A rambling rant.
For some reason that statement made by Muhammad Ali (on August 23, 1966) entered my brain after reading an article that was linked by Mike Francis on his Oregon at War blog.. The article, Lt. Gen. John Kelly, who lost son to war, says U.S. largely unaware of sacrifice, takes us through Gen. Kelly's experience of his son Robert joining the Marines and subsequent death in Iraq.
On the first page of the article this jumped out at me:
Before he addressed the crowd that had assembled in the St. Louis Hyatt Regency ballroom last November, Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly had one request. "Please don't mention my son," he asked the Marine Corps officer introducing him.
...
"Their struggle is your struggle," he told the ballroom crowd of former Marines and local business people. "If anyone thinks you can somehow thank them for their service, and not support the cause for which they fight - our country - these people are lying to themselves. . . . More important, they are slighting our warriors and mocking their commitment to this nation."
As a veteran who spent a year in Viet Nam, I remember all too well the mantra from that era that if you didn't support the war, you didn't support the "troops" and so that statement set off my Deja Vue reflex.
On further reading of the article :
He spoke of the anger that some combat veterans feel toward the war's opponents. "They hold in disdain those who claim to support them but not the cause that takes their innocence, their limbs and even their lives,"...
Later, he clarified in an interview that he is opposed to indifference, not dissent. "I just think if you are against the war, you should somehow try to change it," he said. "Fight to bring us home."
Its an interesting article on how the wars have effected the Kelly family and the point that most of the country is disengaged from anything to do with them. I think Gen. Kelly misses the point though. That is exactly what the powers that be want. They want the public to be indifferent.
"I just think if you are against the war, you should somehow try to change it,"
Whenever I attend an anti-war rally, I jokingly say; "Round up the usual suspects" because that's who is attending. Those die hards who stand out on the street corner week after week for years with their signs hoping for a friendly honk or a thumbs up. Those of us who chain ourselves to the White House fence. Those who confront our elected officials over and over again about war crimes and are ignored.
We have been trying to change it General. Unfortunately we have been marginalized as irrelevant by this and the past administration and by the bloviating gas bags and hired ex military "analysts" who have a vested interest in perpetual war. Not to mention how cool it is to be one of the "few" and the "proud" or to be "Army Strong". Remember how cool Michael Kelly was riding into Iraq on his special war wagon? The list of cheerleaders for these two wars is a long one and most of them get paid for it. They lie about and still get paid. Try to expose the lie you go to jail.
So WTF has any of the above rant got to do with Muhammad Ali and his quote? Last month I attended a town hall meeting of Sen. Jeff Merkley (D OR). I like Sen. Merkley. One of the first questions asked was about the wars and he answered in no uncertain terms that we should get the hell out of them. As that was also going to be my question I asked him about torture, war crimes etc. He answered that that was up to the administration to prosecute not the congress. When he finished his answer he thanked me for my service.
This is one of those questions; what do you say to a veteran? I've had this discussion many a time. I think that people want to say something but have no idea what to says so they just repeat "Thank you for your service." Sort of like the TV detectives always saying "I'm sorry for your loss." What else is there to say? I always say to a vet something to effect; "Glad you made it back."
After Sen. Merkley "Thanked me for my service", I replied, "Please don't thank me for killing people."
I was young, ignorant and brainwashed when I enlisted back in 1967. I think back and realize that during my entire life the US has been involved in a war or subverting governments and movements through violence. Most of today's population is just as ignorant and brainwashed as I was back them.
Which bring me back to Muhammad Ali. The full quote is:
"I Ain't Got No Quarrel With The VietCong...
No VietCong Ever Called Me Nigger"
Something else from Ali:
"No, I am not going 10,000 miles to help murder kill and burn other people to simply help continue the domination of white slavemasters over dark people the world over. This is the day and age when such evil injustice must come to an end."
Replace slavemasters with Bankers, MIC, Multinationals, Warmongers or whatever they are called and that statement is just as relevant today as it was in 1966.
Although I'm not black, next time someone thanks me for my service I am going to add to my response, "No VietCong Ever Called Me Nigger". And I don't think any of the 9 Afghanistan boys killed cutting wood on Tuesday or the thousands of innocent Iraqi who have died ever did either.
I said it was rambling.
BOHICA
Ex Murder Inc. hit man.
You can always hear the people who are willing to sacrifice somebody else's life. They're plenty loud and they talk all the time. You can find them in the churches and schools and newspapers and legislatures and congress. That's their business. They sound wonderful. Death before dishonor. This ground sanctified by blood. These men who died so gloriously. They shall not have died in vain. Our noble dead.
Hmmmm.
But what do the dead say?
Did anybody ever come back from the dead any single one of the millions who got killed did any of them ever come back and say by god I'm glad I'm dead because death is better than dishonor? Did they say I'm glad I died to make the world safe for democracy? Did they say I like death better than losing liberty? Did any of them ever say it's good to think I got my guts blown out for the honor of my country? Did any of them ever say look at me I'm dead but I died for decency and that's better than being alive?
-Dalton Trumbo, Johnny Got His Gun
