Wednesday, August 27, 2008

McCain's Disposable Heroes

This is a short thought in addition to the previous post, but it's been rumbling in my head for some time. I'll try not to go too long and keep this fairly short. In the event that John McCain becomes the next President, American foreign policy will become much more aggressive and hostile. We'll have more wars. Iran is the obvious target (I'm still holding my breath that Bush/Cheney won't bomb Iran just before January 20), but the Neocons have other targets. Heaven knows McCain wants to get into a shooting war with Russia.

So where will all these soldiers be coming from? The Army is depleted thoroughly; it will take years for them to rebuild their strength, and they're in no shape for starting another major conflict. And yet the Republicans want more war. This means two options, really, and they're both terrible and disastrous for this country.

The first is to reinstate the draft. We need more 19-year-olds to kill Iranians and Russians. We don't have any more left in the Army. That means we're coming for your kids. We're coming for you.

The second option is far, far worse. And that option is to greatly expand the use of private mercenary armies like Blackwater. This is the option that scares me the most; it helps that I've read Jeremy Scahill's book on Blackwater. The privitization of our armed services has been the dream of the neocon-right, especially Cheney and Rumsfeld. Their ideology doesn't believe that government should exist. Everything is for profit. Everything is for sale. And, very quietly, under the radar of our banal idocracy and corporatist news media, this ideology has been creeping into the military.

It goes without saying that only governments should wage wars. No wars should ever be waged, but until humanity gets it act together, we'll need armies. No armies should exist for profit. This is not another right-wing pyramid scheme to steal from the taxpayers.

There's a real danger with a privatized military; when war becomes extremely profitable, there is a great incentive to wage more and more wars. There's gold in them there veins. This becomes an even greater danger when dealing with private mercenaries, corporate "armies" like Blackwater, that are not bound by any laws. Blackwater and their peers are not bound by duty or loyalty to one's country. They are not bound by our Constitution (what's left of it). They are not bound by treaty or international law.

This has always been one of the key assets to Blackwater, in the eyes of Cheney and Rumsfeld and McCain. They don't have to be bound by any laws. They don't have to be held accountable. They can do whatever the hell they wish. Rape, murder, torture - no rules, no foul. And every day, corporate pirates like Blackwater grow stronger and stronger.

This is the true danger of a John McCain presidency. This is why he would be far more dangerous and reckless than Bush could dream of. We don't need Dr. Strangelove in charge. I fear this option the most because I know it's the better sell to the American people. Reinstating the military draft would be political suicide. Good lord, the voters would actually have to participate in these little TV wars! God forbid! If it's your kid being shipped off to die, all hell breaks loose. But if it's some other kid....skip it. Who cares? American Idol is on. I've got my ribbon magnet on my Canyonero...what more do you want?

It would be so easy, so tempting, to sell the average American on more wars that they won't have to fight. Just let the hired hands do it for us. That's pretty much what this county has come to, right? Outsource the jobs, bring in the Mexicans to do all the other work, and just slob out on the couch, drowning in nachos and beer. It's Jello Biafra's mantra writ large: Give me convenience or give me death.

A military draft, I could deal with. It could even bring a President McCain down before the War Pigs cause any real damage. The continued rise of Blackwater and corporate "armies"? I don't know how we stop that. And I fear for my land when I contemplate the sight of the Blackwater pirate brigades, rolling down our streets, imposing "martial law" without any regard for law or respect for human dignity.

Whether you like it or not, this election will be a judgement on the crimes of the Bush years. If we don't make a serious change, then those crimes that have been visited upon the world will be revisited upon us. Our chickens will truly come home to roost.

Then again, I hear Barack Obama is a Muslim Celebrity. Or sumthin'.

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