'Well, I'm Pissed . . . And I Don't Apologize'

Tom Marshall, a South Florida grandfather, has been working for over 40 years to try to change the direction the country is heading in. He runs the Guerrilla Campaign and Guerrilla Campaign blog.

Unleashing the military power of the United States of America on March 19, 2003, President Bush turned it to invading Iraq. I don’t think the understanding of the enormity of that crime has settled yet on America. The crime is more than mass-murder. He has destroyed a nation. He has poisoned that’s nation’s people and environment with depleted uranium ammunition. He has raped their women and children. He has destroyed their homes and towns. He has stolen their treasure. It was all accepted. After all, the bush was ‘re-elected’.

Why?

Perpetual war, and an improvement on Orwell’s model: they’ll never have to change the "enemy."

With the "nation at war," cover is provided for all kinds of atrocities, and the loss of civil rights. Cowed by fear, America has accepted what would have been unthinkable, and unacceptable at the end of the twentieth century. The "opposition" has become cowed by fear of being called "un-American."

Look how easily the country has accepted the fact of the torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, as well as the concept of “extraordinary renditions.” For that matter, look how easily we accepted the government holding onto thousands of people indefinitely without any rights to review. Look how easily we accepted the government holding American citizens indefinitely without any rights to review. The militarization of society has moved along so far that it is acceptable for the military to put on their dog and pony shows in front of elementary school children.

The human and financial costs of the war are incalculable. Our children’s grandchildren will still be paying the cost. We have squandered our treasure, the dream of the USA, held for years by peoples around the world, and the legacy our forefathers left us, the Constitution. We have emptied our Treasury.

The country has changed. The working classes are being squeezed dry. The poor are losing whatever protections they once had, and their chances of lifting themselves out of poverty are disappearing. Soon the working classes will be joining their daily struggle for the resources they need to survive another day. As those resources become scarcer, society breaks down into individual competition for them. And it will become cut-throat competition. That is the reality behind President Bush’s “ownership society.”

When the competition for daily survival becomes paramount, people have less time and energy for dissent and oppositional activism. The daily fear of being denounced, or losing a job, becomes all-consuming, and keeps the people muted. Already, people with permanent resident status are afraid to speak out, or even to be seen associating with dissent. This was brought home to me a couple of months ago by a woman I’ve known for years. She told me that she had to be careful, and she wasn’t sure who she could trust. A very sad state of affairs.

And, today, even after three years of war, Bush is still the president and people are still dying in Iraq. A very sad state of affairs.

Well, I’m pissed. And I’m vocal. And I’m blatant. Anybody who meets me knows where I stand. And I don’t apologize.