When the French government suggested a diplomatic initiative that might interfere with the White House agenda for war, the president responded by saying that the proposed scenario would ?ratify terror.? The date was July 24, 1964, the president was Lyndon Johnson and the war was in Vietnam.
Emashumini amane eminyaka kamuva, i-anti-terror rationale akuyona nje enye ingxabano yokuvuselela imishini yempi yase-US. Ukulwa ?nokwesaba? manje isiyisisekelo esiyinhloko sempi.
?The contrast couldn?t be clearer between the intentions and the hearts of those who care deeply about human rights and human liberty, and those who kill, those who?ve got such evil in their hearts that they will take the lives of innocent folks,? President Bush said Thursday after the London bombings. ?The war on terror goes on.?
Imfuneko eyinhloko yale mpi yokulunga ukuthi wonke umlando ongalungile kufanele uthathwe njengongenamsebenzi. ?Ngokwamukela inkulumo elula yokuthi impi eqhubekayo yokulwa nobushokobezi iyimpi yokulwa nobubi, ngokubiza labo abalwa nathi kalula njengamaqaba, nathi, njengabo, siyenqaba ukuvuma ukuthi sinecala,? intatheli uChris Hedges ukubonile. ?Asikunaki ukungabi nabulungisa kwangempela okuye kwaholela abaningi balabo abaphikisana nathi ekuthukutheleni nasekuphelelweni ithemba.?
In the aftermath of 9/11, writer Joan Didion critiqued ?the wearying enthusiasm for excoriating anyone who suggested that it could be useful to bring at least a minimal degree of historical reference to bear on the event.? Overwhelmingly, politicians and pundits were quick to get in a groove of condemning any sensible assertions ?that events have histories, political life has consequences, and the people who led this country and the people who wrote and spoke about the way this country was led were guilty of trying to infantilize its citizens if they continued to pretend otherwise.?
Amazwi okucabanga, ngisho noma bevela esikhungweni sezempi sezwe, awazange abekwe eceleni. Ngasekupheleni kukaNovemba 2002, ujenene wamasosha ase-US osewathatha umhlalaphansi, uWilliam Odom, watshela ababukeli be-C-SPAN ukuthi: ?Ubuphekula abusona isitha. Ngeke ihlulwe. Kuyisu. Kunengqondo ukusho ukuthi simemezela impi ekuhlaseleni ebusuku futhi silindele ukuthi sizoyinqoba leyo mpi. Ngeke siyinqobe impi yobushokobezi. Futhi kwenza uvalo. Izenzo zobuphekula azikaze zehlise imibuso yentando yeningi ekhululekile. Izenzo zephalamende zivaliwe ezimbalwa.?
Two years after 9/11, Norman Mailer asked: ?What does it profit us if we gain extreme security and lose our democracy? Not everyone in Iraq, after all, was getting their hands and/or their ears cut off by Saddam Hussein. In the middle of that society were hordes of Iraqis who had all the security they needed even if there was no freedom other than the full-fledged liberty offered by dictators to be free to speak with hyperbolic hosannas for the leader. So, yes, there are more important things to safeguard than security and one of them is to protect the much-beleaguered integrity of our democracy. The final question in these matters suggests itself. Can leaders who lie as a way of life protect any way of life??
Umongameli owaqamba amanga ngesikhathi ehlasela i-Iraq manje usesebenzisa unya lwangoLwesine eLondon ukuze athethelele izinqubomgomo zase-US eziletha unya lwansuku zonke e-Iraq. UBush uzimisele ngokuthumela umyalezo ?kumaphekula? ngokuqhubeka nempi yePentagon.
The idea of communicating by killing is very familiar. There?s nothing new about claiming to send a righteous message with bullets and bombs.
Encwadini yakhe ethi ?War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning,? owayeyintatheli yezempi uChris Hedges ubhala ukuthi wakubona eduze lokhu kuthunyelwa: ?Izidumbu ngesikhathi sempi zivame ukuthumela imiyalezo. Amaqembu okufa e-El Salvador alahle izidumbu ezintathu endaweni yokupaka izimoto eCamino Real Hotel eSan Salvador, lapho izintatheli bezizinze khona, ngolunye usuku ekuseni. Izinsongo zokufa ngathi zazigcwele emlonyeni wemizimba.? UHedges uyanezela: ?Futhi, ngezinga elikhulu, iWashington isebenzisa ukubulala nezidumbu ukudlulisa ulaka lwayo. Sithumele imiyalezo enjalo e-Vietnam, Iraq, Serbia, nase-Afghanistan. U-Osama bin Laden usefunde ukukhuluma ulimi lwempi yesimanje yezimboni.?
And Hedges notes: ?It was Robert McNamara, the American Secretary of Defense in the summer of 1965, who defined the bombing raids that would eventually leave hundreds of thousands of civilians north of Saigon dead as a means of communication to the Communist regime in Hanoi.?
Ngemva kweminyaka engamashumi amane, 'nempi yobuphekula? esebenza njengendikimba eyinhloko yenkulumo-ze ye-pro-war, i-United States kanye nabalingani bayo bezempi bavame ukuthumela imiyalezo ebulalayo. Akufanele kusimangaze lapho imilayezo enjalo ibuyiselwa kumthumeli.
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Lesi sihloko sithathwe encwadini entsha kaNorman Solomon ethi ?War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keeps Spinning us to Death.? Izingcaphuno zezincwadi zithunyelwe ku: www.WarMadeEasy.com