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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObama Whitewashes World War I
http://www.progressive.org/content/obama-whitewashes-world-war-iBut this was not a war for freedom. It was a triumph of nationalism, pitting one nations vanity against another. It was a war between empires for the spoils. Historian Allen Ruff, who is studying the causes and effects of World War I, was not impressed with Obamas speech. With Both NATO and the European Union headquartered in Brussels, Ruff says, it would have been a true homage to the dead buried in Belgium a hundred years ago if Obama spoke out against all major power imperial ambition, the true cause of so much slaughter then and since, rather than mouthing some trite euphemisms about the honor of dying for freedom.
But Obama insisted on repeating the very propaganda that fed that war. Without irony, he quoted the poem from John McRae that was used to encourage soldiers to sign up and civilians to pay for war bonds. Heres the verse that Obama cited:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Yet there was delivering that old lie with high zest, and the obscenity of it should not escape us, even 100 years on. For the soldiers Obama praised did not die for freedom, but for something much more base. They died for the same reason U.S. soldiers died in the Iraq War. As Howard Zinn noted, ten years ago, They died for the greed of the oil cartels, for the expansion of the American empire, for the political ambitions of the President. They died to cover up the theft of the nations wealth to pay for the machines of death.
I'm very disappointed that the President did not point out the grotesque absurdity of sending our children to die for profit, but chose instead to invoke the illusion of battlefield glory. If we want to honor our service men and women, we should do so by protecting them from rich men's greed.
The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)And 'proggressive.org' needs to find itself a hobby, and take itself far less seriously....
Deep13
(39,154 posts)The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)What the hell kind of a question is that?
Benton D Struckcheon
(2,347 posts)That was a seriously perfect riposte.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)Curry in the morning.
bleg
Igel
(35,197 posts)To make it a proper breakfast.
mcar
(42,210 posts)Then I read this post.
Well played, sir, well played. If I had a hat, I would tip it to you.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)nevermind the fact that one of the reasons he's even in Europe is to rally support from NATO members just in case Putin wants to press his luck...
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)It would have been the most suitable of all places to break with the ritualistic lionization of stupidity and mass violence.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)I guaran-fuckin'-tee you that the media in the U.S., Europe and 75% of DUers would have been screaming:
"HYPOCRITE!!!!!!!! WHAT MORAL STANDING DOES HE HAVE TO LECTURE ANYONE ABOUT WAR WHEN HE HAS THE BIGGEST MILITARY AND TROOPS DEPLOYED IN ARMED CONFLICTS ALL OVER THE PLANET!!!!!!"
I bet you any amount of money that's what the reaction would have been...He can barely even say anything about Russia's foray into Crimea without that being thrown back in his face constantly...
Response to Blue_Tires (Reply #28)
JackRiddler This message was self-deleted by its author.
renegade000
(2,301 posts)that the only safe thing for him to do and say on the world stage is:
of course, you'd have to make a secular version
FSogol
(45,360 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)and browse the rest of that site just to make sure this wasn't some kind of twisted satire...
Liberal Veteran
(22,239 posts)Boom Sound 416
(4,185 posts)Bobbie Jo
(14,341 posts)Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Deep13
(39,154 posts)...they were fighting for specific nation-states, and in the case of the Entente, the right to continue overseas imperialism at the expense of Germany. The Ottomans were fighting for their own defense against Russian, British, and French imperialism. Seriously, while France and Britain were carving up Africa and Asia, the German Empire consisted of a few islands and a sausage factory in Tunis.
Loudly
(2,436 posts)Liberal Veteran
(22,239 posts)Some people just don't have a firm grasp on international relations and diplomacy.
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)at Flanders Field. There is a time and place for everything.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)and all those men interred in Flanders Field died for *nothing*...
Yeah, that would have gone down really well with NATO members and the rest of Europe...
I get the writer's general point, but that writer know fuck-all about diplomacy...There's a time and a place for quiet, polite remembrance and a time for political grandstanding to send a message...
Actually, I'm not certain there is EVER a time for political grandstanding while visiting some other nation's most sacred war memorial -- Maybe someone can explain to me how that works...
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)which war cemetery he was visiting at the moment...
I also know the scars from WWI generally run a lot deeper for Belgians than Americans -- Especially since not even a week ago two construction workers were killed when they accidentally dug into some leftover WWI ordinance...
I don't know what fantasyland that writer is living in...This whole "whitewashing" accusation is pure over-the-top bullshit, even if that writer completely disagrees with his comments...
GeorgeGist
(25,294 posts)shine that turd.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Boom Sound 416
(4,185 posts)He spilled his whole bowl of Benghazi.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Liberal Veteran
(22,239 posts)And tell Darrell Issa.
lamp_shade
(14,796 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)That's the sort of work for writers like Howard Zinn and Gore Vidal, not for politicians.
The article in your OP is an absurd criticism.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)how, when a nation goes to war, there must be a purpose they must know what they're fighting for, etc....WWI was fought for something most people at the time could not even define. Oh, and let's talk about the land fought for 4 years over and thousands killed while neither side gained an inch of ground.
irisblue
(32,829 posts)I look for and read your posts to learn. However 1916 and that war IS NOT his issue. sorry but no.
earthside
(6,960 posts)Even Barack Obama.
polichick
(37,152 posts)for the powers that be.
Xithras
(16,191 posts)The only bad guys were the diplomats who crafted the military alliances that allowed one nutjob with a gun to lead an entire continent into war.
Once you get beyond the jingoistic nationalistic crap, the cold, hard truth about WW1 is that there was no good reason to fight it. It was all politics and power plays.
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)...WTH does anyone expect the President to say when visiting the gravesites of soldiers? That is not the time for anti-war speeches. It would be viewed as the ultimate disrespect for the fallen and he -- and the Democratic party -- would never hear the end of it.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)blue neen
(12,308 posts)Hmm.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)the Belgians would have let him know about it in short order...
earthside
(6,960 posts)I can think of no better time for an anti-war, pro-peace speech.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,154 posts)Last edited Wed Mar 26, 2014, 09:35 PM - Edit history (1)
Belgium was a neutral country, its neutrality guaranteed by all sides - until Germany invaded it, and carried out a series of murders of non-combatants, claiming they had all been fighting the Germany army, when clearly they hadn't. Nearly all of Belgium remained occupied for the entire 4 years of the war. Germany's aim was to permanently occupy part of Belgium, to give it ports at the entrance to the English Channel, to make it even more militarily dangerous.
To have said "we never should have come" would have been to spit in the face of Belgians.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)The wheel hasn't landed on WWI before.
struggle4progress
(118,041 posts)You can take a firm and decisive stand against WWI!
... Come and lose your eyes and limbs for thirteen pence a day ...
... I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier: I brought him up to be my pride and joy
Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder to shoot some other mother's darling boy? ...
... They're killing us! They're killing us! One respirator for the four of us!
Thank your lucky stars that we can all run fast so one of us can take it all alone ...