Of Violence and the I-Word

I was watching a History Channel program today, part of the network's "Old West Tech" series hosted by David Carradine. This episode was titled "Massacre Tech," and covered several Old West incidents of mass murder. The first incident discussed was a massacre of miners in 1913 by Rockefeller's henchmen and militia troops under the command of the then-governor of Colorado. Later, the program covered the "Mountain Medows Massacre" in Utah in the 1850s.

Earlier on another history channel was the program on Australia, "Beyond the Fatal Shore." It covered how Australia gained its independence through, of all things, democratic elections and a negotiated settlement with British Parliament.

These two programs made me think. Certainly US history has been more "exciting" than Australian. Our history makes for great TV and movies. Civil War epics, Old West sagas, Mel Gibson cavorting through "The Patriot." Bloodshed, massacres, slavery, rebellion, piracy, wars of imperial conquest (Indian Wars, Mexican War, Spanish Amerian War). Ours is a nation founded and sustained by blood. Somewhat like the old Aztecs, we periodically require a blood sacrifice to strengthen and prove our might.

So, in the 2000s we have the Iraq War. A trumped-up disaster wrought by a coalition of the same folks whose ancesters brought us to many of our other wars: Big Money Capitalism, Religious Fundamentalism, Jingoistic Patriotism. All meeting their great "Dark Lord" in the grinning monkey face of George W. Bush.

It's time Congress begin impeachment proceedings against both Bush and the Vice President. Our blood and treasure is being drained away in a Neo-Con crusade that has not made us safer. Osama and his pals want us out of the Middle East. I say, why not oblige him? We should leave those countries to themselves. (By this I do not mean that Bin Laden and Al Qaeda should escape just retribution. But we need to face the unwelcome fact that violence alone will not solve the conundrums facing East nor West). They eventually will sort out their problems in a way suitable for their cultures. We should also divest ourselves from Israel. I am personally very sympathetic towards Israel and its cause. But our undue protection of that tiny country has led directly to our present-day crises.

For more on the Downing Street Memos, check out the following Web sites:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

http://www.thenation.com/

http://www.rawstory.com/