Amid all the doom and gloom arising out of this unprovoked war of naked
aggression there is one overarching positive development that should hearten
millions, especially those on the Left. The United States is taking
a
propaganda beating on the world stage the likes of which it has not
endured throughout its entire history. Never in over 200 years of
takeovers, invasions, exploitation, and conquests has the United States
performed an act of such magnitude that is so open, so indefensible, so
brazen, so aggressive, and so oppressive in the eyes of so many, indeed,
the vast majority of mankind. In fact, I would have thought the American
ruling class would have forestalled this from the outset as an unacceptable
methodology by which to proceed. Normally they are much more prudent.
If there is any weakness that dominates the fascist mind more than any
other, leaving aside all the fallacious thoughts flowing from the fallacies
in their basic ideology, it is their myopic vision with respect to life’s
dilemmas. All too often fascists and their allies are afflicted with
an inability to see all the ramifications of acts that alone look quite
enticing, relatively simple, and risk deficient. With their tunnel
vision they just can’t see that when you change A that changes B, and when
you change B that causes a change in C which adversely affects many aspects
of D. It is like a student changing his college schedule.
When he switches X to period 8, he pushes something out of period 8 and
into period 5 or 6. That which was in period 5 or 6 must now be switched
to another period, which, in turn, must lose
whatever resides there. In effect, a chain reaction is set in
motion and it is these chain reactions that fascists and their allies have
always been poorly adept at prognosticating. Hitler executed some
of the most egregious.
The propaganda thrashing the US will take as a result of this act will
surpass that endured by the Soviet Union through Khrushchev’s invasion
of Hungary in 1956 because throughout the capitalist world millions had
already been programmed to accept acts of this nature from socialist states.
But the United States has spent billions of dollars carefully cultivating
an image throughout the world that it is a force for freedom, democracy,
liberation, and justice, all of which fly in the face of current American
aggression. Try as they may American propagandists will never be
able to erase or effectively counter the negative perception millions now
have burned into their memory of the US and the fear they will now permanently
feel from potential aggressive or oppressive American military acts.
The security
that millions obtained from the belief and carefully nurtured concept
that America was a protector and defender has been dealt a stupendous blow,
just as the Soviet image was dealt a fatal setback by Khruschev’s invasion.
A specific example of American myopic limitations emerging in the current
conflict is that untold numbers of Iraqis are not behaving as the US leaders
expected. The imperialists don’t seem to realize that there is a
natural and understandable feeling among millions of Iraqis that supersedes
their dislike for Saddam Hussein. Simply stated that feeling is:
“You are invading my country; I don’t care what Saddam Hussein is like.
What really matters is that you are invading my country and that I will
not accept. GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY.”
This attitude on the part of millions will have ramifications after the
war is over and Saddam Hussein is defeated. Virtually any government
that is installed will be viewed as an American puppet and permanently
distrusted
or hated by millions. Reprisals will become a distinct possibility
as what happened to the recently assassinated American stooge, Dindjic,
in Serbia vividly demonstrates. Factionalism will blossom.
Another major mistake on the part of capitalist propagandists is that they
never convinced millions both within and outside Iraq that this is not
an imperialist war for oil and the subsequent government will not be an
agent serving American exploitive aims. This prime propaganda problem
was never effectively eviscerated by the American imperialists but only
avoided.
And finally, the American imperialists learned in the recent Balkan war
that what you destroy could very well act to the detriment of the imperialists
themselves. Bombing military equipment, facilities, supplies, and
troops is one thing, but bombing a nation’s infrastructure is something
quite different. The imperialists discovered the hard way that when
you destroy bridges, factories, roads, housing, buildings, water treatment
plants, electrical grids etc., you all but destroy any chances of any subsequent
puppet government being successful. By destroying the infrastructure
you make it hard, if not impossible, for your agents to rule effectively
and experience little mass discontent, strikes, upheaval, and opposition.
Any government failing to produce and provide an improving environment
for its citizens faces hard times indeed. Not long ago the American
puppet ruler in Afghanistan, Karzai, came to the United States begging
for at least 2 billion dollars to start significant improvements in that
beleaguered land. When the imperialists looked at his figures with
all those zeros, one can easily envision what they were thinking.
And even though American imperialists face a terribly damaged infrastructure
in Afghanistan that is only generating
increasing discontent and a military situation that is far from being
resolved in their favor and a puppet government that is ruling little more
than Kabul, they decided to lash out at Iraq.
As a result of these considerations the US is trying to avoid destroying
the infrastructure in Iraq out of purely self-interest and economic motives,
not out of any concern for civilians. The US does not want to face
a huge infrastructure bill after the war and begging politicians.
The problem with this approach is that if the Iraqis fiercely dig in, especially
in the cities, and military targets become scarcer or harder to find, the
more easily located and destroyed infrastructure targets will rise on the
list of objects to be hit, all of which will return the US to the same
repulsive predicament it sought to avoid. In order to forestall this
imperialist-generated catastrophe coming their way, the imperialists are
hoping the Iraqis will surrender before that fork in the road is reached.
But what would you do if your country were being invaded and attacked by
Germany in order to change a government Germany did not like, even a government
you were not particularly fond of.
for the cause,
Klo
All of my articles can be found on my website at: http://geocities.com/klomckin%40ameritech.net/