Dying for Deep State's Empire is Not Heroic
Predictably, the news media spent most of the week examining words Donald Trump may or may not have spoken to the widow ...Not only was this coverage tedious, it was largely pointless. We know Trump is a clumsy boor, and we also know that lots of people are ready to pounce on him for any sort of gaffe, real or imagined. Who cares? It’s not news. ... useful ... to distract Americans from ... the U.S. government’s perpetual war.
The media’s efforts should have been devoted to exploring — really exploring — why Green Berets (and drones) are in Niger at all. ... That subject is apparently of little interest to media companies that see themselves merely as cheerleaders for the American Empire. ...
Apparently the American people also must be shielded from anyone who might point out that the jihadist activity in Niger and neighboring Mali is directly related to the U.S. and NATO bombing of Libya, which enabled al-Qaeda and other Muslim militants to overthrow the secular regime of Col. Muammar Qaddafi. That Obama-Clinton operation in 2011, besides producing Qaddafi’s grisly murder and turning Libya into a nightmare, facilitated the transfer of weapons and fanatical guerrillas from Libya to nearby countries in the Sahel — as well as Syria. ... the U.S. government has been helping the French to “stabilize” its former colony Mali with surveillance drones and Green Berets based in Niger. ... the U.S./NATO regime-change operation in Libya was based on a
lie? ...
So the media ... have decided the people need not hear the truth behind the events in Niger. Instead, “reporters” and “analysts” perform their role as cheerleaders for the American Empire by declaring the dead men “heroes” and focusing on the tragedy that has befallen their families. Public scrutiny of the military operation is discouraged ...
What makes them heroes? They were killed by non-Americans in a foreign land while wearing military uniforms. That’s all it takes ...
First, their “country,” if by this term we mean the American people, did not call them to “service,” which itself a question-begging word. The source of the call was a collection of politicians and bureaucrats ...
Second, U.S. intervention in the Muslim world, which predates 9/11 and the creation of al-Qaeda and ISIS, has not made Americans safe. On the contrary, it has put them at risk ...
Dying (and killing) for the Empire is not heroic. Allowing yourself to be ordered to intervene in distant conflicts you surely don’t understand is not worthy of admiration. What’s heroic is resisting the Empire.
Anyone who thought Trump would bring the troops back should now know better. ...