The American-led Invasion

"the American-led invasion" ( BBC Radio 4 News 6pm, 8/11/03)


So that's what it was. Official. The BBC says so. And what the BBC says is true (Discuss.)

Forgive me for being mistaken. I had been led to believe that this was a war reluctantly undertaken as a last resort against a dangerous tyrant who posed an immediate & urgent threat to us. New York & London were about to be reduced to rubble. Nuclear, chemical, biological weapons of mass destruction could be launched within 45 minutes. Re-runs of 9/11exercised our imagination.

Yeah well, I never quite swallowed the government-line, the government-lie, the intensive propaganda....(almost-uncritically broadcast by the BBC prior to the event.)

It seemed clear to anyone who actually bothered to acquaint themselves with a few pertinent FACTS that what took place was an AMERICAN (Bush instigated) -LED (Blair followed) INVASION (illegal, immoral war of aggression)

The motivation(s) for this particular crime ain't hard to ascertain. A plethora of analytical critiques spell out the rationale. To the unbiased, public record is a damning document that indicts our specious politicians. Any future historian with an ounce of objectivity will concur with the judgement that this was an American-led INVASION.

Get it?

The Iraqis did.

A lot, maybe a majority, of Americans & British now see that invasion is not the optimum strategy for achieving peace & safety at home, in the Middle East or the wider world.

Most people want peace & safety. Most people don't want to be near cluster bombs & depleted uranium. But where does the democracy exist that reflects most people's wishes? Let me know & I'll emigrate straight there. Most reasonable people would probably join me in the exodus. But for reasonable people in unreasonable, indeed irrational times, there is now nowhere to run.

The best we can hope is that a consensus of the just & honest will be assertive enough to stand up for decent standards of accuracy in reporting of this contemporary hell of a world we're in. And then, do something, almost anything, about it.

We've made a start. What we have to deal with is an American-led invasion. It's official.

The word RESISTANCE springs to mind. Words are important. Words mediate/create our perception of the world. Bush, Blair et al. twisted words to justify their INVASION (official). They talked with forked tongues, empty of empathy.

Let's find words to describe their dark, dastardly doings &, most importantly, heartfeltedly act on our words & do to them what they have done to others, our brothers & sisters, our parents & children, murdered by their devilish weapons. Lock up the perps, War Criminals to call them by their proper names.Hold them legally accountable. Take away their weapons, those lethal boy's toys. Confiscate hate. Beat Trident Missiles into Plowshares. If you can't manage that, at least support those who do. Withold your taxes.

And soon, maybe sooner than you think, the BBC might begin to use the right, precise words to detail what 'American-led invasion' means, not only to poor Iraqis but to the rest of us restless natives, supine upon this superating globe. Perhaps they will tell us 'Globalisation' means 'American-led invasion'. And perhaps Americans will refuse to be led by Bush & what he stands for. And perhaps all of us will stop being led. Perhaps.

It begins with you & me, the words we use & the action that follows...