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Message |
| Posted By: |
UT |
| Date: |
11-Dec-2003-18:18:55 |
| Subject: |
The Expat Café - Business As Usual |
The café was full this morning, but fortunately not full of expatriates. I was happy about this, because I felt more like writing about the two news headlines I had just seen than I did talking about them. I read several news sources every day, both in English and in French, but to tell the truth I still like to check out AOL as well, because of their amusing tendency to "revise" their headlines during the day.
They'll start out with one that says, "Major al-Quaida Operative Captured In Iraq," and you'll click on the link, only to find that the news item itself is talking about the detainment of the wife of one of the former Iraqi leaders on their "wanted list." The words "al-Quaida" are never mentioned in the article because, of course, there is no link between this woman and al-Quaida or between her husband and al-Quaida or, for that matter, between Iraq and al-Quaida. A few hours later, you will notice that the headline has changed to something like, "Wife of Most-Wanted Iraqi Captured." It's kinda fun, like watching revisionist history happen before your very eyes.
This morning, the headline that greeted me as I logged in said, "US Punishes Anti-War Nations." I did a double-take, because I was stunned 1) that anyone who grew up on the myth that America stands for peace and liberty could write such a thing and be so clueless as to its unintended irony, and 2) that anyone who writes for AOL-Time-Warner could actually be that honest. Then, while I was sitting there still looking at it, the screen refreshed and the headline changed. The new, improved version was, strangely, even more honest: "Want Business? Send Soldiers."
The article itself was about the Bush administration's decision to "punish" nations who chose not to support the illegal war that devastated an entire country by denying them the right to bid on any contracts to make money from the "reconstruction effort."
Excuse me? I wasn't aware that anyone was being allowed to bid on these contracts. All of the early ones were awarded, without any bid process whatsoever, to American companies, seemingly in order of how much they had contributed to the Republican Party and/or how many administration officials had formerly served on their Board of Directors. But I haven't really been keeping up with this process, so they must have opened some of the lesser contracts up for bids lately. And the clear message of this latest pronouncement from the nation that is supposed to stand for peace and liberty is, "If you don't help us murder the citizens of any nation we choose to invade, then how can you expect to share in the rape, pillage and plunder that follows?"
This news item is refreshingly honest. It puts the Iraq war, and America's moral position, in its proper perspective. It wasn't about WMDs. It wasn't about regime change. I was just business as usual.
The message is also not new. In the 13th century, nobles being recruited by the French king and the Pope to "join up" and become "the coalition of the willing" in their war against the Bad Arabs and that Axis Of Evil were promised three things. The first was that while they were away on the Crusade, none of their debts had to be paid. Since many of the noble houses of France were technically bankrupt, this was considered a pretty good "enlistment bonus." In addition, the Crusaders got to keep everything they could steal while in the Holy Land. This seems to be the counterpart of today's clarification of the Bush war policy - you can only share in the looting if you share in the killing. But there was a third promise made to these potential Crusaders, and that one came from the Pope himself. If they agreed to go on the Crusade, they were guaranteed a place in Heaven - nothing they did while on the Crusade or, for that matter, ever again in their lives would be considered a sin in the eyes of the Church.
So far, I don't believe that US military chaplains have been granted the authority to make a similar dispensation to warriors from our "coalition of the willing," but mark my words . . . if they can figure out a way to convince Pat Robertson to do it, it's on the way. For now, the closest thing I've seen to this final promise in our modern-day Crusade is the agreement that the Bushies forced on the Iraqis exempting the US oil companies who are working there to steal their oil from prosecution for anything. They can release pollution that kills entire cities; they can murder Iraqis hired to work for them if they don't work fast enough, and absolutely nothing will happen to them. According to this agreement, they cannot possibly be prosecuted. It's almost as good as being declared free from sin. It is, in fact, pretty much the modern-day legal equivalent of the Medieval "free pass to Heaven."
But, just like in the Middle Ages, you only get the goodies if you agree to do the dirty work. This morning's news release makes it clear that the nations who refused to join the United States in their illegal war - France, Germany and Russia in particular - are now prohibited from profiting from it. To their discredit, several of them have actually complained.
Wise up, guys. The message is as clear in this Crusade as it was in the 13th century. If you want the right to rape, pillage and plunder, you've got to qualify first by doing some of the killing. In the Middle Ages it was called doing your duty to God and country. These days we just call it business as usual.
Paris, 2003
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