Why Doesn't the Prez Visit the Wounded? Bush's Stacked Deck

[Guest guest]

>

> Why Doesn't the Prez Visit the Wounded?

>

>

> Bush's Stacked Deck

>

> By BRIAN CLOUGHLEY

>

> Damon Runyon, in 'The Idyll of Miss Sarah Browne' (which became the

musical

> 'Guys and Dolls'), delivered a cautionary tale through his character

> Obadiah Masterton, otherwise known on Broadway as The Sky, whose father

> offered him advice in lieu of more substantial patrimony. " Son " , he said,

> " No matter how far you travel or how smart you get, always remember this.

> Someday, somewhere, a guy is going to come to you and show you a brand new

> deck of cards on which the seal is never broken, and this guy is going to

> offer to bet you that the jack of spades will jump out of this deck and

> squirt cider in your ear. But son, do not bet him, for as sure as you do,

> you are going to get an earful of cider. "

>

> I was dismayed when the occupying power in Iraq manufactured thousands of

> decks of playing cards depicting Iraqi leaders and officials, simply

> because it was a vulgar and amateurish propaganda antic that would achieve

> little except fawning publicity on Fox News and various rabid talk-in

> programmes. One wonders if The Sky would have gone the limit if faced by

> the Pentagon's deck (in which, incidentally, the jack of spades was

General

> Ibrahim al-Sattar Muhammad, the armed forces chief, who, like other

> prisoners of war, has been treated with no regard whatever for the Geneva

> conventions and is held without charge or trial in a place unknown). Those

> portrayed were supposedly the people " Most Wanted " by US forces, and

> although it was an immature campaign designed by boobies it provided

> innocent enjoyment to sophisticated Iraqis who with justification laugh at

> idiots who try to use western ideas to influence eastern psyches.

>

> In an almost unbelievably moronic advertisement for these silly things the

> manufacturer in America proudly announces that for nine dollars " You will

> receive an actual Liberty Brand, casino-quality deck from the company that

> actually produced cards for the government! Impress your friends and poker

> buddies with your INSIDERS' KNOWLEDGE as well as the fact that YOU own a

> set from the EXACT SAME company that printed the cards for the

government. "

> The mind reels at the rustic vulgarity. (But it plays well in Peoria.)

>

> The US Marine Corps is also marketing a propaganda deck. It is called

> " America's Most Unwanted " and is designed, produced and sold by officers

of

> the Corps whose motto is 'Semper Fidelis' or 'Always Faithful', usually

> abbreviated to 'Semper Fi'. But it seems that the Corps is not always

> faithful to the elected representatives of the United States of America,

> because some of those depicted on the " America's Most Unwanted " cards of

> the US Marine Corps are senators and members of the House of

> Representatives. Two of the cards show American Presidents Carter and

> Clinton who are now ridiculed by the Corps of which they were

> commander-in-chief. ('Semper Fi', anyone?)

>

> The reason for production of this deck of spite is that the legislators

and

> Presidents (and actors and others) who appear on the cards are considered

> by officers of the US Marine Corps to be traitors to America because they

> opposed the war on Iraq. Marine Major Doug Cody solemnly pronounced that

" I

> don't begrudge anyone their right to express their opposition to the war,

> but the people on the cards went above and beyond what I thought was

> reasoned or principled opposition. " (It should be noted that twenty per

> cent of Major Cody's profits from sale of the cards, at 12 dollars a deck,

> " will be given to U.S. Armed Forces Relief Societies " . How very generous

of

> him.)

>

> I sniff McCarthy, by God, and it's a bloody awful stink. When I see images

> of US Senators on a profitable hate pack produced by citizens who swore to

> abide by (and fight for) the Constitution, I realise that freedom in the

> United States is under threat. If serving officers of the United States

> Marine Corps are encouraged to become deeply involved in party politics

and

> openly denigrate members of the US Congress without being called to

> account, then I fear for the foundations of democracy. Any member of the

> Armed Forces of the United States (or of any country, indeed) who publicly

> vilifies an elected representative of the people should be required to get

> out of uniform instantly. If these people had produced a " Most Unwanted "

> deck of cards depicting Cheney, DeLay or Wolfowitz their loyalty would

have

> been quickly questioned. The White House and Congress would have gone

> berserk and by now they would be former Marines. Why has no action been

> taken by Rumsfeld and Ashcroft in this case of insolent, irresponsible and

> disloyal defamation?

>

> Responsibilities and loyalties must extend downwards as well as upwards.

> People at the top and on the higher rungs of ladders have a duty to those

> below them. (Except in the corporate world, of course, where there is no

> such thing as loyalty.) And one of the main responsibilities of a military

> officer is to visit the sick. As an officer you have genuine concern for

> the well-being of your soldiers (or marines or whoever), and when one of

> them is wounded or injured or hospitalised for any reason, your first duty

> is to get there and give comfort. It's automatic. It's part of family life

> in a regiment or squadron or ship, and is nothing out of the ordinary to

> those of us fortunate enough to have experienced it.

>

> But it seems it isn't automatic or ordinary at the top of the totem pole.

> Commander-in-Chief Bush has ended a month-long vacation during which he

had

> money-raising parties and gave electioneering speeches praising US troops

> in Iraq. But he didn't visit any of them in hospitals at home.

>

> As of this week there was a total of 1124 US soldiers wounded in action in

> Iraq, of whom 574 casualties were inflicted after Top Gun dramatically

> declared an end to major combat on May 1. In addition there were 301 who,

> according to the Washington Post, " received non-hostile injuries in

vehicle

> accidents [presumably including Private Jessica Lynch] and other mishaps,

> and thousands who became physically or mentally ill. "

>

> There is a moral in these two seemingly unrelated (if equally sad)

> manifestations of Bush administration culture which are both redolent of

> disloyalty : one up, one down. It is that loyalty is a precious commodity.

> Squander it by failing to give people due attention as required by your

> rank and position, and you never recover it. Not only that, but you

destroy

> utterly what you are trying to achieve.

>

> US Army morale in Iraq is pretty damn low right now, and even Republican

> Senator McCain, just returned from a visit to the country, wrote in a

> Washington Post piece on August 31 that " . . . our military force levels

> are obviously inadequate. A visitor quickly learns in conversations with

US

> military personnel that we need to deploy at least another division. " That

> is senate-speak meaning " I talked to all ranks from private to general and

> they told me they need minimum 20,000 reinforcements NOW. " When that is

> placed against Rumsfeld's absurd statement that " the conclusion of the

> responsible military officials is that the force levels are where they

> should be, " you have to wonder if he is talking about the same military

> campaign. And you have to look at the effect of such pronouncements on

> soldiers protecting palaces in which administrators dwell in

> air-conditioned comfort.

>

> The Bush administration propaganda battle has not only been lost in Iraq

> with the Iraqi people; it has been lost in Iraq with US soldiers. Of equal

> significance, it is about to be lost as regards other very important

groups

> of people : the relatives of exhausted, frightened, over-extended soldiers

> still in Iraq, and the families of hundreds of wounded soldiers who wonder

> why their Commander-in-Chief has failed to acknowledge their sacrifice and

> suffering by just stopping by one day to visit with them in their

hospital.

> It wouldn't take much time out of his schedule.

>

> Why does the US Commander-in-Chief refuse to visit his wounded soldiers in

> their hospital beds? I'll tell you why. It wouldn't play well on camera.

> Bush, the great commander-in-chief, he of the aircraft carrier-landing in

> macho Top Gun kit, is facing election next year, and it wouldn't look good

> for him to be photographed alongside American kids who had their legs

blown

> off after he declared the end of major combat operations. He would play

the

> compassion card if he thought it would bring him votes. But the cards he

> gave soldiers before he sent them to Iraq were out of a stacked deck. One

> of them will probably squirt cider in his eye.

>

> Brian Cloughley writes about defense issues for CounterPunch, the Nation

> (Pakistan), the Daily Times of Pakistan and other international

> publications. His writings are collected on his website:

> <http://www.briancloughley.com/>www.briancloughley.com.

>

> He can be reached at: <beecluffbeecluff

> http://www.counterpunch.com/cloughley09052003.html

>