Monday, December 21, 2009

Keeping the Golden Goose Hale and Hardy

It’s not easy running an unnecessary war. Our leaders really have to be fast on their feet to pull it off. The more unnecessary a war is, the greater the chance that peace will try to break out, especially if the country waging it is bankrupt and a foreclosed public starts wondering why their enlightened leaders are dropping a cool trillion on two wars that won’t do squat.

Things are really looking grim in Afghanistan where peace is really trying to raise its ugly head now that the Taliban have offered a pledge that they will not allow the country to be used for an attack on another country if NATO (read the United States) agrees to a pull out and that they would renounce al Qaeda (not a big thing, really, since there are no more than 100 al Qaeda in Afghanistan).

What the Taliban fail to realize is that peace is anathema to our Corporate-Military Establishment. Hell, how would they reap all those profits if they didn’t have a war to fight? What would we do with all that military hardware?

There are two requirements for the execution of an unnecessary war. The first is a public whose memory can be measured in nanoseconds. The second is spokeshacks facile in the spinning of creative truths. Both of these have come into play in dealing with the Taliban offer.

Huffed one State Department spokeshack, “This is the same group that refused to give up bin Laden, even though they could have saved their country from war. They wouldn’t break with the terrorists then, so why would we take them seriously now?”

Now, that's creativity! The truth is that the Taliban offered three times to surrender bin Laden. The first two times they asked for evidence that he was involved in 9/11, a standard procedure in extradition proceedings. Twice, the U.S. refused, citing “state secrets.” The third time, after the invasion began, they waived the evidence requirement. We still said, “Thanks but no thanks.”

Then Bobby Gates chimed in by saying that we had to grind them into the ground before they would negotiate on our terms, our terms being our permanent presence there so we could protect the pipeline we want to build.

The first rule of unnecessary warfare is that you don’t serve the goose that lays the golden eggs for dinner. It is imperative that you keep it fat and healthy no matter what the cost. The priority in such a war is not a healthy army, it’s healthy defense contractors, and if you have to hollow out the army to keep the contractors hale and hardy, then you do so. After all, military prowess is simply a form of glorious self destruction.

6 comments:

Cirze said...

And you've read about how many contractors are being brought in to make up for the hollowed-out army? Thousands and thousands.

Treason!

S

Case Wagenvoord said...

Treason and folly!

Ivan Hentschel said...

All of the contractors, and all of the outsourcing, which was brought to new heights of insanity during the Bush administration, is part and parcel of, and endemic to, the conservative and neo-conservative mindset, which is, "Let someone else do it".

The people who want the dirtiest work done make doubly sure the dirt never gets on their own hands.

And geese, by the way, golden or otherwise, are mostly grease, and don't constitute much a healthy diet, mentally or physically.

Case Wagenvoord said...

But they lay great golden eggs.

Seinbeetre said...

Ivan

I hope your realise that Obomba has increased contractors by far from the stupendous numbers that Bush managed.

Just saying this as you only mention Bush.

sarah tonin said...

Glad someone pointed this out--thanx Seinbeetre.

Clinton pointed out so well how you could dress like a democrat and still be a republican--and O seems to be stamped from the same cloth.