Post by Origanalist on Aug 12, 2014 8:59:38 GMT -8
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/12/2014
Iraq War the Third is now in its nascent stages. Last week, after a slew of confused press reports, President Obama ordered a number of airstrikes in the Northern territory of Iraq. This was called a “humanitarian intervention” to protect a cultish religious sect known as the Yazidis from warring Islamic jihadists. But as war journalist Eric Margolis points out, the strikes were more likely “aimed at bolstering US-backed Kurds against the advancing Islamic State forces.” And, of course, oil played a role in strikes as well. In times of war, truth in reporting takes a backseat to hidden agendas.
Obama assured us little people that he wouldn’t escalate conflict with boots on the ground, telling reporters, “American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq because there is no American military solution to the crisis in Iraq.” On that remark, let’s hope he’s right. What possible good could come of invading Iraq again? The last tango in the desert failed miserably. Liberal democracy did not bloom on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. It’s hard to establish Anglo-Saxon norms in an artificial country formed by Europeans technocrats a century ago.
As American-made bombs decimate the Iraqi landscape once again, neoconservatives in Washington D.C. are busy salivating at the prospect of being relevant once again. The usual suspects of chicanery – including but not limited to Elliot Abrams, John Yoo, and Frederick Kagan – are all weighing in on the decision. Suddenly, they have forgotten that, as architects of W. Bush’s Iraq crusade, they played a helping role in destabilizing the region for the fanatics of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to take over.
It’s amazing the level of cognitive dissonance displayed by the media while reporting on this latest dustup. The men and women who agitate for non-stop war will continue to use their voice to push for more action. Rarely is a mic afforded to anyone longing for peace.
How long the latest rash of missile strikes will go on is anyone’s guess, outside the president himself. Obama assures us he “will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq,” but let’s not be fooled: airstrikes are an act of war, and U.S. troops never really left Iraq to begin with – they merely switched names. This is a continuation of nation-building and endless war. And we’ll have the pleasure of playing spectators from the comfort of our couch, watching the evening news.
The prospect of renewed war has little effect on the public anymore. We have been desensitized to the violence because it seemingly never stops. Material capitalism has created a state of luxury never known to mankind before our current day; yet it renders our sympathy for the plight of others flaccid. We watch movies and play video games and pretend to know what war is like. But in reality, we can’t begin to understand how it feels to live under the threat of bombs and shrapnel every day.
As Americans, and Westerners, we are gifted with the option to not partake directly in war, but play the casual observer. It’s a privilege; and not at all like the class privilege egalitarians are constantly harping about. To see explosions go off in foreign lands, destroying homes, mutilating children, killing family members, is a jarring sight. But as long as it’s a pixelated image on a computer screen, it fails to have the same heart-wrenching effect as if it were occurring just a few feet away. It fails to invoke the emotional intensity that is the most potent weapon in battle. It fails to show the emotional impetus that is behind vindictive combat.
How lucky we are to be far removed from the cries of a mother whose child was collateral damage in an air strike. How lucky we are to not have our brothers and sisters disintegrated before our eyes. How lucky we are to not have our parents taken from us by stray bullets. How lucky are we not to have a generation of orphans, angry over the death of their mothers and fathers and wishing to exact revenge.
continued at...www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-12/privilege-watching-war
Iraq War the Third is now in its nascent stages. Last week, after a slew of confused press reports, President Obama ordered a number of airstrikes in the Northern territory of Iraq. This was called a “humanitarian intervention” to protect a cultish religious sect known as the Yazidis from warring Islamic jihadists. But as war journalist Eric Margolis points out, the strikes were more likely “aimed at bolstering US-backed Kurds against the advancing Islamic State forces.” And, of course, oil played a role in strikes as well. In times of war, truth in reporting takes a backseat to hidden agendas.
Obama assured us little people that he wouldn’t escalate conflict with boots on the ground, telling reporters, “American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq because there is no American military solution to the crisis in Iraq.” On that remark, let’s hope he’s right. What possible good could come of invading Iraq again? The last tango in the desert failed miserably. Liberal democracy did not bloom on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. It’s hard to establish Anglo-Saxon norms in an artificial country formed by Europeans technocrats a century ago.
As American-made bombs decimate the Iraqi landscape once again, neoconservatives in Washington D.C. are busy salivating at the prospect of being relevant once again. The usual suspects of chicanery – including but not limited to Elliot Abrams, John Yoo, and Frederick Kagan – are all weighing in on the decision. Suddenly, they have forgotten that, as architects of W. Bush’s Iraq crusade, they played a helping role in destabilizing the region for the fanatics of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to take over.
It’s amazing the level of cognitive dissonance displayed by the media while reporting on this latest dustup. The men and women who agitate for non-stop war will continue to use their voice to push for more action. Rarely is a mic afforded to anyone longing for peace.
How long the latest rash of missile strikes will go on is anyone’s guess, outside the president himself. Obama assures us he “will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq,” but let’s not be fooled: airstrikes are an act of war, and U.S. troops never really left Iraq to begin with – they merely switched names. This is a continuation of nation-building and endless war. And we’ll have the pleasure of playing spectators from the comfort of our couch, watching the evening news.
The prospect of renewed war has little effect on the public anymore. We have been desensitized to the violence because it seemingly never stops. Material capitalism has created a state of luxury never known to mankind before our current day; yet it renders our sympathy for the plight of others flaccid. We watch movies and play video games and pretend to know what war is like. But in reality, we can’t begin to understand how it feels to live under the threat of bombs and shrapnel every day.
As Americans, and Westerners, we are gifted with the option to not partake directly in war, but play the casual observer. It’s a privilege; and not at all like the class privilege egalitarians are constantly harping about. To see explosions go off in foreign lands, destroying homes, mutilating children, killing family members, is a jarring sight. But as long as it’s a pixelated image on a computer screen, it fails to have the same heart-wrenching effect as if it were occurring just a few feet away. It fails to invoke the emotional intensity that is the most potent weapon in battle. It fails to show the emotional impetus that is behind vindictive combat.
How lucky we are to be far removed from the cries of a mother whose child was collateral damage in an air strike. How lucky we are to not have our brothers and sisters disintegrated before our eyes. How lucky we are to not have our parents taken from us by stray bullets. How lucky are we not to have a generation of orphans, angry over the death of their mothers and fathers and wishing to exact revenge.
continued at...www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-12/privilege-watching-war