The War? What War?
Oh, you mean that argument they’re having in Congress right now. Fund, don’t fund, whatever. Or the Hillary thing, something about what she voted for five years ago and how the hell are we supposed to care if she can’t remember?
Oh, you mean that argument they’re having in Congress right now. Fund, don’t fund, whatever. Or the Hillary thing, something about what she voted for five years ago and how the hell are we supposed to care if she can’t remember?
But I get you now. It’s something to do with Michael Reese Hospital, or was it Walter Reed? it’s all so confusing and such a muddle. How many?
The Pentagon said 23,000 wounded, but I dunno, I saw Bob Woodward on TV just the other night and he said 200,000. Or was it Woodruff? One of them wrote a book and the other got blown up.
Are we talking about the same war or is this the Darfur thing? Where is Darfur anyway?
But anyway, Woodward or Woodruff was talking to that guy Bush put in charge of the Veteran’s, with the funny ‘30s mustache. The guy with the mustache said, yeah, it was 200,000, but he looked real uncomfortable saying it, like he wasn’t supposed to.
You oughta see that Woodruff or Woodward or whatever series—man, I mean I guess we got some guys coming back from Iraq in serious shape. Who knew?
The thing I saw was on ABC. Maybe you can still catch it on their web site, way down at the bottom, but it’s kinda hard to find. First you gotta wade through Are Gay Fraternities Necessary?; then, there's something called Tarantino and Rodriguez: Who's the Man?; I guess Park the Jet Here: Colossal Celeb Homes is a big draw; and Britney's Teeth, Lindsay's Boy-Toy, but stay with me, I’m sure it’s there somewhere.
It's hard to find anything about this hidden war. Probably because it's so hidden.
I couldn't find the Woodruff piece in MONEY & BUSINESS, not in HEALTH, ditto TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE or BLOGS and OPINION, nary a word in SCIENCE (I guess that’s different from Technology & Science). I’m down now to POLITICS, ESPN SPORTS and BELIEVE IT OR NOT: MEDICAL MYSTERIES.
There it is, you just gotta look hard. BOB WOODRUFF: HIS INCREDIBLE RECOVERY. Hey, how cool is this? They listed it above Woman Wants Her Seeing-Eye Pony, well ahead of Road Appetit: Man Makes Dead Animals into Meals and way out in front of that perennial favorite,Tokyo In Bloom.
It’s a linked-together six or seven part series that takes an hour or so to watch and it’s an hour you owe this war, hidden as it has been. Take my word, it's powerful. Not bloody, powerful.
There is no war on ABC. Their take on ‘International’ in today's edition is as follows:
Israeli President Faces Second Rape Charge
John Paul II Moves Closer to Sainthood
Drug Kingpin's Beheading Allegedly Shown on YouTube
Russian Tycoon Implicated in Spy Poisoning
New Zealand Group Wants to Bounce Easter Bunny
More of the Latest International News, Click Here
So, if it comes as somewhat of a surprise (maybe even a small shock) that we have 200,000 kids coming back from Iraq with serious injuries, thank the Bush administration. They made it against the law to tell you anything about this war.
Everything has been devolved to a ‘national security’ issue, so that we cannot be told the actual numbers of wounded are ten times the claim, because of national security. For our own good and protection (trust George and Dick on this issue) we cannot
See the dead arrive back on U.S. soil
Watch any actual combat area video on our nightly TV news
Be told why (after $350 billion spent) we lack armor in a war zone
Be trusted to hear that the ‘150,000’ troops dispatched to Iraq, in total, over four years make up a number ten times that size, nearly all of them reservists
Hear the true story of why the military medical services have been so badly under-organized, a full four years after the wounded began coming home
Be trusted with the numbers that show the world’s largest (by tenfold) military budget is broke, even with the addition of hundreds of billions of dollars
Get any straight talk about how and why billions have been thrown at armaments that are not there, reconstructions unreconstructed and contracts paid-for but not even partially completed
Be made aware that 14 permanent U.S. bases are being built in Iraq, plus the world’s largest and most expensive embassy, in a country from which we are about to withdraw (this year, next year, five years from now)
Force any kind of accountability on any issue
Be made to understand why General Dwight Eisenhower was capable of commanding the 2nd World War throughout its entirety and in Iraq, Bush has found it necessary to constantly fire and retire a string of four-star commanders
None of these things are possible to tell us on the nightly news, because they might impact the national security. That said, the actual national security, the one our neighbors are giving their arms and legs for, is being torn page by page from the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Pages ripped from our heritage, in the darkest corner of Dick Cheney’s office, because knowing how totally fucked we have become might give aid and comfort to our enemies.
And we allow it. We acquiesce. We nod off, after voting for some idiot on American Idol.
The next time you find yourself watching “Mother Attempted to Sell 7-Year Old Daughter for Porn and Sex,” on ABC, you might ask yourself whatever happened to the war we are supposed to be fighting in the Middle East. You might inquire during the commercials about investigative reporting and ask the Washington Post and New York Times how they came to demolish their foreign bureaus in favor of Entertainment Tonight.
You might question what purposes are being served by the smoke and mirrors that hides the smoke and mirrors behind the smoke and mirrors.
You might just demand an answer to the inconvenient truth that is not global warming, but global hegemony. Oh brother, where art thou? We have been lied out of demanding our nation back--while it still stands in some reasonable comparison to what it bravely and proudly and everlastingly—was.
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