Turns out Pres. Bush CAN Learn From Past Mistakes

All of us who insist that the administration currently occupying the White House (and isn't that a particularly apt description) headed by Pres. Bush cannot learn from past mistakes must offer a mea culpa. While the fact seems eminently clear that the desire to dive into history books is not at the top of the list of anyone who works within the Bush administration, it is also quite clear that these guys learned a big lesson from Vietnam War I. Since nobody involved in the Bush administration ever got their secret club rings anywhere near the steamy jungles of southeast Asia when the fighting was taking place to uphold the values they cherish, one can be forgiven for a derisive roll of the eyes when I suggest these cowards learned anything from the Vietnam experience. But stick with me; it's true.

The Bush Butt Buddy Brigade obviously spent hours studying how the media teamed with intelligent academics and passionate hippies to bring about awareness that the Vietnam War existed only to pump up the profits for companies like Exxon and DuPont and not to keep us safe from the evil Domino Effect of the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia. Vietnam was the first war that showed the average person what war actually looked like: young girls running naked down the street while napalm burned off their clothing, the "good guys" shooting unarmed men in the head in the middle of the street, and body bags by the thousands. Contrast that to the portrayal of Vietnam II currently taking place in Iraq. The war that most Americans see looks more like a video game than anything where people are actually dying or having their limbs blown off. It is true that the Pentagon has for some unknown reason been given the power to tell the media what they can and cannot show and that does serve to make it difficult to show Americans just how awful this mistake has been, but there's also another obvious reason: decapitated Americans don't increase the amount of money that networks can charge Geico to air their popular Caveman commercials.

The reporting that was conducted during the Vietnam War demonstrates that when the media upholds their part of the social constract and holds governments accountable instead of jumping em bed with them, they can be a real force for good. No wonder most people look disparagingly upon the American press; they are little more than an unofficial government agency upholding the lies and corruption of men who have no business making decisions that affect millions. Since media conglomerates that are supplying the news that most Americans receive about Iraq have without fail confirmed that they are keen to censor the unpleasant reality of war, anybody who gets their news about Iraq and how Pres. Bush is conducting this miserable failure should expect to experience precious little understanding of the reality that is taking place. While nearly non-English speaking media outlet customarily shows images associated with the war in Iraq that reflects the undignified fact that men and women are losing blood and lives for absolutely no reason whatever, the treatment of the war in America is curiously lacking in the color red.

What unfortunately passes for mainstream journalism in America shoulders just as much blame for the fact that Iraq ever happened as the delusional Tweedle-Dumb and Dumber occupying the positions of President and Vice-President. While Bush and Cheney are clearly public enemy number one, FOX, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and the rest should be overwhelmed with people who have trouble sleeping at night due to their part in generating the bogus representation of proceedings that have led to the state of mind that if our soldiers come home without their mission publicly proclaimed by the President to already be "accomplished" that Iraq will disintegrate into anarchy and civil war. The footage shown on most American news broadcasts deceive many from the fact that Iraq has been in a state of anarchy and civil war for years now.

The coverage of the Iraq invasion in its earliest phase was unusually embarrassing, punctuated by the sight of news anchors giving glowing and thoroughly unquestioned accounts of the efficiency of US bombing raids. Since Pres. Bush strode cockily onto the flight deck of that aircraft, flashed his smarmy smile and declared that the mission was accomplished, US reporters have found themselves scooped at every turn by the alternative press when it comes to stories that their bosses in the White House aren't terribly eager to let see the light of day; stories such as the torture at Abu Ghraib prison, or the friendly fire death of a man who gave up millions to play football in order to keep American safe from Islam. While you saw Jessica Lynch turned into a heroine by the "liberal American media" when in fact she barely even qualified as a something above a real life Inspector Clouseau, what you hardly ever see on American television screens are some of the real heroes; those men and women who have spoken out against this war even when support for it was in the 90 percent range. Now that so many of you have finally seen the light that we few saw five and six and seven years ago, one might well expect to see anti-war protestors shown in a positive light. Well, don't hold your breath. Perhaps the most egregious censorship in recent American history occurred when these ultra-liberal, left-wing commie news organizations actually turned down money in exchange to show a series of anti-war commercials featuring appearances by celebrities. Whether the ultra-liberal NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and MSNBC turned these down because they were against the war or because they featured celebrities who can say. All I know is that when the same celebrities drop by to tout their newest movie, they aren't escorted to the exits. To prove just how damaging this way of doing business is, when enormous anti-war demonstrations were shown on television in England, the result was a massive drop in support for the war.

There is a distressing and even dangerous absence of journalistic oversight that exists today in America and it is unprecedented. It is also almost comically ironic. Movies, music, television and every other tool at the disposal of American society were previously used to drill into the heads of every citizen that an appalling and dreadful system existed elsewhere in the world where the government and the media were one and the same. Isn't it funny how the very tools of communism that we were once supposed to fear so mightily are now being used on a daily basis to make us fear the latest threat to our freedom?