Cassius
Was Correct
How many Amerikans, like the good Germans in
1940, cheered the carpet bombing of Iraq, and
the subsequent invasion?
By Philip Farruggio
We
from the ‘true progressive (AKA Socialist) and
true conservative (Libertarian)’ political
spectrum of thought should and do know better.
We all see through this obvious ‘super rich
controlled’ Two Party/One Party system that is
the servant of what Eisenhower labeled in his
1961 farewell address as a Military
Industrial Complex. This writer has always
referred to it as the Military Industrial
Empire, which is what we have become since
the Soviet Union’s dissolution over 25 years
ago. Our cherished home, America, has become
Amerika. The weeds transplanted from that
terrible Nazi Germany mindset have been
strangling us for over three generations. Even
those who still consider themselves good
Republicans or Democrats realize somewhere deep
inside their consciousness the folly of such an
affiliation. Yet, they continue to ‘go along to
get along’ with this empire, in a childish hope
of… heaven forgive us,
reforming it.
This
latest con job perpetrated on many of our fellow
citizens is ‘Making America Great Again’ via
Donald Trump. Who would have ever
imagined, even three or four years ago (while he
was on the air with his mindless dribble of a
reality show) that this man would now be elected
president? Well, Trump really won because the
other person selected by the super rich who run
Amerika was so full of baggage and contempt for
working stiffs. Thus, it was many working stiffs
who still believe in this Two Party scam who in
reality voted against by voting for.
Now this man who many refer to as ‘President
Cheetos’ (you know, the orange hair and tan) is
running things… well, not exactly. You see, all
of our presidents, especially in modern times,
are just servants of the super-rich who sit
behind the curtain, like ‘Wizards of Oz’.
Trump’s predecessor, Mr. Obama, that nice guy
who spoke articulately about ‘Hope and Change,’
only served the interests of this empire, giving
little hope and less in change to working
stiffs. Mr. Trump will do as he has already
done, what with his cabinet selections and plans
to aid the super rich, to further demise working
Americans. Yet, a large percentage of the very
people he and his ilk are screwing will continue
to rally behind the demagoguery.
Today,
as I write this column, is the 14th anniversary
of one of the most heinous acts our country has
ever perpetrated: The pre-emptive attack,
invasion and occupation of Iraq. How many of our
neighbors and fellow citizens drank the kool-aid
the empire was handing out via our elected
stooges and mainstream media? How many Amerikans,
like the good Germans in 1940, cheered the
carpet bombing of Iraq, and the subsequent
invasion? We know most of the mainstream media
had career moves upward for their cheerleading.
People like Lester Holt of MSNBC (the , duh,
Democratic-leaning channel?) later on became a
‘celebrated anchor’ on NBC, even hosting a 2016
presidential debate. Little Katie Couric, who
marched along the hallways of NBC shouting with
a big grin “Marines Rock”, also furthered her
career. So many of the right wing pundits were
100% in favor of invasion, many either as guests
or hosts on Fox cable, like Sean Hannity, who
said: “[A]s we pointed out, this is a noble
cause, and we’ve got to be so proud of these men
and women and what they’ve been able to
accomplish in such a short period of time so the
weapons of mass destruction that we will be
finding don’t end up in American cities. And we
applaud them all.” [Fox News, Hannity &
Colmes, 3/24/03. What about some others,
who have since been labeled as ‘centrist’
journalists? Let’s look at one guy who has had
his own news talk show going on ten years,
Morning Joe, on that ‘Democratic leaning
station’ MSNBC. Joe Scarborough in 2003 was one
of the strongest proponents of war with Iraq
outside of Fox News.
In March of 2003,
he repeatedly made claims that toppling Saddam
Hussein would “mean the end of his weapons of
mass destruction.”
In
April of 2003, Scarborough said that, “For six
months now, George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald
Rumsfeld have been telling the world that the
people of Iraq needed to be liberated from
Saddam Hussein’s bloody reign. The past three
weeks have shown us just how right these three
men have been.”
In that
same commentary, Scarborough pondered whether
“journalists at The New York Times and
NPR or at ABC or at CNN
are going to ever admit just how wrong their
negative pronouncements were over the past four
weeks.” Meanwhile, while all of this hype and
spin was going on, many folks, worldwide
for that matter, saw thru the lies and
disinformation. So much so, that even before the
dastardly deed of March 19th, 2003, on February
15, 2003 the BBC reported that ‘ There were
between six to ten million people marching in
over sixty countries ‘… all to say NO to any US
invasion of Iraq. Still, millions of our own
citizens followed the pied piper over the cliffs
of reason!
Cassius was correct:
“The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but
ourselves…”
Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of
Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. A graduate of
Brooklyn College ( class of '74 with a BA in
Speech & Theater), he is a free lance columnist.
Philip can be reached at PAF1222@bellsouth.net
The
views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.
