By Timothy V. Gatto

There IS a time and place for everything. I’ve heard that phrase uttered throughout my life. The thing is that most platitudes remain because they are so true. For many years the “liberal left” has been ostracized by the Republican majority under the Bush years so that even the word “liberal” became synonymous with out of touch tree-huggers that stood against every new technology and wilted at the thought of actually raising their voice in anger or resorting to violence to achieve their goals. Liberals were not portrayed as people that joined the Army or any of the other Armed Services. Liberals didn’t work on construction projects or any job that took real men (or women).

That assumption is one that liberals helped to promote. Many liberals during the Bush years wouldn’t even call themselves liberals. They used the word “Progressive”. That too is a proud old word, but early in the 20th Century, most “Progressives” were Socialists. That is something that makes me chuckle every time I hear a pseudo-liberal use the term “Progressive”. I’m a liberal. I spent 21 years in the Army, worked in construction and have defended myself too many times to count and I have the scars to prove it. Does that make me an anomaly? I don’t think so. There are too many of my kind around. I’ve met them and you’ve heard of them.

The Iraqi Veterans Against the War, The Vietnam Vets Against the War and all of the other veteran opposition groups that are opposed to our nations wars for resources sure can’t be described as “Conservative, Right Wing” groups. The Socialists with their fist symbol that says “Power to the People” don’t seem like such a namby-pamby bunch of Liberals that Conservatives would like you to believe we are. Obama was portrayed as a kind of “liberal” by the Republicans during the last Presidential campaign and we’ve seen that he doesn’t have a liberal tendency in him.

There are many people that look on the U.S. Military as the pre-eminent force in the world. It probably is. In a conventional war or a war that involved nuclear weapons, the U.S. Military would probably reign supreme. The problem we face in the United States is that our government has been sold to the highest bidders. Does that mean that our military has followed suit? It is inconceivable that the U.S. Military feels beholden to multi-national (also called Trans-national) corporations. I believe that they believe that they are responsible to the defense of the American people, and not in existence to do the bidding of the corporations that make money hand-over-fist from American aggression in foreign countries.

The latest information from Afghanistan is that the country holds huge reserves of copper, lithium gold, natural gas, oil, and other precious gems and minerals. (1) This has not only been recently verified, but the former Soviet Union started to import large volumes of natural gas from Afghanistan. I believe that if our military knew exactly who was behind the incursion into Afghanistan and why, they would not be very happy about it. The average soldier thinks he is fighting against terrorism. Little does he realize that he is fighting FOR terrorism. Terrorism of the worst sort, this is the kind of terrorism that pits rich against poor, against the have and the have-nots. This is Imperialism and it is a concept that should have ended before the Twentieth Century. This is the terrorism that the United States wages against the countries that cannot resist, Afghanistan in particular.

The problem we face however isn’t just the war for resources that we are fighting in Afghanistan. We in America are fighting a war that is much closer. We are fighting for the soul of our nation. What we are seeing on the world stage is no longer nation against nation. What we are seeing is a broad coalition of the world’s wealthiest families and corporations that are using nation’s top do their bidding. This is far worse than the fascism of Nazi Germany. That was an enemy that could be seen and recognized. What we have here is a combination of wealth that is seizing power of the national state to use it to empower itself, much the way Britain and the British East India Company flourished in the 19th century. Worse still, the ones that are making the profits off of unending war and suffering are not so easily identifiable in this age of trans-national holdings and shell-game corporate politics.

Have I become a conspiracy theorist? Do I believe that the Bilderberg Group controls the United States and the world? The answer to that question is elusive. What I would like to know is how much political power do they wield inside of our government? How much power does Goldman-Sachs or any other large corporate power wield inside of the government? This is a question that must be answered by the people that represent us. So far the silence is deafening.

What about BP? Are they responsible for all the damage that they caused in the Gulf of Mexico or does their damages stop at 75 million? Does the American Government have the power to bring damages to 20 Billion? Is this within the realm of International Law? When will we receive concrete answers, or is it that our government just doesn’t want us to know?

The truth is that we won’t receive the answers we need until we demand them. The United States is now beyond the American citizen’s control. Corporate control is now in effect. Our elected representatives are no longer beholden to the citizens of the United States. We have been replaced by those that have the money and the clout to buy our elected officials.

The people of America responded to the right-wing Republicans and their wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with the election of a Democratic president that was supposed to bring “change”. We have seen no change. The war in Afghanistan grows larger. The presence in Iraq remains. The use of paid mercenaries grows and the back-door draft of the economically disadvantaged increases as we use these kids to kill and be killed for resources. Bush-era policies of Rendition, torture, and the elimination of Habeas Corpus continues.

To Be Continued

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timgatto@hotmail.com Read Tim's Book "Complicity to Contempt" and his Novel "Kimchee Days or Stoned Cold Warriors From Oliver Arts and Open Press and available on Amazon and all other online bookstores.