[lbo-talk] Interesting article on the irrelevance of Abu Ghraib to Iraqis

Chuck0 chuck at mutualaid.org
Mon May 17 07:22:41 PDT 2004


Michael Pugliese wrote:


>> Fuck the troops
>
>
> No, Chuck fuck Wolfowitz, Perle', Bush, Rumsfeld and all the other
> militarists that sent the troops there. Contact Military Families Speak
> Out. Whatever Stan Goff's shortcomings (a weakness for 9-11
> conspiranoia, http://www.apfn.org/apfn/wtc_media.htm he knows the
> successes of the GI movement component of the anti-Vietnam War movement.

I agree about the successes of the GI movement during the Vietnam War. Support the troops who shoot their officers, remember? The Abu Ghraib torture may have been less likely to happen if those troops had been busier harassing the brass rather than following illegal orders to torture Iraqis.

Still, I think that it is important for us to state that we don't support the troops, or at least drop the "support the troops" slogan from our repetoire. There is nothing more pathetic than going to an anti-war rally and seeing all of this patriotic imagery and "we support the troops" bullshit. This is why nobody takes the American left seriously: the majority of Americans oppose this war and we slavishly cling to this slogan to appease American right wingers. It's like we are acting under the assumption that we can't be against war without cloaking our opposition in pathetic, irrelevant slogans. THERE IS NO REASON TO KEEP THE RIGHT WING HAPPY WITH THIS RHETORIC!

A majority of Americans oppose the war. We can talk to them without the "peace is patriotic" and "we support the troops" signs. The Americna Left clings to this stuff under the outdated assumption that there are few of us and that Ashcroft and his minions will disappear us.

The American peace movement needs to get some cojones!

Chuck0



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