy Kelly:
Eleven September!
When in trouble, it can still be pulled out in an attempt to inspire ‘the base’ and ignite all the fears of Americans (Anglos). The US reaction to that date has certainly inspired other ‘bases’ and ignited all the very real fears of humanity. (Chileans might have a different take when that ‘date’ is brought up.)
Some musings written in a letter a few months after the fact that, sadly, seemed to have come to pass. I bemoan the practice of using all the ironic quotation marks, then and now, but I often find that once common words must be re-defined depending on one’s audience. George Orwell would be delighted.
Onze de Novembro 2001
O Dia Dos Veteranos
Salvador da Bahia, Brasil
Bom Dia Meus Amigos,
I must begin this note with a simple apology for ‘disappearing’ myself. Once again.
But I am happy that I was not ‘86-ed’ from many of your E-mail list’s for I have had the good fortune to receive many notes, circulating ‘E’s and attempted explanations of the 11 September Affair. Generally these comments have gone beyond, above, below and around those proposed by the usual suspects who seemingly lurk in the ‘green-rooms’ of every television channel waiting for the new, live, ’soap-opera’ to occur.
The ‘Spectacular’ of 11 September! I choose that word with care. I do not mean to make light of the individual losses and pain felt by the families and friends involved. Any unnatural death is to be regretted and mourned.
It may seem strange, unpatriotic(?), for an American to admit this, but I have had similar feelings for the millions of Cambodians, Viets, Hutus and Tutsis, Yugoslavians, Central Americans, Chileans, ad infinitum who have perished in their own less dramatic form of terror.
But for Americans this was the first taste of ‘Terror’ on such a grand and audacious scale. In our own backyard, no less. And one must admit that whoever the SOB was who pulled this one off deserves a begrudging tip of the hat. The good old USA was made to look like a neophyte at the game we invented. That is the manipulation of the world media by the greatest PR and marketing machine extant and belonging to the ‘only remaining superpower’.
I was in the US, and New York City, at the time of the event and immediately was obsessed with discovering all I could. I will accept Acts of God as being unexplainable. However, any other event I know has its causes and effects. Eleven September was going to prove an interminable maze of those very real causes and effects. I had managed to keep somewhat abreast of the affairs of the region in question through prior reading (mostly those wonderful travelogues by eccentric Brits who actually live in the place they write about. And learn the language!) and some travel.
However, after 11 September, one needs to maintain an independent and coldly analytical mind to keep all the players and their roles in proper perspective. Was it Casey Stengel who said, “you can’t tell the ball-players without a scorecard.”? And now we have all those mid-season ‘trades’ to ponder. It’s akin to solving a crossword puzzle in many more than the accustomed two dimensions.
But the ‘machine’ quickly recovered, Righted itself and assumed its Rightful dominance with only that pipsqueak A-rab TV station, Al Jazeera, being a slight annoyance.
I can clearly envision old man Cheney hunkering in his bunker on that fateful (could it be termed as seeming to be “eerily preordained”?) morning. Teleconferencing with all and sundry, insuring that the lines and stories would be straight. I would bet he couldn’t suppress a smirk/smile. Hubris?
And somewhere near by, I’m sure Doc Kissinger was ready to pitch in. This might even be an opportunity to take some of the weight off his own ‘terrorist’ shoulders.
I wouldn’t be so crass as to allege the ’spectacular’ was planned or even expected in such a grandiose form but everyone in the know must have been ready for some such thing to happen. And I am sure all was in place, itching to be rolled out. Time to unleash the dogs. Could this be the Tonkin Gulf Affair of the new millennium?
It seemed too good to be true. The only hitch one could envision was the village idiot, Junior! But even he could be forced to memorize a few lines and read the tele-prompters. Just don’t improvise! He might even prove to be the perfect ‘beard’. No one would expect anything devious or diabolical to spring from that simple mind. Pardon the mention of a beard. Figuratively speaking am I. I certainly don’t want to get involved in that “is he or isn’t he” a Muslim imbroglio.
As an aside, early on in the game, he did improvise a tad at some innocuous luncheon for businessmen. All he had to do was introduce that legendary darling of café society, the inimitable Liza Minnelli, who was ready to belt out “New York, New York” and looked like she had downed a few belts herself.
“Now to honor our great stricken city, may I present the wonderful ‘entertaineress’”. Sometimes he’s kind of cute. And, speaking of cute, thank God we have had Tony Blair around. Those Brits, with their quaint accent, can sell you anything and make it sound good.
So now we had a ‘War’ and the beauty of this war was that it was going to be against nobody and yet could be used against everybody. Seinfeld had the right twist. A show about ‘nothing’. Timing was everything. Junior’s first congressional honeymoon passed with clean sheets. Thus his virginity was still intact. This time we ‘damn well sure’ would be able to wave some bloody bed-linen. Speed was of the essence.
The great American boob-geoisie was/is in a frantic state and would buy into anything. But that wouldn’t last forever. Whenever their attention might seem to flag, show those videos of the mighty buildings crumbling, or wave some flags ( a neat sign from a street vendor selling ‘Old Glory’, “These colors don’t run!”), or break out all those patriotic songs and blast them everywhere at any opportunity. Even the fabled seventh-inning stretch could be used for a burst of patriotic fervor. No more ‘Take me out to the ballgame’.
The media savvy boys had it down pat. We’ve had many rehearsals. OJ, the impeachment, Diana, the Gulf War. Now the TV screen was abuzz with information. Keep the data flowing and don’t let them think.
The running ticker-tape on the bottom with the latest happenings, above that the daily sub-title “America in Shock” etc., still further up the screen, the main title of this tele-novela “The War Against Terror”. In the remaining inches left on the screen would appear the channel’s logo, the name and cause for renown of the talking-head and at the very top, if appropriate, a box declaring the Live-liness of the transmission.
This new style has reached such absurd lengths that (I swear this is true), while watching a noteworthy ‘English’ speaker deliver a speech, a synopsis of that very speech was being ‘translated’ for me, in real time, at the bottom of the screen.
Now that the military industrial….. and information complex is so intertwined, many of those old Colonels & Generals are finding gainful employment pontificating and showing off their expertise. They all seem to be introduced by Geraldo and the boys as ‘the highly decorated veteran’ of some war or another. I have heard one of ‘our’ terrorists, the Drug Czar, Highway of Death, General Barry Mac himself, introduced as the nation’s most highly decorated hero on a number of occasions. I hope this trend is short-lived. It makes me nauseous.
And nervous!
The appropriate sound bites have been hammered home. “Us against them”, “For us or a’gin us”, “Good versus Evil” (stealing a page from the late great ‘Great Satan’ fighter, Khomeini), “There can be no neutrality”, “Prepare for a long war with no boundaries, against an unseen, unknown enemy”, and on and on.
Every goon, gangster and tin-pot dictator worth his salt knew where the cash was located and anyone with half a brain was going to get a piece of Momma America’s apple pie. Everyone had heard of the trillions, quadzillions in the lock-boxes. All those ex-KGB goons in the -stan republics who had turned into mafiosi dictators, turned on a dime, once again, into our loyal coalition partners against Terror.
The feared Arab and/or Muslim street has proven oddly quiescent. Could it be that that dangerous demographic of unemployed boys really only cares for a chance to find some work so they can buy some Nike’s or a Big Mac? Screw the mullahs and ayatollahs! Bring on the ‘broads’!
Who knows? Is this the prelude to Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations or might it be the clash of the one Worthy Civilization (us) versus the Barbarians (them). The American street?
“Bomb them” (The new panacea for whatever ails you).
“Bomb who?”
“The ’sand-niggers’, the ‘towel-heads’. It doesn’t matter who we bomb. Bomb anyone!”
In defense of my American brethren, I think we all needed to see some footage of those smart, usually, bombs doing their tricks in mid-air. And that old stand-by of a Tomahawk cruise missile blasting off the deck of some mighty warship.
A surprise to me was the strange absence of our real street, ‘our’ Blacks and Latinos. What happened to that Third World solidarity? Given some reflection it must feel good to be accepted and embraced. Could this be for real? Finally feeling as if they were truly one of us. Someone else had taken their place on the bottom rung of the ladder.
And so it goes. ‘Our’ government with its new Draconian policies rapidly being put in place seems to be receiving the approval of the American populace in percentages that would satisfy Chairman Mao himself. That mighty opponent of recent vintage, the Taliban, not so long ago was actually talking with us and receiving some cash to stop the drug crop. Speaking of Draconian, they were planning to have all infidels wear a yellow patch on their robes. Has our General Attorney heard of this neat trick? We are living in strange times. Almost anything goes.
And Osama? Where is he? Has anyone actually seen that bastard since 11 September? I wouldn’t be surprised if he had followed one of the maxims of his own terrorist manual. Late summer, clean shaven, decked out in the a la mode finery of Hollywood, he lands at LAX aboard a private Lear jet owned by one of those cowering Saudi shake-lets. Remember, you have to play ball with this guy or he’ll bring down a fundamentalist rain/reign of terror on your own head. Right this very minute he might be schmoozing with some LA biggies working on his screenplay.
After a month of much confusion and some hilarity,– Yes, I can still laugh–, I packed up and headed for the sunny shores of Brasil whence I am now writing this note to you. In Brasil, although there usually is a wire service report as to the happenings in the war, the true priority remains with the fate of the futebol teams and catching some sun at the beach.
The Bushmen are ascendant. That’s apparent. But the tables will turn and fair play may once again see the light of day.
When this first began, I thought, naively, that some good would come to pass. I even imagined the great coalition and its War on Terror might be targeted to alleviate that terrible terror experienced daily by the billion or so who spend every waking hour of their miserable lives trying to find something to momentarily assuage the screaming hunger in their bellies. Dream on!
Can “Onward Christian Soldiers” be straining to be heard?
Patriotism…..the last refuge of scoundrels.
Stay strong, keep the faith, ask a question now and then and, please, continue to smile. This too shall pass! Remember that All men are created equal, with certain inalienable rights, etc. I think that’s what it says.
Beijos e Abracos,
3 July 2005, 9:24 amBilly Kelly “O Velho Duro”
Stan:
Go raibh mile maith agat, Billy.
My friend.
3 July 2005, 10:17 amjames pratt:
Thank you for sticking up for reality, Stan. There are two politically motivated fantasies that have come out of the 9/11 atrocity and the opportunistic aggression Bush and Blair wage in Iraq.
3 July 2005, 3:31 pmOne is that only evil in the world is Bush,and he did 9/11 himself. The proponents of this theory never mention the thousands of gallons of jet fuel turning 20 or more stories of WTC girders, plumbing and framework into a massive undistributed weight on the structures.
The second is the accusation that Iran is killing their Shi’a brothers off just to spite the US. (Now Rumsfeld says Iran is just a bad influence). The perpetrators of this garbage should be exiled to the Dry Tortugas where they can spend the rest of their lives lying to each other.