- On Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, America honors
its war dead. It was first officially proclaimed, on May 5, 1868, by General
John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. It was
declared a national holiday by Act of the U.S. Congress, in 1971 (usmemorialday.org).
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- Since then, those in the military who have given their
lives in the defense of our nation are recalled by Americans in solemn
cemetery ceremonies: they place flowers and flags on veterans' graves,
visit national monuments, enjoy patriotic parades and listen to speeches
throughout the land.
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- Sadly, this year we have added new names to that Memorial
Day list. As of May 30, 2004, 810 of America's finest sons and daughters
have perished in the Iraqi War quagmire (lunaville.org). We have also wasted
$115.5 billions of our tax dollars on this unjust conflict (costofwar.com).
The number of innocent Iraqi civilians who have been killed by Coalition
Forces as the result of the immoral invasion and occupation of that unfortunate
country is now put conservatively at 11,046 (iraqbodycount.net).
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- Suggestion: Why not have a day, set aside once a year,
for Americans to roast the repulsive Warmongers who have instigated this
mess in Iraq? Isn't it time to mock some of these villains? Don't they
deserve to be pilloried with a national day of their own?
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- The Warmongers are the conniving characters, who got
the U.S. into the Iraq War, despite its having little or nothing to do
with our genuine national interest. They are also the globalist-oriented
intriguers, who represent special and powerful interests that have had
such a harmful influence, since the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower
(1953-61), over the public life of our nation. They are the cunning wheeler-dealers
- the political insiders - the fat cat lobbyists - who call the shots on
Capitol Hill. They are collectively the WIRE PULLERS! They act ABOVE the
Republic! (Check out Chalmers Johnson's "The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism,
Secrecy, and the End of the Republic," for a more detailed background
on these grasping special interests, along with a keen analysis of their
M.O., which has compelled the U.S. into building, at enormous cost, 725
military bases around the world.) Johnson is convinced, as I am, that our
mindless, reckless Empire-building will lead us down the path of self-destruction,
as it once did for imperial Greece, Rome and the predatory, Irish-hating
Brits before us.
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- Some of the Warmongers are key operatives within the
"Military-Industrial Complex"; others are front men for "Big
Oil"; some are principals of the influential "Israel First Brigade,"
and also greedy bankers and CEOs of multinational corporations. A few are
just motor-mouthed talking heads, like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bill
O'Reilly and that disgusting Ann Coulter. The latter right-wing crew has
made plenty of money with their books, radio and tv shows, fanning the
flames for the Iraq war, and for perpetual war, too, while our our national
treasury sucks up the red ink.
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- I propose that Halloween, Oct. 31st, serve jointly as
Warmongers' Day. Images of the entire Bush-Cheney Gang should be brought
forth on that occasion. It is time for the nation to pay them back, and
also their chief collaborators, symbolically at least, for their revolting
hawkish schemes. So, let Oct. 31, 2004, be declared as the first "Warmongers'
Day." Bring on the icons of the War Hawks for a good bashing. The
nation needs some therapeutic relief from their evil doings!
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- On that date, let us particularly remember the Neocons
Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, Lewis "Scooter"
Libby and Douglas J. Feith, who so vigorously stampeded the U.S. into invading
Iraq. And, don't forget the important roles in this shameful enterprise
played by the Congressional war hawks, too, like: Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman
(D-CT) and Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA). Media moguls, such as Mortimer B. Zuckerman
and Rupert Murdock, also deserve to be lampooned. Naturally, Donald Rumsfeld,
Condi Rice, Colin Powell, Elliott Abrams and Dick Cheney are essential
to this kind of event, as is, of course, that amiable dunce, one George
W. Bush, Jr.
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- The Warmongers falsely promised or hyped, in one way
or another, that the Iraq War would only be "a cakewalk," for
the U.S., and that we would find WMDs in Iraq, and also plenty of evidence
that Saddam Hussein had ties to the Al-Qaeda network. They insisted our
national security was at risk. They lied to us! They deliberately deceived
the American people in every way they could. They deserve our censure -
our condemnation - our wrath! They have also made the U.S. more enemies
in the Islamic World.
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- It is only fair that the "Poster Boy" for the
initial Warmongers' Day be Perle, "The Mother of All Neocons."
He helped to draft, with other Neocons, that notorious "Clean Break"
policy statement for Zionist Israel, back in the late-90s. (See, for more
information, "Clean Break or Dirty War?: Israel's Foreign Policy Directive
to the U.S.," 03/27/03, and related material found at: irmep.org.)
The "Clean Break" document ended up being the intellectual blueprint
for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
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- I suggest that someone take Perle's photo now for that
poster, since he has a tendency to run off to his luxurious villa in the
south of France, whenever the number of the U.S. war dead rises. Lately,
that has been almost every day, (Robert Burns, "April-May Iraq GI
Death Toll Tops 200," AP Military Writer, 05/30/04).
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- Anyway, what good would it be to celebrate Warmongers'
Day, if there wasn't a gigantic picture of Richard Perle, that scheming
son of Beelzebub himself, to jeer at?
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- © William Hughes 2004
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- William Hughes is the author of "Saying ''No' to
the War Party" (IUniverse, Inc.).
He can be reached at liamhughes@mindspring.com.
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