7.02.2004
Fallout: Fahrenheit 9/11 Part 1
Pre-Fahrenheit 9/11
I am going to see this movie with an open mind. I am attempting to hold my preconceived notions concerning Michael Moore at bay. There is no doubt that he has a tendency towards melodramatics, sensationalism, and hyperbole whenever it suits his purpose. Despite this, Michael Moore has managed to provide us with something we most desperately need: an alternate perspective to the ones we are getting from the corporate-sponsored news media and our own government. If his works do nothing more than get us to think for ourselves, speak out, and act according to our consciences, then they will have served a greater purpose. I have my own ideas concerning the “War on Terror,” and our invasion of Iraq. I have supported our troops for carrying out their orders to the best of their ability, but I seriously question the justifications our leadership used to order them there.
Michael Moore makes at least one good point: Change cannot be enforced at the point of a gun. A revolution must come from within, by the will of the people. If their own people are not willing to give their blood, sweat, and tears to tear down tyranny and oppression and build up their own government with their own hands, no country on earth is going to do it for them. Successful nations have been forged only when the people rise up and speak with one voice. Every time a country has tried to force revolution upon another country, it has failed miserably. What would I have done in George W. Bush's place? I would have incited the people of Iraq to organize and overthrow Saddam themselves. Then they would have real ownership in building a new democratic Iraq. What they have is the facade of "propped up” officials mouthing their words from Washington. If some of Moore's commentary is over the top, then at least on this point, he rings true.
What we doubt, and what we must carefully consider, is the conditions under which we went into Iraq. We were told by our leadership that Iraq posed a "...Imminent threat to the United States." We were given the impression that Saddam Hussein was in league with Al-Qaeda. We were told that Iraq had the means, and was actively seeking to expand upon those means, to unleash Weapons of Mass Destruction against the U.S. and its neighbors. We were told that the policy of containment and inspections was not working, and many people questioned our very membership in the UN: an organization chartered to help find diplomatic and peaceful alternatives to war. We know all too well how to destroy. We know all too well how to take lives. We have yet to learn how to stop others from destroying and taking lives without responding in kind. Our leadership "pooh-poohed" the majority of its allies and the UN and is now offended that these allies will not join in a unified front to rebuild Iraq?
The United States invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq under false pretenses. We cannot pull out now. George W. Bush and his cronies have made certain of that. Regardless of our stated intentions or justifications, we have no right to go around the world invading other countries just because we don't like them. Might does not make right. We spend trillions of dollars a year in other countries and ignore our own schoolchildren, homeless, and poor.
The greatest fallacy that has been overlooked and suppressed by the Pro-Bush folks is that there are no innocents in war. There are always civilian casualties who get caught in the crossfire. There are always senseless deaths and barbaric slaughter involved no matter how noble or moral the cause might be. At its core, war is an evil and dirty business in which people intentionally set upon killing other people they don't even know, often for reasons they cannot begin to fathom. At what cost have we invaded Iraq? How are they better than they were under Saddam? We detain, humiliate, and torture their people. Their basic services, such as electricity, water, and sewage, are sporadic at best. Their country is filled with insurgents and terrorists looking to cause further disruptions and chaos. We beat on the hornets nest, and now we're going to have to deal with getting stung.
Saddam was a two-bit thug with delusions of grandeur. The United States under Reagan supported Saddam in his war with Iran. We gave him weapons. We gave him money. We helped him build up his power base. Our government has been the willing accomplice to much of Saddam's atrocities.
Our nation's foreign policy in the latter 20th Century is rife with examples of "moral relativism," we have supported terrorists, thugs, dictators, gangsters, and drug runners on the justification that we were "...Fighting the commies." We took the position of: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," and turned a blind eye to the horrors these people committed. Osama Bin Laden received weapons, funds, and training from the CIA. The Shah of Iran brutally ruled over his people, yet when they revolted and threw him out, the United States and Great Britain aided in reinstalling him. While his people suffered the anguish of war, the King of Kuwait was living it up in a posh hotel in Saudi Arabia. We have consistently armed and funded Israel despite the fact that they have become no better than the thugs who tried to exterminate them in WWII. This is just one region of the world. I haven't mentioned our dirty dealings in Europe, Central America, South America, Africa, or Asia. The U.S. has a history of meddling in places it ought not to be for reasons that are dubious at best.
I love my country, but I am ashamed of what our leadership has done in its name. We need to take care of our own house before we go telling the rest of the world how to mind theirs.
I will of course follow this up with a Post-Fahrenheit 9/11 article.
© 2004, J.S.Brown
0 comments
I am going to see this movie with an open mind. I am attempting to hold my preconceived notions concerning Michael Moore at bay. There is no doubt that he has a tendency towards melodramatics, sensationalism, and hyperbole whenever it suits his purpose. Despite this, Michael Moore has managed to provide us with something we most desperately need: an alternate perspective to the ones we are getting from the corporate-sponsored news media and our own government. If his works do nothing more than get us to think for ourselves, speak out, and act according to our consciences, then they will have served a greater purpose. I have my own ideas concerning the “War on Terror,” and our invasion of Iraq. I have supported our troops for carrying out their orders to the best of their ability, but I seriously question the justifications our leadership used to order them there.
Michael Moore makes at least one good point: Change cannot be enforced at the point of a gun. A revolution must come from within, by the will of the people. If their own people are not willing to give their blood, sweat, and tears to tear down tyranny and oppression and build up their own government with their own hands, no country on earth is going to do it for them. Successful nations have been forged only when the people rise up and speak with one voice. Every time a country has tried to force revolution upon another country, it has failed miserably. What would I have done in George W. Bush's place? I would have incited the people of Iraq to organize and overthrow Saddam themselves. Then they would have real ownership in building a new democratic Iraq. What they have is the facade of "propped up” officials mouthing their words from Washington. If some of Moore's commentary is over the top, then at least on this point, he rings true.
What we doubt, and what we must carefully consider, is the conditions under which we went into Iraq. We were told by our leadership that Iraq posed a "...Imminent threat to the United States." We were given the impression that Saddam Hussein was in league with Al-Qaeda. We were told that Iraq had the means, and was actively seeking to expand upon those means, to unleash Weapons of Mass Destruction against the U.S. and its neighbors. We were told that the policy of containment and inspections was not working, and many people questioned our very membership in the UN: an organization chartered to help find diplomatic and peaceful alternatives to war. We know all too well how to destroy. We know all too well how to take lives. We have yet to learn how to stop others from destroying and taking lives without responding in kind. Our leadership "pooh-poohed" the majority of its allies and the UN and is now offended that these allies will not join in a unified front to rebuild Iraq?
The United States invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq under false pretenses. We cannot pull out now. George W. Bush and his cronies have made certain of that. Regardless of our stated intentions or justifications, we have no right to go around the world invading other countries just because we don't like them. Might does not make right. We spend trillions of dollars a year in other countries and ignore our own schoolchildren, homeless, and poor.
The greatest fallacy that has been overlooked and suppressed by the Pro-Bush folks is that there are no innocents in war. There are always civilian casualties who get caught in the crossfire. There are always senseless deaths and barbaric slaughter involved no matter how noble or moral the cause might be. At its core, war is an evil and dirty business in which people intentionally set upon killing other people they don't even know, often for reasons they cannot begin to fathom. At what cost have we invaded Iraq? How are they better than they were under Saddam? We detain, humiliate, and torture their people. Their basic services, such as electricity, water, and sewage, are sporadic at best. Their country is filled with insurgents and terrorists looking to cause further disruptions and chaos. We beat on the hornets nest, and now we're going to have to deal with getting stung.
Saddam was a two-bit thug with delusions of grandeur. The United States under Reagan supported Saddam in his war with Iran. We gave him weapons. We gave him money. We helped him build up his power base. Our government has been the willing accomplice to much of Saddam's atrocities.
Our nation's foreign policy in the latter 20th Century is rife with examples of "moral relativism," we have supported terrorists, thugs, dictators, gangsters, and drug runners on the justification that we were "...Fighting the commies." We took the position of: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," and turned a blind eye to the horrors these people committed. Osama Bin Laden received weapons, funds, and training from the CIA. The Shah of Iran brutally ruled over his people, yet when they revolted and threw him out, the United States and Great Britain aided in reinstalling him. While his people suffered the anguish of war, the King of Kuwait was living it up in a posh hotel in Saudi Arabia. We have consistently armed and funded Israel despite the fact that they have become no better than the thugs who tried to exterminate them in WWII. This is just one region of the world. I haven't mentioned our dirty dealings in Europe, Central America, South America, Africa, or Asia. The U.S. has a history of meddling in places it ought not to be for reasons that are dubious at best.
I love my country, but I am ashamed of what our leadership has done in its name. We need to take care of our own house before we go telling the rest of the world how to mind theirs.
I will of course follow this up with a Post-Fahrenheit 9/11 article.
TANSTAAFL!
© 2004, J.S.Brown
0 comments
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