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Fraggin'

By Bill Shunas

During the Marine landing in Somalia, much fuss was made of all the TV cameras and reporters getting in the way of the troops. Does anyone really think that these media people could have been there if the Pentagon didn't want them there? During the invasions of Grenada, Panama and Iraq, the media weren't allowed access to the war. Now they're on the beach first? Give me a break.

It appear that this action in Somalia is different from those in Grenada, Panama or Iraq in that there don't seem to be overt imperialist motives, the suppression of a legitimate government, or a lot of civilian casualties. If anything, the ulterior motive is to justify maintain the military at its current force level. So the media get to watch up close instead of sitting back and regurgitation press releases and videos handed to them by a Pentagon Public information Officer.

The result of this generous media acceptability in the military action is a propaganda coup for the Pentagon. The Pentagon gains in two ways. First U.S. military forces are shown using force for a humanitarian purpose. This will enhance and perpetuate in the minds of many well-meaning Americans the myth that most of these American military efforts are humanitarian. Second and in the long run more devastating, by having the media appear like the Three Stooges and get in the way of an invasion, they give the Pentagon an excuse to deny them a trip on the next invasion. That will allow the Pentagon to cover up the real nature and motive much more easily. Generally speaking, the media are a bunch of inept toadies, but it enough of them are present at an invasion, we have a better chance of finding out the truth.

In matters of a more elevated nature, it appears that the Lord is confused. When the F-16s and A-6s came back from their mid-January bombing of Iraq, then-president Bush declared that the Iraqis were fighting a holy war against infidels like Bush. Now, most people feel that if there is a God, there's only one, whether it be Lord, Jehovah, Allah or the Big Kahuna. If so, which side is God on- the infidel or the Hitler of the 90s?

Meanwhile, President Clinton comes along and helps confuse the situation. Described as a devout Baptist, on Inauguration Day he declared his intention to continue the Bush policy toward Iraq and then went along to church to pray. Presumably he did this to find out how to continue the Lord's body count work in Iraq.

This all reminds me of a football game. You know, when they do the postgame interviews after any Super Bowl, someone on the winning team is going to say that they won because the Lord blessed them. And you know that before the game, there were twenty guys on each team praying furiously to perform well. So why did they play the game if the Lord was going to decide?

Maybe they played for the non-believers—the guys who use pain killers, tape and steroids to try and gain a little advantage, and don't listen to the Lord. Or maybe it's for the commercials and the bookies.

But what about the Iraq situation? Everyone involved claims to be on 'God's side,' So how come we had the Mother of All Battles? Maybe there's some kind of conspiracy involved here. Maybe these guys all need each other even though they hate each other.

Bush/Clinton needs Saddam (or more likely, his party) to keep the Kurds and Shiites in line so they don't destabilize the region by trying to create a nation-state with their people in Iran and Turkey, Saddam needs Bush/Clinton as an object for his people to hate. Otherwise they might turn their hate to Saddam and overthrow him because the UN sanctions and the air war have brought hard times for the populace. Maybe God is behind it all. Or maybe the Great Satan. Or maybe a couple of demagogues fighting over oil and control of the area. Geopolitics they call it. Some call it needless death for civilians and soldiers. If the Big Kahuna is behind this, he done wrong again. He's got to decide which side is righteous and tell the other side to back off. And give a little oil to everyone. Or better yet, develop an alternative source of fuel.