Memorials, Not Celebrations!

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You turn on any recent professional sport competition and you see the obscene propaganda. Before the game starts they call out the honor guard ( many times dressed in camouflage) carrying the flag, as they have the singer belt out our anthem. Where is this ‘ War’ that we apparently are in? To this writer the last war our country was in was WW2. Sadly, ALL the other so called ‘ Wars’ were fabricated acts of US aggression in countless countries. Yet, the public continues to digest this pabulum spoon fed to them by our empire. Korea, Vietnam, Granada, Panama, Iraq 1, Afghanistan, Iraq 2 were futile attempts by our ‘ Masters of Empire’ to control yellow and brown peoples. Some were Proxy engagements, like our aggressions in Korea and Vietnam to go after the Chinese and Russians during the Cold War. For one thing, if Henry Wallace would have succeeded FDR ( The Democratic Party machine stopped him) and become president, perhaps there may have never have been a Cold War. His efforts and ideas were sabotaged by Truman and his handlers, like Senator James Byrnes. The two A bombs were unnecessarily exploded and the ‘Black Rain’ stained our moral compass… seemingly forever!

What should be done this Memorial Day is to mourn all our military personnel that were killed overseas… sometimes for no God damn reason but empire! We don’t need to hear those PR laden phrases like ‘ Brave Warriors’ attached to our honoring of them. We should honor them because, for whatever underhanded reasons, these men and women served in uniform as a sign of duty to their country. In the grand chessboard of empire these folks were ( and are) pawns to sacrifice for the King. It is as cut and dry as that! I love it when all the many right wing Chickenhawks have the audacity to show up to ‘ Support our troops’. Bush Jr. the war criminal, got his chicken stripes by having daddy get him into the safety of the Texas Air National Guard. In those days, all National Guard personnel would be the LAST  military personnel to EVER  be shipped overseas. Dick Cheney, war criminal, got his stripes with I believe four or five deferments- while he openly supported the war in Vietnam. Donald Trump too spoke out at the time in favor of ‘ Fighting Communism’ in Vietnam, but had his medical deferment.  Fast forward to Iraq War 1 and see how many right wing zealots in government cheered the destruction of Iraq, but refused to join the ‘ Good fight’. Ditto for 12 years later regarding Iraq War 2. Once again, men ( and some women) of military age would not sign on and go to the fighting, but celebrated the utter destruction of another sovereign nation. Disgusting hypocrites!

Then we have phonies like Barack Obama who was  at least consistent in being against the pre-emptive attack and occupation of Iraq. So what does he do once in office? He increases the  terrible use of drone missile attacks by 10X over what the Bush Cabal was doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. He lied and never closed Guantanamo, knowing how torture was preeminent there, along with imprisoning forever with no legal recourse. Many troops loved him, mostly because he shared their skin color, not because of anything else. Then Trump comes in, doing as little as possible to help the unfortunate military who are wounded for life. All he did was drop the evil ‘ Mother of All Bombs’ in Afghanistan, to which phony CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria ( so called ‘ Liberal’ ) commented was ‘ Truly Presidential’. Yes Virginia, there are NO ‘ Presidential ‘ presidents.

The Bar-B- Ques will go on this holiday weekend. If only the dead could talk!

PA Farruggio

Memorial Weekend 2022

Philip A Farruggio is regular columnist on It’s the Empire… stupid website. He is also frequently posted on Nation of Change, Countercurrents., Smirking Chimp and Independent Australia sites. He is the son and grandson of Brooklyn NYC longshoremen and a graduate of Brooklyn College, class of 1974. Since the 2000 election debacle Philip has written over 400 columns on the Military Industrial Empire and other facets of life in an upside down America. He is also host of the ‘ It’s the Empire… Stupid ‘ radio show, co produced by Chuck Gregory. Philip can be reached at [email protected].

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