by Philip Greenspan
(Swans - March 13, 2006) Every country is controlled by an elite whose interests usually are not merely different but often inimical to the general public of the country. Support from the public is imperative if the elite's interests are to be pursued and satisfied. While those interests are constantly at variance with those of the public, they must never allow the public to wise up and gain the upper hand by revolting against their betters. Therefore, influence is exerted primarily on government -- those millions in campaign contributions can do wonders; but also on the media -- the barons of the mass media are high-powered members of the elite; and on educational institutions -- whose myths extolling national achievements and triumphs will instill loyalty in the masses.
The real motivations of the elite cannot be disclosed to the public, heaven forbid, so a scenario is concocted that when implemented will permit those interests to be pursued while gaining acceptance of a naive public. The government will spin that yarn; the media will publicize and extol it as will the educational establishment.
So intent is the elite on promoting their interests that they will sacrifice without a second's thought millions in casualties from a designated enemy and from the home forces as well. The only thing to snarl their plans are fears that the suckers doing their dirty work will see through the propaganda and overthrow them. And so, they are concerned that the public is and remains patriotic. While they wave the flag, proclaim the glories of chauvinism, and talk of their public-spiritedness they will clandestinely deal with the enemy if it means profits. During the good war, WWII, secretly of course, such eminent individuals as Henry Ford, Andrew Mellon, and John and Allen Dulles were Nazi sympathizers, and blue-chip companies like Ford, General Motors, DuPont, Standard Oil, International Telephone, IBM, Alcoa, the Chase Bank, and JP Morgan, were profitably supplying Adolf Hitler's Reich with their products and services. Well why not -- as Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman insists, the purpose of a corporation is to amass profits for the stockholders; it has no social responsibility.
The elite are continually at work screwing the public so on any day of the week there is evidence, if one takes the time and effort to search, of how efficiently they operate. But, most importantly, ignore the rhetoric, the bullshit story, meant to befool the gullible public who usually buys it. Concentrate on their actions over time and observe how they make a killing at the public's expense.
Current US conditions are suitable for analysis. The actions of the Bush administration and their co-opted government allies have done a magnificent job for their elite masters. Dubya's beneficence has rewarded them handsomely. Investments in campaign contributions returned dividends far in excess of what any other investment would bring. In each instance where any elite interest was served, some cock-and-bull story accompanied the scam. And guess who was being milked for those payoffs?
The super deluxe con of all, the swindle that has been a goldmine, a bonanza, a golden goose, and an El Dorado all rolled up together is the "War on Terrorism" properly renamed "The Long War." It's intended to be an everlasting gravy train! The 9/11 terrorist attacks materialized into that "new Pearl Harbor" that the neocons deemed necessary to expedite their goals. Wasn't that unexpected event, looked at from their warped perspective, most fortunate? And was it really unexpected?
Wasn't the attack really a crime? Wasn't the earlier attack on the World Trade Center treated and resolved as such? Treating it as an act of war rather than as a crime eliminated some anticipated problems and opened the door for innovation.
Pending agendas that could not be handled previously could now be taken up. Well before 9/11, regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq were on that agenda.
The Union Oil Company, hoping since 1995 to build a pipeline across Afghanistan, treated the government there, the Taliban, royally. But the generous offer the company eventually made to them was not good enough. Those Taliban bums had to go. 9/11 provided an ideal scenario for ousting them. They were the protectors of the terrorists Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Although the Taliban offered to surrender Bin Laden their offer was not accepted. War was what was wanted; war ensued; and a former Unocal employee, Hamid Karzai, became the president of Afghanistan. Because security in the country remains a problem the pipeline remains a pipe dream.
Since Gulf War I the U.S. had been hoping to depose Saddam Hussein with a pro-American strongman who would comply with its dictates, but all CIA attempts to effect a coup were unsuccessful. A war was needed. So with enough baloney fed to the UN, the Congress, the public -- although most of the peoples throughout the world did not buy it -- a pre-emptive war did the trick. But as the situation kept deteriorating and the promised cakewalk turned into a quagmire, the propaganda lies that justified the war were revealed.
Democracy, that old standby, then became the key to resolve the turmoil in the Middle East and frustrate the terrorists. Wasn't that nice? How many boobs actually believed it? Well, Uncle Sam asked for it, encouraged it, pushed elections, attempted to fix them as it did so successfully in the past. The electorate's overwhelming response was so great for the "wrong" candidates that Sam's vote tampering could not alter the popular choices.
"Democracy, democracy, democracy" repeated over and over again in various contexts is the rhetoric. True democracy is not what is wanted. The U.S. wants a nice compliant regime that will accede to its demands and can effectively control its people. Any such government, irrespective of how it accomplishes it, will be proclaimed a democracy and designated a strong and loyal ally of the U.S. That is what Afghanistan and Iraq were intended to become. As long as the U.S. remains in those countries and continues its military campaign that goal will be pursued.
Historically, that is how the imperialist U.S. has acted. Nationalist leaders who had the loyal support of their people, were acclaimed far and wide, and willing to peaceably and fairly deal with all foreign governments would eliminated by the U.S. if they were independent of ALL foreign influence. The US rogues gallery included such popular leaders as Mossadegh, Arbenz, Sukarno, Nasser, Lumumba, and Allende. Its democratic leader list included the Shah of Iran, Suharto, Marcos, and Pinochet -- who were subsequently routed by their own people's uprisings -- and were never referred to again with the democratic label.
Analyzing actions rather than rhetoric applies to all governments. The recent election in Palestine put Hamas in the driver's seat to the consternation of the Israelis, who refuse to deal with that terrorist organization -- an organization they supported to weaken a more formidable opponent, Yasser Arafat and his PLO.
When Arafat eventually weakened, accepted the rhetoric of peace, and controlled the Occupied Territories while the Israelis, in violation of that supposed peace, expanded the settlements, the former terrorist was lauded. But he reverted to a scoundrel when he could no longer control his people. The claim that there is no one to make peace with will persist as long as there are Palestinians in areas the Israelis covet who will not abide by the onerous conditions imposed on them. Terrorists, shmerrorists, it's all part of the rhetoric bullshit. Nobel Prize-winner Menachem Begin was a terrorist who became a prime minister of Israel, and so was Yitzhak Shamir. Throughout the world there are popular and democratically-elected leaders who are designated terrorists by imperialists frustrated by the independence of those leaders.
Don't sell those democratically-elected terrorists short. The big bully has been weakened considerably by his ill-fated war and he may be compelled to accept the continued presence of leaders who are now telling him off and emphatically saying "NO" to his demands.
Shmerrorists, Phil? That's a new one... Bravo! Where's the money, people?