Earlier this month, I wrote an article entitled Hypocrisy at West Point
that called into question a policy known as the “alternative service
option.” In relevant part, that policy states, “Army cadet-athletes now
have options to pursue professional athletic opportunities thanks to
the U.S. Army’s Alternative Service Option program. If cadet-athletes
are accepted into the program, they will owe two years of active
service in the Army, during which time they will be allowed to play
their sport in the player development systems of their respective
organizations and assigned to recruiting stations.”
In other words, a West Point graduate sufficiently skilled to play
professional sports can pursue his athletic career without
interruption. As a trade-off, he must recruit other young men and women
to enter the military and face the risks inherent in combat that he has
not faced.
Caleb Campbell (United States Military Academy, Class of 2008) is 23
years old and was captain of the 2007 Army football team. Less
admirably, he is a prime example of the hypocrisy that attends the war
currently being waged at the behest of his commander-in-chief.
Virtually all of Campbell’s classmates will be serving in Iraq or
Afghanistan by the end of this year. That’s in keeping with the
requirement that West Point cadets commit to five years of active
military duty in return for their education.
Students at the Naval and Air Force academies incur a similar
obligation. Roger Staubach spent four years in the Navy (including a
tour of duty in Vietnam) before beginning his Hall of Fame career with
the Dallas Cowboys. David Robinson also served on active naval duty
before achieving superstar status with the San Antonio Spurs. Air Force
Academy graduate Chad Hennings was on active duty in his branch of the
service before playing in the National Football League.
Georgi Lazarevski's new film, 'This Way Up', follows the lives of residents of Our Lady of Pains, a senior citizens home for Palestinians just east of Jerusalem in the shadow of the under-construction Israeli wall of separation which divides Palestinian populations in East Jerusalem and the West Bank from one another. As new sections of the wall are added day by day, the elderly residents become more and more cut off from the outside world, particularly from visits from their loved ones and the staff who to them.
In reporting on war, much attention is devoted to the most overt forms of suffering caused by death, injury and destruction. With beautiful imagery and much humour, Lazrarevski's film is a really welcome testament to how the daily grind of life under occupation, caused particularly by restrictions on movement, can be just as significant in making ordinary civilian lives a humiliating and miserable experience.
'This Way Up' is being screened as part of the Human Rights Watch film festival. If you get a chance to see it (especially if in New York in June), it's well worth it.
The United States has entered a precarious situation in an area of the world which has been notoriously entangled in historical turbulence: northern Iraq. The Ottomans, the British, the Baathists and now the Americans are playing a deadly game of divide and conquer, with the local Kurds being the major playing piece.
Since the day after Halloween my ears have been flooded with holiday music every time I set foot in a mall or shopping center. You’ve probably heard them too: Kenny G in the main walk ways, Paul McCartney on repeat at Eddie Bauer, techno remixes of classics blaring from Abercrombie and Fitch.
I remember my dad getting upset as child whenever John Lennon’s “Happy X-Mas (War is Over)” would get airplay. It wasn’t the anti-war message that bothered him, but Yoko Ono’s singing which he likened to the sound of a cat being strangled.
Ono’s vocal inabilities aside, the story about the song is deeply interesting, and I believe has parallels with today.
“All our society is run by insane people for insane objectives,” Lennon explains in an interview. “We can get peace now when we want it now! The people are unaware. It’s like they are not educated to realize that they have power. Everybody is geared for the government to fix everything. It’s all the government’s fault, but (they don’t realize) we’re the government.”
Lennon argued that in today’s society, advertising is what the governments use, what companies use, and what The Beatles used to get a message across. Why not use it to advertise against the war? John McCain echoed the effectiveness of Lennon’s idea at a recent debate when he said that “America did not lose the war in Viet-Et-Nam! It was American public perception that lost us the war.”
In 1969, Lennon and Ono placed advertisements in 11 major cities world wide with the simple message ‘War is Over If You Want It.” The goal was clear- tell the people they have a choice between war and peace and try to sell it the same way war is sold on TV.
This concept is important to consider as the Senate is wrestling with a $516 billion spending bill, including $40 billion to continue funding the War in Iraq in addition to funds that are allocated to Afghanistan.
For more on John Lennon’s legal battles over his peace activity (he was nearly deported by Nixon), check out The U.S. vs. John Lennon.
Last week, I posted some comments from a reader about Thomas Jefferson’s views on religion. The article caused a bit of a storm, with literally thousands of people spreading the article around the net. It got me thinking, why do the words of a man dead for almost 200 years mean so much to Americans today?
I am convinced the reason Jefferson still inspires many Americans is because he causes them to believe in the country the current Administration is doing its best to annihilate.
It is the contrast between the bombastic rhetoric of the Bush Administration, and the reasoned, thoughtful words of the man almost universally as one of the countries greatest presidents that gives Americans hope in their nation.
Where Bush uses war as an instrument of policy, Jefferson saw it as an affront to humanity.
“I love peace”, he said, “and am anxious that we should give the world still another useful lesson, by showing to them other modes of punishing injuries than by war, which is as much a punishment to the punisher as to the sufferer.”
Where Bush sees debt and war as the engine of American society, Jefferson saw the ruining of a nation:
"Having seen the people of all other nations bowed down to the earth under the wars and prodigalities of their rulers, I have cherished their opposites, peace, economy, and riddance of public debt, believing that these were the high road to public as well as private prosperity and happiness."
As our Congressional Representatives gear up to debate the latest round
of War Funding, thousands of people across America are preparing to
take action against the Iraq War. Friday the 16th marks the third
effort of concerned citizens to bring the war to an end.
The premise is simple: DO SOMETHING. Anything.
Wear a button or black ribbon to work and have a conversation with a
co-worker. Observer a moment of silence. Do some research and finally
learn the difference between a Sunni and a Shite.
This is the third month of the Moratorium, and the movement is
growing. Activists, actors, intellectuals, veterans, and concerned
citizens have all signed the pledge. To learn more, visit the website
at http://www.iraqmoratorium.org.
It has been estimated that if the United States cut their troops levels in half, the
price tag of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will surpass
$2,400,000,000 within the next ten years. With over $9,000,000,000 in debt, can America really
afford to continue these conflicts?
As the bellicose language increases from the Bush Administration, the actual threat from Iran seems to be decreasing. With Bush telling the American public that a nuclear Iran would instigate 'World War 3', a variety of experts have certified that there is no evidence that they are trying to attain nuclear weapons.
Late last month, Bush told a room packed with journalists that:
"I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon,"
This is flatly contradicted by prominent experts directly related to the issue of nuclear proliferation.
"I have not received any information that there is a concrete active nuclear-weapons program going on right now," said IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei.
With insiders in the Bush Administration also admitting that Iran is not working on the bomb, the evidence would ultimately point to the White House beating the drums for another war.
Read more details in a very interesting article on McClatchydc.com
In the final part of our exclusive interview with David Barsamian, we discuss the possible role of Israel in an attack on Iran, the Jewish population in Iran, the history of U.S/Iranian relations and much, much more. Click here to see part 1 and part 2
In the second part of our interview with author David Barsamian (see part one here), the topic of conversation moves to the occupation of Iraq, the business of war, the cultural history of Iran, and the consequences of another war in the Middle East. See below for part 2 of our exclusive interview:
Ben Cohen is the Editor of The Daily Banter, the founder of Banter Media Group, and regular contributor to the Huffington Post. Originally from London but now a U.S resident, Ben has been blogging on politics and media since 2007. When not blogging, Ben is usually practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and boxing, or arguing with conservatives about the pitfalls of free market capitalism.
