What can you say about a country who invades the Middle East and makes war for over a decade in order to build 'democracy', then starts a new war with a coalition of 'moderate' Arab states, not ONE of whom is a democracy and ALL of whom are Medieval monarchies or fascist dictatorships? If this is what we call 'moderate,' how far our nation has drifted from its foundational ideals!
We were spiked into this war by a picture of an 'extremist' beheading an innocent man. Yet our chief Arab ally, Saudi Arabia, whose dynasty are the Bush's best family friends, regularly beheads people in public executions. Their most recent victim was beheaded for the crime of 'sorcery.' The Saudis have given a safe haven to Wahabi Islam. Their rich sheiks fund Al Qaeda and ISIS. Saudi Arabia provided 19 out of the 21 highjackers who attacked us on 9/11.
Bahrain, another coalition member, is a major U.S. military installation, where we keep our Persian Gulf fleet. Our press are not allowed to report on this Medieval kingdom, whose regime brutally suppresses any demonstration for democratic reforms. Other members of our new 'moderate Arab coalition,' like the UAR and Qutar, import serfs from Bangladesh or Pakistan to use as indentured servants, meaning slaves. Last month we sold Qutar $11 billion in weapons. They fund Hamas. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
As we begin the next phase of war, our Congress goes into a seven week 'recess' so they won't have to take any responsibility for it. Remind me never to vote for either a Republican or Democrat again.
Congress has good reason to be ashamed. They have become the whores of Babylon (a Biblical phrase from the Book of Revelation) - paid to roll over and serve those whom Dylan called 'the Masters of War.'
Henry Ford said, 'America's business is business.' No, America's business is war. The U.S. sells more weapons to the world than the next seven leading arms-producing nations combined. In the last four years, our rate of weapons transfer to developing nations has increased even more (ı). But this war begins at home: the assault of Wall Street on America's middle class. Workers pay the taxes that fund the military contractors who feed the Third World with weapons so that Wall Street elites and their bankers can reap the profits - without paying taxes.
We do not fight over ideology, religion, or territory. That is all propaganda. Our war is an economic scam run by Wall Street. Our economy is so weaponized that many of our biggest 'blue chip' corporations are up to their eye-balls in military contracts; likewise our universities. When we understand this, we know why an ever rising Dow-Jones Average requires perpetual war. America's seemingly confused foreign policy becomes very clear, almost transparent.
We flood the Middle East with weapons and sell them to both sides of every conflict. We nurture organizations like Al Qaeda and ISIS, so that the arms cornucopia we sell to 'moderates' overflows into the hands of 'extremists,' giving us an excuse to sell even more to the moderates. And then come our own little bombing raids, at a million dollars per missile, a billion per jet. We turn the Middle East into a powder keg, then throw matches into it. THAT is U.S. Foreign Policy 101.
If we really wanted peace, if we really wanted to be the Christian nation we claim to be, we could turn this situation around, and begin right here at home. How? By demilitarizing our own economy. Place an arms embargo on every U.S. weapons shipment overseas.
Starve the people of bombs and guns, nourish them with instruments of peace. Instead of flooding the Middle East with weapons, flood the refugee camps in Turkey, Iraq, Jordon and Lebanon with fresh water, with food, housing supplies, medicine. Send teachers of meditation and the healing breath to regenerate the hearts and minds that war has traumatized.* Choose to become a force for peace.
We need a new breath. We need a new song. We need to sing, 'Aint gonna' study war no more,' the black spiritual based on a verse from the Prophet Isaiah. We need to turn our hearts around. Then we can act, not by putting boots on the ground, but the shoes of the fisherman. Walk where Christ walked, as he walked, in true strength. Let every footprint we leave on earth be gentle as a prayer.
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Links
* David Lynch Foundation: Transcendental Meditation for traumatized and at-risk population
* IAHV: Post-disaster trauma relief through the healing breath
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ı) Rate of Arms Transfer from the U.S. to Developing Nations
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