Saturday, April 03, 2004

The Globalization of Slaughtering

By Abu Spinoza

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Posted 04/03 | Add a Comment

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  1. Thanks, Abu.  Anglo-American troops, of course, have never been respectful of others, and, now, they want to operate with immunity from prosecution (for genocide, etc.) and without having to honor the most basic fundamentals/laws concerning ecocide.  A major way to take a step in the direction that you advise is to vote for Nader this fa l.  I will not support any effort by anyone to “hand over” Iraqis to the UN, but I do think that a vote for Ralph will, arguably, go longer than any other given action that is viable among the very soft-belly left; that is, any action that is legal.  I may have read your piece too quickly, but I believe that when you ask why there have been no editorials regarding the killing of Iraqis...you limit your comments to actions of the past.  Forgive me, if I am wrong on this point.  However, if I am on target...I would like to underscore that readers should decide what it means that editorials are not forthcoming about the current daily atrocities committed against Iraqis...as per the penetrating pieces put out by Pilger and Fisk, both risking their lives to get the stories to us.  Go with Nader, please, but legal/schmegal...one way or another...we must end the abominations.  I wouldn’t hold my breath, though, for a huge crowd of leftists to appear; I’d act now with what I’ve got and build “that kind of thing” simultaneously with your singular capabilities.  Best, The Ox

    Posted by Richard Oxman from  on  04/03  at  08:17 PM

  2. Jennifer is woefully misinformed.  Jennifer: If you want to “update” yourself on the subjects you touch upon...dare to read the most recent accounts by Fisk and Pilger on http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm for starters. And to clear the air --and to stick to the point-- for yourself and everyone, do try to stay away from dragging in references to communists from Southeast Asia or elsewhere. In closing, I’d just like to say that “mercenary” IS a bad, dirty word...much badder and much dirtier than anything George Carlin got called on the carpet for years ago.  Good luck in your research, The Ox

    Posted by Richard Oxman from  on  04/03  at  08:23 PM

  3. And I disagree. I believe you are wrong. I have friends and family serving in Iraq, some are Contractors. You people use the word “mercenary” as if it’s a dirty, bad word. Those four men were indeed Americans and civilians. All four were retired from the U.S. Armed Forces. As for Iraqi Prisoners of War, they’ve received FAR BETTER treatment than our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Civilians received at the hands of the communists in Southeast Asia.

    What was done to those four men was wrong, regardless of what their nationality was, regardless of the color of their skin or their religious preference. It was wrong and nothing you can say will ever justify that horrid atrocity. American forces serving in Iraq never did anything like that to the Iraqi people.

    Jennifer Martinez sends

    Posted by Jennifer Martinez from  on  04/03  at  08:30 PM

  4. Richard you throw around the term genocide way way too loosely I’m afriad. Bad as it is, what we’re are doing in Iraq is not genocide. Is it an utterly grotesque, heavy handed, illegal military action bent on installing a corrupt capitilist regime in the middle east under the guise promotitng democracy? Yet bet. A Systematic and planned extermination it is not. That is not to say that there are not serious atrocities occuring are some very serious racist undercurrents at in play…

    “Anglo-American troops, of course, have never been respectful of others”

    This is another blanket generalization that is just really ludicrous. Sure the Army has it share or thugs, racists, and people that just like guns and/or killing. But take the fresh faced Johnny from some Iowa farm who actually does buy into the insane belief that we are ‘liberating’ the people of iraq - or some poor sap from the DC slums who joined the army to feed his/her family or perhaps earn money for college. To throw it out there that all the Anglo-American troops are ‘desrecpectful’ or maniacal baby killers is way way too simple. Are they ultimately complicit in an illegal war. Yes. But are they not also stooges and therby victims?

    The failure to see this most basic of points is to vastly underestimate the power or the capitalist/industrial/military complex and its ability to distort and confuse things, making it harder and harder to adequately answer the most important of questions: what do my actions, my labor, actually produce?

    Posted by BruceA from  on  04/04  at  08:13 PM

  5. First of all, both Hans von Sponeck and Denis Halliday, former “2ND in Command” higher ups at the UN, who worked, I believe, for that institution for about three decades each...quit their posts EXACTLY BECAUSE OF THE GENOCIDE IN IRAQ.  That’s how they characterized our crimes there, not just the sanctions, but the incessant aimed-at-civilians bombing that went on for over a decade.  This is NOT a term I am using cavalierly or “loosely.” Secondly, “no one kills like an Iowa farm boy” (as per Ward Churchill)...and as per the principle set out at Nuremberg...that killer is responsible for the abominations he commits...whether he’s hard up economically...is shooting for college credits...or whatever.  Ditto for anyone in the armed services who follows orders that are in violation of international law, etc.  All the farm boys and girls whether they’re in the military or not, all the citizens of the U.S. are responsible --not just our “leaders"-- for the ongoing genocide that’s being committed in Iraq and elsewhere.  Saying this is not to underestimate the power of elements in this society that confuse, coerce, etc.  Rather, it’s to move a step closer to dealing with the problem...in refusing to let “the problem” remain at the level of “They’re doing it” and “So and so has no choice” and “They don’t know any better.” We all have a choice.  Some military people are refusing to do this and that. Not all are killing or supporting the killing.  Not all are committing suicide, but sadly...many are.  We have a responsibility to make it easier for others to not join up, to not stay in...to encourage others to dismantle the armed services as they presently stand.  They’re doing no one any good, and they’re making things much worse, in fact.  Best, Richard

    Posted by Richard Oxman from  on  04/04  at  11:02 PM
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