On approaching the Big 75, I cannot say it is something I achieved. It happens. Because I have lived my life as a citizen of the United States, I know how fortunate I have been. I am lucky never to have been detained, questioned, arrested or tried anywhere outside of this country. Growing up as a U.S. career military officer's daughter, I was a privileged child. Granted, family life in the military is never simple, nor free from pitfalls. All else aside, even in harm's way, I was part of a peculiarly consistent, if regimented, life.
I was raised to be absolutely loyal to my Country, have always been proud of my Country. Once Russia launched Sputnik; the National Defense Education Act was signed into law. A Foreign Language major, I was eligible to compete for educational funding through the Act. Once again my country gave me an invaluable gift. In what seemed months, rather than years, however, I was teaching high school students, who went off to war. The death toll prompted me to join in the protest movement early. The televised horrors of war crept into our homes and lives relentlessly. In our minds it was a vile, dirty, business. A family of right wing Texans, moved in next door, the family cadillac, plastered with American flags and stickers. Put off by the flag-waving neighbors, I had only begun to recognize the implications of turning a blind eye to injustice at home and abroad.
Today I watched in renewed horror, as we played a documentary film, "Dirty Wars." I am a year late in viewing the film, and in reading the book by Jeremy Scahill, which preceded the documentary. Both are extremely revealing, even if you believe you have been reasonably well informed. First images of a Yemeni family and friends, slaughtered, right down to pregnant women and infants, assault the senses. Next is the realization that we are not at war with Yemen. We massacred 46 civilian family and friends for gathering to celebrate a wedding. If all this were not enough, we see a Yemeni journalist detained upon the direct orders of President Obama. (This, rather than permit him to disclose the details of the botched operation in his country.) It gets worse.
http://dirtywars.org/the-film
Something horrifying has emerged in the US permanent war: death and assassinations for which there is no due process nor accountability, and all too often no "within the margin of error" justification except that the government and military are able to get away with their actions. There are no public checks and balances. Whistleblowers are prosecuted and jailed at a faster rate under the Obama administrations than under the George W. Bush administrations. ~Mark Karlin, "Truthout"
What have we been telling ourselves to justify unbridled presidential powers and the emergence of JSOC, the Joint Special Operations Command? The implications of JSOC's powers and its actions, combined with those of President Obama and the CIA, are staggering. The War on Terror is global and ongoing. The U. S. is engaging in covert operations whenever and wherever. Whether you believe it or not, we have entered an era of zero accountability to the People of the United States, and it is not merely driven by the ownership of the government by the wealthy.
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